Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive

by Seagate

Product Details

• Item Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000ND93DO
• Item model number: ST307504FPA1E2-RK
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description For the person who needs access to their digital content away from home, at work, or online, while also allowing that same content to be shared in a secure setting, look no further than the Seagate Free Agent Pro Portable Hard Drive. This powerful portable hard drive delivers high-speed transfers, while also giving you the ability to share content with others safely and securely from a remote location or even online.

Powerful storage device with a sleek new design.

This hip-looking hard drive takes up less room on your desk than an ordinary stapler.

Share your content with others safely and securely.

With up to 1 Terabyte and an ultra-slim design for a clutter-free desktop, your FreeAgent Pro external hard drive helps keep you safe from goof-ups by automatically saving new versions of your content that you can easily access if need be. And should something happen to your PC, you can roll back your Windows operating system, settings, and applications to a point in time when they ran smoother, like before a virus attack. Even though the system settings are taken back in time, updates to photos, music and critical data files are kept current.

The Free Agent Pro is also ideal for those who want quick and painless transfers of their data from their computer to their drive, and from their drive to online accounts (such as Shutterfly or email). Simply plug it in to any power source and connect the USB cable to any computer, and you're ready to go. This hip-looking hard drive takes up less room on your desk than an ordinary stapler--1 x 3 x 5.2 inches (H x D x W)-- giving you more space for your other desktop items. Meanwhile, the hard drive only measures 7.5 x 1.4 x 6.3-inches (H x D x W) and it matches its small base.

High Speed Synchronization and Sharing
The Free Agent Pro data mover automatically duplicates and moves selected content from your hard drive to multiple locations, such as copying your contact lists and emails to your iPod, or photos to a Shutterfly account. This feature also allows you to move your entire 'My Documents' folder to the Free Agent, or move it to your own online space where you (or others you choose) can access it from any browser 24/7. The Free Agent software also offers the feature of rolling back your system to better time if something should happen to your PC while automatic revisions of your content help keep you safe from goof-ups.

Move files or other content with either USB 2.0 or eSATA allowing a maximum transfer rate of 480Mb/sec for USB, and 3Gb/sec for eSATA, while delivering a high performance spindle speed of 7,200 RPM. The unit also comes with a sophisticated touch point power on/off switch.

The Free Agent Pro software and drive formatting works only with Windows, but the drive can easily be reformatted for a Mac with OS X's Disk Utility. This portable hard drive is also compatible with Windows Vista (as well as Windows XP and Windows 2000), allowing you to backup your content regardless of operating system upgrades. A five-year warranty is also included, giving you complete peace of mind. Now with the ability to take your data with you anywhere you go, your digital content finally has room to breathe.

What's in the Box
FreeAgent Pro data mover drive, Free Agent software (preloaded) and electronic documentation, USB2.0 and eSATA interfaces, USB 2.0 cable, AC power adapter, and a quick start guide.

Product Description

Access your content from anywhere, share it with anyone and sync it to almost anything. The FreeAgent Pro data mover automatically duplicates and moves content you select to multiple locations like email and contacts to your IPod, photos to a Shutterfly account, your entire My Documents folder to FreeAgent, or move it to your own online space for 24/7 access from any browser. Also included is an innovative modular interface to future-proof technology, various models available, up to 750 glorious gigabytes of storage, and even a five year limited warranty.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Probably OK for avg users - Not me!, August 23, 2007

By 

Adam Grubmeyer (MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

I ordered this hard drive with pretty high expectations, being a SeaGate.
The drive catches the eye, lights up, and is a nice 750GB in size.
The major thing about it - where's the cooling? You have a SATA drive
running in a case, with no heat dissipation at all. I received the drive,
and immediately started copying 100's of GB of data to it. About 4 hours
later, check on the drive. The case is blazing hot (almost burned myself touching the case)- and I have a message on the screen that goes something like: "MFT$ Couldnt be updated. Your data has been lost". I look at the drive in Explorer, and it shows absolutely nothing on the drive. Figuring it's heat related, I turn it off, let it cool, and try reformatting the next day and try again. Same problem 30 mins into copying data. Try reformatting, and trying again... 20 mins later - same. Continually receive messages that the drive couldnt save my data - its all been lost.

I returned the drive to Amazon, got my money back, and got myself a Antec external eSATA enclosure with active cooling (built in 120mm fan)
and a 750GB WD SATA drive. Put it together myself and couldnt be happier with it. Copied all my data to the drive over night, and woke up the next morning not disappointed.

I'm sure the Seagate FreeAgent is a great product for the average user that uses it under normal circumstances, but for constant usage, it cant handle the heat. Maybe I just received a bad drive? But Ive never in my life had a drive (and enclosure) I could cook my breakfast on.

60 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite styling and a lot of space, April 4, 2007

By 

John Woods "TObject" (San Diego, CA, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

Seagate really did a great job styling this external hard drive. FreeAgent Pro is a work of art. The top part is slick contoured with sides made from what looks like anodized brushed aluminum. Bisecting the top part is a plastic surface, thin on the vertical edges and widening at the top, the surface lights up in amber when the drive is operational. There is also a cut-out Seagate logo that also lights up in that same amber color.

The base is plastic with semi-translucent upper surface. You are not supposed to separate the top and the base during normal drive operations.

The drive comes preloaded with installation of FreeAgent Tools. You can install this utility on Windows 2000, XP or Vista (it will not install on Windows 2003), or you can use the drive straight, without the utility.

Out of the box, the 750 GB Seagate FreeAgent Pro drive has 749,856,440,32 bytes of free space (698 GB).

The preferred way to use the drive, I haven't tried yet, is probably via the faster eSATA interface. I use this drive via USB with included USB cable. Seagate offers no drivers for this drive. It should work with drivers already installed in your operation system. Some USB hubs will not work; if at all possible try using USB ports directly on the back of your computer.

Also choose USB 2.0 ports if your computer has both USB 2.0 and older USB ports. Older USB ports may work. But if the interface is too slow you may stast seeing "Delayed Write Failed" errors (you can try to correct those by increasing the TimeOutValue in registry in the KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Disk key - always be careful with registry modifications, make backups beforehand).

In rare cases some third party software or hardware you installed on you your computer before, may replace or interfere with disk drivers. Look into that possibility if you are having problems.

Now for some negatives I found about this drive.

First, the power switch; it's not a switch at all but a specially marked place on the base where you place your finger, the FreeAgent detects it. I think this is where Seagate has over engineered a little bit. This is very modern and everything, but there is no positive response to the user; it is often hard to figure out, was the button pressed or not.

The whole turning off - turning on situation is a little bit flaky. Sometimes the drive will not turn on (usually it turns on when you plug the USB cable). Then you have to unplug all the cables, including the power cable, and try again.

If the drive is left connected to the computer via USB all time, some commuters get stuck during their initial BIOS loading sequence. That is probably the computer's fault. If you have one of those, then just don't keep the FreeAgent plugged in all the time.

The biggest issue I have with the drive - they forgot to include the drive access light. Yep, that blinking light that lights up when the drive is reading or writing is not there.

Overall I am pleased with this external hard drive. It looks very good. It is quiet. It will allow me to upgrade to eSATA interface from USB. It's big.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars In Response to Carol..., July 18, 2007

By 

Jay Chen (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB 3.5" USB 2.0/eSATA External Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

In response to Carol's posting, who wrote:
"You get only a short trial period, then the only utility that you can use is the diagnostic utility. "

Actually, the activation code for the software is included with the FreeAgent Pro, so it's the full software. It's in the startup manual that came with the drive.