Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750GB External FireWire 400/USB 2.0/eSATA Hard Drive
Seagate
- ST307504FPA1E3-RK
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Reviews
(16)
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I bought this drive for my DirecTV HR20 to extend its recording capability from 50hrs to almost 150hrs and the drive has been on continuously for 1 year without issue.
Since the HR20 always has a live buffer recording regardless of if the receiver is on or off, the hard drive never turns off and is always recording video data. So think about it, that's 24/7/365 that my drive has been running and recording straight and it's never failed me once. I'd say that's pretty rock solid.
Setup is a snap -- just plug in the drive, connect the eSATA cable to the drive and then your HR20, then turn on the HR20 and presto -- almost triple the recording capacity!
It's been nice to not have to worry about how many DVR recordings I have saved. And I've even had a couple power failures, and everything's come back and rebooted on its own with no lost recordings or glitches. So I have to say, I'm more than happy with the purchase!!
And if you're wanting this for your computer, I think it's a pretty
Since the HR20 always has a live buffer recording regardless of if the receiver is on or off, the hard drive never turns off and is always recording video data. So think about it, that's 24/7/365 that my drive has been running and recording straight and it's never failed me once. I'd say that's pretty rock solid.
Setup is a snap -- just plug in the drive, connect the eSATA cable to the drive and then your HR20, then turn on the HR20 and presto -- almost triple the recording capacity!
It's been nice to not have to worry about how many DVR recordings I have saved. And I've even had a couple power failures, and everything's come back and rebooted on its own with no lost recordings or glitches. So I have to say, I'm more than happy with the purchase!!
And if you're wanting this for your computer, I think it's a pretty
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1. The orange stripe you're seeing in the picture is a light that cannot be turned off. Do not buy this hard drive if you're going to be putting it in your bedroom or other location where you don't want a permanent orange glow.
2. The drive's center of gravity is high and its base is narrow. It is about as easy to topple as an unopened beer bottle. Do not buy this hard drive if you're going to be placing it around where living things move.
3. The power connector fits only loosely. Do not buy this hard drive if the power cord will be in the vicinity of moving things.
4. My drive died. Do not buy this drive if you'll be storing valuable data on it (fortunately I wasn't).
5. The power sensor (it's not a button) is an inferior original design that essentializes this drive's fundamental problem: practical considerations were sacrificed to marketing consideration--the drive was designed primarily to have good numbers on paper and look cool when viewed online.
I wouldn't have bought this
2. The drive's center of gravity is high and its base is narrow. It is about as easy to topple as an unopened beer bottle. Do not buy this hard drive if you're going to be placing it around where living things move.
3. The power connector fits only loosely. Do not buy this hard drive if the power cord will be in the vicinity of moving things.
4. My drive died. Do not buy this drive if you'll be storing valuable data on it (fortunately I wasn't).
5. The power sensor (it's not a button) is an inferior original design that essentializes this drive's fundamental problem: practical considerations were sacrificed to marketing consideration--the drive was designed primarily to have good numbers on paper and look cool when viewed online.
I wouldn't have bought this
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I came across this drive by accident - I had bought a Western Digital WDG2TP10000N My Book Pro Edition II 1 TB USB/Firewire Triple Interface External Hard Drive to attach to an old PC I wanted to use as a file server on my home network, and as I know from experience that if you try to ensure data security you can't go far enough, I felt a solution that let me back up the backups was necessary. Apart from my own tax and legal documents, I used to work in telecommunications, and that means that under FCC rules, I have to hang on to certain information for 30(!) years.
The Western Digital unit I set up for RAID 1, which means it mirrors the data across both its drives, which reduces the size from 1 terabyte to 500 gigabytes. I figured the Seagate would complement that beautifully, and I'd be able to store non-current files there, as well. But when I received the first drive, I found out there was an eSata interface , running at much higher speeds than the Western Digital's Firewire, which
The Western Digital unit I set up for RAID 1, which means it mirrors the data across both its drives, which reduces the size from 1 terabyte to 500 gigabytes. I figured the Seagate would complement that beautifully, and I'd be able to store non-current files there, as well. But when I received the first drive, I found out there was an eSata interface , running at much higher speeds than the Western Digital's Firewire, which
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Don't buy this drive! I bought it because I got a good price on it and it has a sleek look.
It worked for a couple hours then died basically. Data couldn't be copied to it. Restarted everything and it is no longer being recognized. Tried 2 other computers and it doesn't work.
Tried Seagate's troubleshooting tips and to no avail. Based on their customer service's reputation, I am just gonna return this waste of a cruddy thing. Buyer beware...
It worked for a couple hours then died basically. Data couldn't be copied to it. Restarted everything and it is no longer being recognized. Tried 2 other computers and it doesn't work.
Tried Seagate's troubleshooting tips and to no avail. Based on their customer service's reputation, I am just gonna return this waste of a cruddy thing. Buyer beware...
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This hard drive is a piece of junk -- actually an insult to a piece of junk because at least a piece of junk doesn't look like it will work. There should be a reasonable chance that a drive will work out of of the box. The other problem, noted by one is that Seagate's customer support is non-existent except in theory.
