Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 3.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive in Black STAA1000101

I have purchased dozens of external Hard Drives over the years, and watched the specs go up, and the prices come down, just like everything else in technology. I have gone from disappointed, to moderately satisfied, and have dealt with all the issues that most of us have. For example, drives that are supposed to run just from the USB bus, but really just barely. Ones that are supposed to run off of USB, and need the double USB cable, taking up two USB ports, or ones that are supposed to run without an adapter, but just don't at all! Also, drives that have power adapters included (which sort of takes the convenience of a portable drive, and greatly diminishes it).This drive is the first one I can actually rave about. I checked reviews on every top manufacturer, and what really appealed to me, before ordering, was the "GoFlex." I ordered it with USB 3.0, knowing I could, if I chose to, add a Firewire 800 (1394), or eSATA interface later. That, with the incredible price on a 1 TB ultra-portable had my attention.Well, no turning back! The drive is small, incredibly quiet, works perfectly off USB, and is really fast. I do not even have USB 3.0 support on any of my computers, but since it is backwards compatible with USB 2.0, it works perfectly. There are some mixed reviews of the Firewire 800 adapter, and specifically, that it runs too hot. I am hoping that is resolved quickly, as I would have ordered it already, but USB 3.0, and the flexibility of the GoFlex system made it a non-issue. I was about to purchase the brand new 3TB Apple Time Capsule (new as of June 2011) to replace a first generation 1TB Time Capsule, but now, I would just get the new Apple Airport Extreme, and rely on a GoFlex drive, and save 50% of the $500 "Apple Tax," without any reservations.If you need a very small ultra-portable HD, and like the fact that you have an edge on upgrading the interface, rather then putting it in the closet when you need something faster, this is for you! Also, since there seems to be a battle brewing over USB 3.0 versus the new Thunderbolt interface, you can grab one of these, in whatever size you need, and know you will be able to use it for a while, with FORWARD compatibility, something that is not usually the case. Remember the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD battle? Nobody wanted to waste money on the format that might lose, for both equipment, and media. With this drive, you can buy a few large ones, and not worry. Right now, you can choose USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Firewire 800, or eSATA, and add adapters as needed. I am sure they will add a Thunderbolt adapter shortly, for those of you lucky enough to grab a brand new Mac. Great job Seagate!UPDATE: I liked this drive so much, I did proceed with buying the Firewire 800 adapter. Part of the reason I needed the original drive was I had to move around a specific 120G file, multiple times. As I was thrilled with the drive, I figured adding the speed of the Firewire 800 adapter could only make me like it more. I was right. It is a speed demon, and when moving my 120G+ file with USB 2.0 (My Macs have only USB 2.0 & Firewire 800) I had to walk away, and come back. Now, I can easily just wait. Can you imagine, the difference in speed and size over the last decade? Moving around 120G+ file, on an ultra-portable, bus powered mini-drive in a few short minutes? And, I have 800G+ left over to work with! I will be adding more adapters, and probably the 1.5TB model shortly, and can now, for the first time, say I have all my data storage bases covered.2nd UPDATE: Seagate made a press release a few months ago confirming that they are absolutely working on a Thunderbolt adapter for the GoFlex series! [...]3rd UPDATE: I did end up with a MacBook Pro with USB 3.0, and Thunderbolt support. I now love these drives even more, and have added another. I have one ready to transfer huge files on the fly between my MacBooks and my iMac. These machines are all networked and I use an Apple 802.ac WiFi device (new Time Capsule) and I can very easily move files with my network, but now that I sometimes work with really large files, sometimes it is easier to use these for transfers. I have one plugged right into a Time Capsule, so it made my 3 GB into a 4 GB, and I keep the other handy for transfers and data just to important to trust only a cloud. I use Dropbox which I think is great plus both Apple & Amazon cloud services, but I have gone through losing stuff to crashed hard drives just one too many times. Now with SSD drives in my MacBook Pro plus Time Capsule backups AND clouds, I know that my really important stuff - might just be a picture - but whatever it is, I will always have it backed up. The GoFlex design is exactly what I wanted, totally future proof. Years after my initial review, I am using them with USB 3.0, FireWire, and now that I have a Thunderbolt port, I need to convert at least one drive to Thunderbolt. Not relevant to a review of the the drive itself, but Thunderbolt is keeping me happy too. I added an Apple Thunderbolt 27" display to my MacBook Pro and it is is better then any desktop I ever had. I have the power of the MacBook Pro with the awesome display, but can grab the laptop and put it in my briefcase in 30 seconds. Now I just have to add a 4k display!!!

I have this in the older 2.0, and got this 3.0 as I needed more storage. It has a slightly thicker USB cord than the 2.0 drive. When I tried to use it, it demanded I register immediately (that was ok) then install the dashboard, software, and allow it to connect to the internet when it wanted. This was NOT ok. I keep work and research on it and can not use a 'smart' drive that connects without permission. I was worried about deleting the software and dashboard, possibly making it unusable.I contacted Seagate, got a person after a short wait, and after telling her I need a 'dumb' drive that stores data without connecting and doing other things, she said I could format it, which would remove everything on it, and it would still work perfectly fine as a dumb drive. I saved the owner's manual and registration folder, then she had me back out to 'My Computer' and highlight the drive, right click on it, then click 'Format'. It took less than 30 seconds to format. I was then told if I ever wanted the dashboard and software again, I could download it free.I now have a very nice dumb drive that works perfectly. I can play and read stored media in it easily, like the training/education videos, DVD's and PDF's I use and show, by connecting the USB to a computer or player. Seagate customer support is excellent. Fingerprints come off the glossy surface with a dry soft cloth. It has a 18" cord, but since I usually have it on top of, or next to the computer or player, it's not a problem for me. The cord disconnects from the drive, so I'll probably check with Seagate to see if there would be a problem using a high quality 3' cord.I am very pleased with this drive, and intend to get another later. I recommend this as an easy backup drive, as it doesn't need a power cord, just plug in the USB and transfer. You can read PDF's RTF's, docs, and store and play videos without having to transfer them to a computer.

The USB 3 interface makes this drive very fast. Transfer speeds around 60MB/sec - similar to eSATA! Design of the case seems sturdy, but it is wider than the older design, which I preferred. The USB 3 cord is a little short but it is very flexible and easy to use - I have seen others that are very stiff and awkward.I did run into a serious problem with this drive when using the optional eSATA cable. When using eSATA, the drive would disconnect after about 8 minutes of use. Searching Internet forums showed that I was not alone. Seagate tech support was of no help and I ended up returning the drive and eSATA cable. At first I thought my computer had a bad eSATA port and I even purchased a new eSATA cable and another motherboard. In the end it seems that there are eSATA compatablity problems.If you intend to use only USB 3 interface, this drive may be good for you, but don't rely on the eSATA capability. I might note that eSATA did work ok on my neighbor's computer, so it is hardware dependent.