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Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive Review Summary

Seagate Technologies is a well respected name in the computer hard drive business and together with Western Digital dominates the retail market for hard drives. The company’s FreeAgent 500GB Desktop Portable Hard Drive is one of its premiere offerings. Most of our reviewers agree that the sleek black/red-encased hard drive is “affordable, useful, and stylish,” and is just what the computer doctor ordered to cure their storage needs. One reviewer said of the FreeAgent 500GB Desktop Portable Hard Drive: “I have recommended these professionally to numerous customers of mine,” while another reviewer simply stated “it's a great device.” This small portable hard drive with a rated capacity of 500GB can be used with either a PC or MAC, and can be connected to your computer via a high-speed USB 2.0 cable. Our reviewers highly recommend this portable hard drive for its reliability, performance, versatility and affordable price-point. Read what our reviews have to say about this product as well as the Seagate FreeAgent 250GB Hard Drive and Seagate 750GB USB/Firewire hard drives.
43% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 5 stars
43% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 5 stars%
43%
21% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 4 stars
21% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 4 stars%
21%
15% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 3 stars
15% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 3 stars%
15%
14% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 2 stars
14% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 2 stars%
14%
7% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 1 star
7% of people rated Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive as 1 star%
7%
71% 71% of people recommend Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive 29% of people don't recommend Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard Drive 29%
 

Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External Hard... Comparison

5 star rating Most Helpful
Favorable Review
Affordable storage from THE in name storage
APR
5
2008

Bottom-Line: If you want a small footprint, high capacity, affordable external hard drive from a name you can trust, look no further than the Seagate FreeAgent 500GB HHD.        

Can one ever have enough storage space?  I say no, one can always find a use for space and with the prices for hard...

 review »
Moderator
comfortable with technology, a IT Professional

TheBard
Aurora, IL
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1 star rating Most Helpful
Critical Review
Do NOT buy this drive!
APR
15
2008

 

The backup software, Free Agent, that comes with this drive is below 21st century standards. It cannot see either "Documents and Settings" or "Program Files". What gives? Yes it can see "My Documents", but that's it. What, I don't have data from Quicken, Money, or other software? Do I ONLY have data...

 review »
reviewer
a PC User, long-time computer user

jaxjohnny
Jacksonville, FL
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Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 500 GB USB External... Ratings and Reviews

items/page: 15 | 30 | 50 displaying 1 to 12 of 14 sort by: most helpful | date | rating


2
helpful
votes
Finally. An (affordable) place for all my files to co-habitate.
value conscious, a new parent, a computer junkie, a gadget geek, an avid photographer

SEP
15
2007
My photos and videos have been living astranged for quite some time, spread across a half-dozen different hard drives -- and then put in a second location on said drives, for fear of a hard drive crash. The problem was bad enough, but about to get a lot worse with the arrival of my first child.

Initially, I was planning to get a NAS (network-attached-storage). The initial idea is compelling -- just throw the box of harddrives off into a corner of your home office, and live in peace while everyone in the family gets to access your files. But there are problems. They are noisy, and and they are... review »
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read 1 comment
4 star rating
reviewer
Jace
Chicago, IL



2
helpful
votes
USEFUL and necessary
value conscious, comfortable with technology, a long-time comptuer user, in favor of LOTS of storage, Mac user

NOV
17
2007
With computers - especially laptops - it's not a matter of if your computer will crash and burn, but when, so it's really unwise not to have an external hard drive. As a Mac user (pre-Leopard OS), it is unfortunate that you need to buy a program to use this external drive (for PC-users, it's just plug and play), but other than that, it's a great device.
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read 1 comment
4 star rating
reviewer
icon23
New York, NY



1
helpful
vote
Easy storage
a techie

MAY
3
2008
Well, since I bought this external drive back during the summer of 2007, I have had no problems whatsoever and have also found that the quality of the drive is nothing to be looked down on. I have my computer and external drive running about 18-24 hours a day 7 days a week and have not noticed any problems or changes in the external drives run time, transfer speeds, or failure.  The unit remains completely cool even after running for these long periods of time.  This is a definite must have for backing up data and information.
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5 star rating
reviewer
bullethiro
Seattle, WA



1
helpful
vote
5 Year warranty and all this space - how can you not love it?
a techie

MAR
1
2008
I have recommended these professionally to numerous customers of mine.  Prior to Seagate the best warranty was a year.  They build a very reliable product so you may never need to use the warranty.

