Customer Reviews

Seagate ST307504FPA1E3-RK FreeAgent Pro 750 GB USB/eSATA/FireWire400 External Hard Drive

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

I really like Seagate products and have always had great luck with them. This is a good storage option for the money, IMO. It's currently attached to my mac fileserver. A few things that may help you out:

hardware:
- The case styling isn't done justice in photos. It's compu-robo-sexy, Darth Vader meets Tron, w00t!

- runs cool, fast, and is basically silent. Typical Seagate (in my experience). The triple interface is nice, but the screw-on interchangeable plates were a bit of a surprise. I've tried all 3 interfaces on mac, windows, and linux boxes, and all work.

- No data write/access lights! The light is either on, dim (drive is sleeping), or off (drive off).

- the power switch is interesting. It takes several finger-swipes to get it to work usually.

Software:
I knew about lack of mac support when i bought it, so there were few surprises. FYI,

- The software to change sleep and light settings is windows-only (this isn't conveyed in the documentation or marketing). The drive can settings can be changed if the drive format isn't recognized by windows (I currently have the drive formatted HFS+, and can still modify the settings when I attach the drive to my XP box).

- The backup software is also windows-only. It comes with Memeo, which is available on the mac, and it seems silly that it is not included, even if less powerful than it's windows counterpart. I've scripted my own backup, but it'd be nice to have prebundled mac options, or an OEM-free cheaper option. Memeo isn't really great software, I avoid it.

UPDATE: June 19, '08
My drive is still humming along fine. Upgraded the firmware; ESATA's working at properly, For whomever asked, my mac is a tibook with a seritek ESATA card. Also, in my configuration, I never let this drive sleep.

However - I think Seagate has serious quality control issues given the range of experiences people have posted here and elsewhere on the web. In the future I will not be buying another of these drives.

UPDATE: Oct 28, '11
ESATA finally started acting flaky. AFAIK nothing on my system changed or was updated. The drive is healthy and accessible, but ESATA speeds have dropped to the ranges others have seen. I'm going to crack the case and put the drive in a tower or external enclosure. Dropping my rating.

I bought one of these at Costco. I could not get the SATA connection to work with my MacBook Pro. I'm running a Firmtek PC Express Card SATA interface which works fine with Seagate's older model SATA-only external drive. I contacted Seagate and they said I had a defective drive and I should exchange it. I did, and I had the exact same problem with the new unit. Mac's disk utility could not recognize the drive when connected via SATA, but everything worked fine via USB or Firewire. In fact, if I kept the Free Agent Pro connected via SATA too long, my MacBook Pro would crash (and NOTHING else has ever made it crash). I let Seagate know that the second drive crashed my Mac just like the first one. That was two weeks ago, and I don't think I'm going to get a reply. I notice a reviewer says he tried all three interfaces on a Mac. I would like to know what Mac and what SATA adapter he used. Firmtek (the maker of my SATA adapter) says they have received the same report I just gave from other users, and they have also made Seagate aware of the SATA problem on their Free Agent Pro triple interface models. Firmtek is run by former Apple folks, so I would expect their stuff to work with Macs. So until I'm convinced that this works via SATA with a Mac, I'd say this was a good USB or Firewire Drive (especially at $195 including rebate at Costco - special offer ended last week). That's probably good enough for most folks who buy this, since SATA is fairly new. But if you have a Mac and need to connect via SATA, watch out. This review applies to Macs only. I don't know how well the SATA connection works with a PC.

I purchased this hard disc drive (HDD) for backups and external storage. It's primary use is the storage of audio/visual materials ranging from original recordings (up to 64 tracks) to videos (primarily of horses and riders). I dabble in a number of activities, all of which seem to generate vast amounts of data. My primary computer is a laptop so internal storage is limited.

