Seagate 1TB USB 2.0 FREEAGENT EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE - SILVER Review

I purchased a Seagate FreeAgent 1TB Desktop External Hard Drive to serve as a backup drive.  I have not been a big fan of Seagate hard drives in recent years due to quality issues, but the price was right and the 5-year limited warranty definitely helps (most external hard drives from other vendors have a 1-year or less warranty!).  I addition to my regular backup schedule (RAID for real-time; daily off-site), I connect this drive weekly or bi-weekly, syncronize my data, and then store it locally to have on hand just in case I need to recover something from the last week or so.  I purchased this drive in late May 2009 and have not had any issues with is so far.  I don't leave it connected and running all of the time, but its speed and performance as an external backup drive fit my needs, even when the drive is encrypted.  I don't use or recommend the included software, so I cannot comment on it but do use and recommend several free applications including DSyncronize.  Also, the total formatted capacity is 931GB, so plan accordingly if you need more space.  The prices on storage are dropping, but always think about how to back it all up.  Also, be sure to keep more than one backup of critical data since hard drives can fail at any time with little or no warning!