At these prices I can purchase another for redundancy.  Most people don't have a redundant disk in the first place on their computer, this would become their redundant disk.

One a gamer note: these can be plugged right into a PS3 for Plug and Play upgrade.
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5 star rating
reviewer 2008 Contributor
scottmage
Clearfield, UT



D
Functions well
fear hard drive crashes

APR
11
2009

I have owned the Seagate Freeagent 500 GB external hard drive for 2 years.  It has always worked very well.  I've had no problems with backing up my data to it, and file transfers go quickly.  After having my former external drive crash after less than a year's use, I have been much happier with the Seagate.  It's capacity allows me to store a great deal of data on it, reserving my laptop's memory for the stuff I more frequently use.  The only reason I gave the Seagate Freeagent drive 3 stars is because of its design.  The base of it provides stability, but is about 3 times the width of the...

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3 star rating
reviewer
MsNelson
Honolulu, HI



D
regret to have bought this

SEP
17
2008
I got this on sale at fry's and it was a mistake. It was working okay at home. When I had to go back to school and ground ship this along with many other things it stop workng when it arrived. My other external hard drive from maxtor worked fine. Both were shipped in the same condition. Yet the seagate decided not to even turn on. I called for tech support and it wasn't helpful at all so I asked my friend and he just replaced the casing.
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2 star rating
reviewer
calgirl06
Berkeley, CA



D
Fast and stylish external harddrive!
value conscious, a computer junkie, a long-time comptuer user, a huge fan of Seagate drives, budget-conscious

NOV
21
2007
The Seagate FreeAgent external drive is perhaps the best drive I have ever owned.  It is so quiet that I cannot hear any sounds from it unless I put my ear right up to it.  It does not run hot, like I was afraid it would.  It is fast!!  Best of all, it is inexpensive and comes with a 5-year warranty!!!
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5 star rating
reviewer
hotrod77
Camby, IN



D
An essential piece of equipment for ANY computer user
an avid photographer, value conscious

NOV
16
2007
I am not a computer techno-geek but love this piece of equipment. It provides me with reassurance that my kids pictures will be there if my hard-drive crashes. It is easy to use and reliable thus far.  It is small enough not to be obtrusive  and quiet in operation.
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5 star rating
reviewer
mom22ninos
Chapel Hill, NC



D
Some trouble with the system crashes without cause
long-time computer user

JAN
20
2008

 

Check out this posting at arewold.wordpress.com/2007/08/27/having-problems-with-the-seagate-freeagent-500-gb-external-disk-drive

Some issues with the drive suddenly stops working - I lost 300GB of data.....
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2 star rating
reviewer
geiro
Abbott, TX



D
typical external hard drive
always online, a techie

JUL
16
2008
This hard drive runs a little hot.  It is just as noisy as the rest of the market.  I would like the cache to be a litle larger, but you get what you paid for.  Software is horrible, and I can't even use it.
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3 star rating
reviewer
tonyhart
San Diego, CA



D
Great hard drive. I highly recommend it

FEB
15
2008
I've owned this product for over a year and don't have any problems with it so far. It also comes with a 5 year warranty so I'm safe if it does crash. The drive is pretty quiet and the price is affordable.
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5 star rating
reviewer 2008 Contributor
rin
Ontario, CA



D
To Good To Resist
long-time computer user

MAR
10
2008
It is excellent and useful and best to keep your data safe.
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4 star rating
reviewer
Sanjeev
Parsippany, NJ



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