This HDD not only sets up, installs, and operates exactly as advertised, I recently observed a friend's identical drive take a 4 foot drop from a work table to a concrete garage floor while being accessed (he was running a karaoke contest and ALL of his tracks are on the Seagate)! It not only worked flawlessly, it continued to do so ever since! I fully expected it to crash the head, killing the drive and all its contents. I was pleasantly surprised, though. Note, I don't recommend EVER treating a HDD this way but it's sure nice to know this one is robust enough to take harder than usual treatment.

As to the look and finish of the product, it's outstanding. The case is sleek and elegant. The speed of the drive is excellent with its spin up time nominal. You can adjust the "go to sleep" timout via the included software as well as the use of the built-in light. Sometimes I want it to just be dark (e.g. at a party or karaoke contest) - other times I like the night-light effect of the soft amber light strip.

I can't speak to the other software included since I don't use it to back up my system. I use a disc imaging software that I like and see no reason to change from. However, I expect the backup software works as well as all the other features.

The only slightly annoying facet of the software is that it auto-installs and then requires some effort to disable so it doesn't clutter up my system. I'm a software developer and am very sensitive to what is loaded at boot time on my system. However, this is a minor inconveniece.

In conclusion, this is a great HDD. I've always had great experience with Seagate and, since this HDD comes with a 5-year limited warranty (the best I've seen at anywhere near this price range), I expect this HDD to perform flawlessly for at least that long. I've had bad experiences with other manufacturers and that's why I intentionally bought Seagate.

I read many reviews before I actually bought this and I'd like to comment on the validity of some of the statements made in previous reviews.

0) Yes it's really not 750GB (... gigabytes, note the upper case B) when you look at properties under My Computers, it's really 698GB (=750Gb... gigabits... note the lower case b)
1) It's very quiet, which is true.
2) Very little vibration, which is true. Compared to my other hdd (internal Seagate 400GB converted into external with enclosure), this hdd is amazing in that it doesnt really vibrate. Maybe part of the reason is that the base is suspended with 4 rubber footing.
3) Many say they have a problem waking it up after system goes to standby which is also true. I ran this hdd on XP pro, XP home and Vista home basic. On each system, when the system wakes up from standby or hibernation, the hdd just doesnt light up. The only solution to this is unplug the power and plug it back in.
4) As for the software, previously mentioned by one of the reviewers, the serial number is within the pamphlet therefore it's not a trial version (full without paying additional $30)
5) Temperature wise, many say it runs cool or warm... I have no idea what they're talking about... even when in idle (meaning the usb is not plugged into anything and the amber light doesnt light up), the base of the unit is EXTREMELY hot. This is because the heat sink of the unit is integrated with the base so the base becomes extremely hot. When I transferred 400GB of data onto this hdd, the hdd itself became really hot. I'd say hot enough compared to the porcelain tea cups when you pour hot tea into it. As for normal use (plugged in and accessing it from time to time), I think it run warm.
6) Some people stated that the power switch is tricky. I personally havent had a problem with the power switch. Since the switch itself is not mechanical, I can see how some people may feel uncomfortable with it. The switch is an infrared sensor similar to the iMac computers back in 2001.

Because of the heat of the unit, I give this device only 4 stars because I expected this unit to run much cooler. I haven't really tested out the eSATA and the Firewire so I'm unable to comment on the performance of those interface.

Despite the reviews claiming this drive fails with macs, and is impossible to shut off, i trusted in Seagate thanks to a long history of long-lived internal drives. At first reformatting for mac was strange, then i realized that in the disk utility you have to select the drive's highest label in the tree rather than the FreeAgent label that only allows for read access. Once you select the upper segment of the tree you can reformat in about 15 seconds.

The drive is quiet, interesting to look at and unobtrusive. I am using it via firewire simply to save the USB ports on my macbook pro for other peripherals, but i initially used it via USB and it worked fine though i didn't put it through its paces much. The IEEE/USB/eSATA attachments are easy to interchange, all you need is a dime.

The power button people complain about is indeed weird at first, it's not really a button, but it senses when your finger is pressed to it for a moment and you can hear the drive *click* as it begins to shut down. On startup you simply plug in the cable and it powers on automatically if your computer is already running. This has been my experience at least via firewire and with my laptop running Apple's new Leopard OSX. All is well, time machine runs smoothly, and i'm very happy with my purchase!

