I have been using this portable 500GB drive since more than a year and its real handy to backup files or save big files. It uses usb 2.0 connectivity and its good for regular use. However, the newer ones makes use of usb 3.0 which has a faster rate of transfer of data. I think the cost of this will further go down this year and in line with Moore's law.This year for the same cost, I can but almost double the memory with usb3.0 connectivity. So, bear this is mind when considering your memory needs.

btzhingi

Herndon, VA

I want to start out with the CONS I have with this product.  It comes with Replica (auto backup software).  That was one of the reasons we liked this model over other brands that we looked at.  It seemed like a great idea to have our computer backed up continuously.  We quickly found out, at least on our PC, that it caused more problems than it was worth.  Our system began running very sluggishly and our computer began having problems.  Once we stopped the Replica, everything was fine again. The other con is that we also own a Mac and Seagates come ready to be used on one computer (PC).  If you want to be able to use it on a Mac as well as a PC, you must format it before using it.  We weren't aware of that before we backed up our PC so we learned the hard way.   Other than that, I like the design/appearance of this.  I don't feel as though it is too clunky or ugly to leave on our computer desk.  It holds A TON of files and information.  Seagate is a good name and I trust their products to store my information.

chellelee7

Ogden, UT

Just like the title says. The cool thing about this drive is its quiet no noise has a nice usb port on the back or the bottom. It also comes with a nice dock that the drive sits upwards. No bloatware installed on the drive like other hard drives such as western digital. The only annoyance with this drive might be the dock using 2 usb connectors. I havent tried to see if this will accept 1 usb cable going from the dock to the pc. All in all this drive does the job, write speeds could be better but this is great for running a backup using norton ghost. The warranty is 5 years as opposed to the larger drives offered by seagate. I actually bought this for 19.00 so I am not complaining what so ever. I am not sure about the RPM speed of the drive. Another cool feature I forgot to mention is the drive has little dots that light up, and turn off and on when the drive is not in use after a couple of minutes. This drive comes formatted in ntfs so those that are mac users will be able to use the drive,  but for timemachine you will have to format this drive to HFS.

phraser

Bellflower, CA

I'm an amateur photographer who has lots of pictures.  Pictures of vacations, family, pets, you name it.  I already have one storage device that I've been filling up and wanted a second one.  We all know someone who knows someone whose storage device failed and lost everything because they did have a backup of a backup. My dad fancys himself a techie so we went through the reviews together and opted to go with a known brand and product.  Seagate is well known for its products. One caveat, every product out there has a lemon or two.  USB drives are no exception.  As the saying goes, to err is human.  To really foul up requires a computer.  So far, this product has done what its supposed to do, which is store pictures and backups.  I have another drive, a Toshiba.  Its backup program drives me bananas so I've not even tried the Seagate one.  I just hook it up with the USB cable then copy / paste to the storage device.

Karsan

Wichita, KS

The Seagate FreeAgent Go Flex 1 TB works great. It's really quiet with just a brief, low tone when it is backing up information from my computer. Having a MAC Air with a limited capacity for hardware, software, and data, having the 1 TB externally is really worthwhile. Plus, since it has one USB to plug in, it can be put on an external multiple drive connector and all is well. It has provided an efficient way, in particular, to store huge amounts of data for statistical analysis as well as the software package used to do those analyses. I had heard that it glows on the underneath of the unit to show it is storing data, but I have not seen that (actually heard it is a blue flashing light). Instead I know it is completing it's tasks with the low tone of backing up data. The other feature I like most about the Seagate FreeAgent Go Flex 1 TB is that for as much as it stores, the unit itself is small and compact. I put it under my desktop screen and it's hardly visable.

zenarudo

Austin, TX

This external hard drive has proven safe, reliable, and secure for all our family needs.  There are more than 3000 photographs, 200 multipage MS processing documents, and more on it!  It is also easy to accommodate travel.  Because the Free agent hard drive only needs a USB port, the hard drive can be moved from work station to work station, home office to work office, and vice versa.  The hard drive also can sit at your work station like a desktop tower or on top of your work station, taking up only air space instead of work space.  There is no limit to what this hard drive can hold.  Photographs, videos, MSword documents, media files, movies, itunes libraries, and more can easily fit onto this hard drive and make your computer organization both easy to use and faster.  I chose this hard drive over an internal hard drive because of its ability to move from work station to work station and from my home and work office. 

ahmckennon83

Graham, NC

To be honest with you, I had never heard Seagate or any of their products before my adult son brought this home for me. "Mom, you never back up your computer and when it dies, you lose everything. Try this." I had no idea what it was so I did what anyone in my position would do, I took it out of the box and plugged it in to my computer. Right into the USP port on the front of my computer, nothing special, and watched as things popped up on my computer screen. One screen popped up to tell me that it was going to back up everything on my computer and that it would likely take a long for this, the first time I ran it, but each time after that it wouldn't take that long to do. It did take a long time, about 10 hours if I remember correctly, but everything was there, on this little thing about the size of the oversided desks of cards that I used to get my kids when they were small, and about 1/3 as thick. I have since done backups and they only take minutes because the initial backup was done, like they said. I think this is the handiest thing since sliced bread! I'll never have to worry about losing all my pictures again (I literally have thousands on my computer) and it's so small I can put it in my purse. Fantastic!

jchllm

Wills Point, TX

The Seagate FreeAgent Pro 500 is Fast and efficient, doesn't require a separate power supply as it gets its power from the same usb connection that the data flows through. It runs cool and quiet. It has a large capacity in a small package. Looks professional. In pretty much all aspects this drive has exceeded my expectations.

darhack

Garland, TX