I have two HP Media Center computers on which I am doing multiple audio-visual projects, which consume enormous amounts of space. So, I decided to purchase two Seagate, 750 gb drives (one each for my two computers) on the advise of a friend. I used the Firewire option to connect to the computers. Besides being very attractive (they light up when in use, by emiting a very pleasing, yellow-orange glow along the margin) they more than satisfy my requirements. All in all, I am quite pleased with the drives, and heartily endorse their purchase: and they are affordably priced.

I bought this product on 3/14/08 and now I'm stuck with it. I'm past Fry's 30 day return period and to exercise the 5 year warranty, I thought was an advantage, I have to pay to ship the drive to Seagate to get a new one. A 12% charge to exercise a warranty isn't my idea of customer service, especially when I have no confidence I won't be doing this again.

I first started encountering Windows inpage errors, the solution to which Seagate support said was to format the drive and start over. After a half dozen of these I started getting Windows delayed write errors. When I ran the FreeAgent diagnostics they returned a diagnostic error 9DE8C943 with text indicating the drive was bad. Now I find out it's Seagate policy that customers pay to use their warranty. 1 star is generous.

I needed a big and fast drive.

The eSATA interface and the Seagate reputation, plus the 5 years warranty, convinced me to buy it.

Alas...

The speed over eSATA is a bit over 20 MB/sec.

Wrote to Seagate and was reassured, that their eSATA implementation is real.

Today I could not stand it anymore, opened the drive, destroying the case (there is no way to open it nicely, don't try if you are not ready to say good bye to the box) and plugged it directly to the internal SATA interface of the eSATA PCI card I used.

Surprise, surprise, the speed went to beyond 50 MB/sec.

No idea if Seagate limit the speed intentionally, or what, but if you expect eSATA speed, you are wrong.

THE GOOD

a) Looks/feels very good.

b) Works great over USB 2.0.

c) Extremely well done case. Under the tin case there is an extremely (!) hard thick plastic case and the drive itself is packed in a robust metal box. So don't worry about damaging the drive even if you press/hit the case (have in mind, though, that operational shock resistance is lower than the non-operational).

BOTTOM LINE

Great drive for home/office use, where USB 2.0 speed is enough and beauty/style is desired. The 5 years warranty is not to be forgotten. However, if you are a professional, or demand a fast drive, look elsewhere.

I had been using SimpleTech USB/Firewires drives for backing up my Mac workstation drives, but problems
with availablity drove me to try this Seagate 750Gb drive. It works great, and I bought three more. I've had
them in use for 3-4 months now, with nary a problem. Reformatting them to Mac took about 30 seconds
using the OSX disk utility.

Caveat - a few days after I wrote the following, using the firewire, I had two disk lockups, where the disk stopped responding - in one case I heard clicks from the drive. Each time I was doing multiple IO to the drive. A reboot of my laptop fixed the lockups in both cases.

So, I change my review from what I initially wrote - My firewire doesn't work reliably when more than 1 client's accessing the drive. So I'm back to using USB, where this was never a problem.

Take this info for what it's worth. Maybe it's a fluke, and only my system has unreliable firewire during multiple client accesses of the drive.

Fortunately, the USB still works fine - but I wish I hadn't forked out the extra money for the firewire.

Here's my original review (those were halcyon days, I tell you) ...

Mine works great. Easy installation. Both the USB and firewire function. Quiet. Gets warm, not hot. I've had it loaded up to 650gb. I leave it running. It shuts down when my laptop shuts down, comes back up just fine.

The light - ahh - if you don't like lights, you have to install the Seagate included SW to turn off the light. I disinstalled mine as it included backup SW I didn't want (I bought Acronis backup SW - as I found I like Acronis better.) Now my light's on - apparently forever. Oh well. Hmmmm ... I could reinstall the Seagate utility SW just to turn off the light - nawwwww.