I wouldn't buy any external Seagate drive that uses plug in modules on the bottom (the drives came with USB and Firewire modules that neatly plug into an SATA base plug. The modules have a power inlet and the cable end of choice.
This is not random hatred for Seagate. I have two mirrored Seagate 750s in my Apple G5, an upgrade Seagate in a MacBook Pro. There are other Seagates around internal and external. I've never seen a disaster like this one. Seagate bailed my G5 out of a problem caused by WD SATA incompatibility.
I bought the first of these drives to carry on a trip out of the country where I needed a second large storage drive. As it's a MAC, the software didn't
I wouldn't buy any external Seagate drive that uses plug in modules on the bottom (the drives came with USB and Firewire modules that neatly plug into an SATA base plug. The modules have a power inlet and the cable end of choice.
This is not random hatred for Seagate. I have two mirrored Seagate 750s in my Apple G5, an upgrade Seagate in a MacBook Pro. There are other Seagates around internal and external. I've never seen a disaster like this one. Seagate bailed my G5 out of a problem caused by WD SATA incompatibility.
I bought the first of these drives to carry on a trip out of the country where I needed a second large storage drive. As it's a MAC, the software didn't
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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
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
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Seagate should call this what it is, an "external hard drive". The cutsey packaging and text on the box is stupid and patronizing.
Mine was Dead On Arrival (DOA). I plugged it in and the internal orange light kept blinking on and off (my other FreeAgent doesn't do that) and the computer can't see it.
NOWHERE on their lousy on-line help system do they talk about this particular failure, but plenty of folks on the Internet seem to have had DOA devices with the same problem.
STAY FAR AWAY from this lemon.
Mine was Dead On Arrival (DOA). I plugged it in and the internal orange light kept blinking on and off (my other FreeAgent doesn't do that) and the computer can't see it.
NOWHERE on their lousy on-line help system do they talk about this particular failure, but plenty of folks on the Internet seem to have had DOA devices with the same problem.
STAY FAR AWAY from this lemon.
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Seagate should call this what it is, an "external hard drive". The cutsey packaging and text on the box is stupid and patronizing.
Mine was Dead On Arrival (DOA). I plugged it in and the internal orange light kept blinking on and off (my other FreeAgent doesn't do that) and the computer can't see it.
NOWHERE on their lousy on-line help system do they talk about this particular failure, but plenty of folks on the Internet seem to have had DOA devices with the same problem.
STAY FAR AWAY from this lemon.
Mine was Dead On Arrival (DOA). I plugged it in and the internal orange light kept blinking on and off (my other FreeAgent doesn't do that) and the computer can't see it.
NOWHERE on their lousy on-line help system do they talk about this particular failure, but plenty of folks on the Internet seem to have had DOA devices with the same problem.
STAY FAR AWAY from this lemon.
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Nov 2007 Reviewed and updated as necessary.
I bought my Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB USB/eSATA/FireWire 400 External Hard Drive ST307504FPA1E3-RK, in September 2007. I have a lot of videos (and other big different files), and I keep back up copies of all my videos, so I actually need double the hard drive space. I use this Seagate 750GB External Hard Drive as a back up drive for my videos. I have a Pentium 4 computer desktop, with Windows XP Service Pack 2, with four internal SATA hard drives: Western Digital 500 GB (boot drive), Seagate 750 GB, Seagate 750 GB, and Seagate 750 GB.
- With my Seagate 750 GB External Hard Drive, I just use USB 2.0 to copy backup files from my computer. I do not use the Firewire nor eSata options. The USB 2.0 is fine, fast, and convenient for me to use.
- This Seagate 750 GB External Hard Drive stays cool, and the external case is its own heatsink. But since I normally have a small 7-inch box fan blowing on my open computer case, and I also have
I bought my Seagate FreeAgent Pro 750 GB USB/eSATA/FireWire 400 External Hard Drive ST307504FPA1E3-RK, in September 2007. I have a lot of videos (and other big different files), and I keep back up copies of all my videos, so I actually need double the hard drive space. I use this Seagate 750GB External Hard Drive as a back up drive for my videos. I have a Pentium 4 computer desktop, with Windows XP Service Pack 2, with four internal SATA hard drives: Western Digital 500 GB (boot drive), Seagate 750 GB, Seagate 750 GB, and Seagate 750 GB.
- With my Seagate 750 GB External Hard Drive, I just use USB 2.0 to copy backup files from my computer. I do not use the Firewire nor eSata options. The USB 2.0 is fine, fast, and convenient for me to use.
- This Seagate 750 GB External Hard Drive stays cool, and the external case is its own heatsink. But since I normally have a small 7-inch box fan blowing on my open computer case, and I also have
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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.
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.
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Bought this, based on Seagate's reputation. Was I ever wrong.
Drive was intended to hookup to a eSATA port on my desktop. After hooking up via USB (to be able to use the FATools software to configure the drive, I shutdown, connected to my eSATA port and rebooted. Drive was NOT recognized after a cold boot. BUT it was recognized after a warm reboot. Leaving it up and running overnight (sleep mode disabled) the FAPro lost connection to the computer, requiring another warm reboot for the computer to find it and be able to use it
Then, while copying a lot of stuff to the FAPro, it was strangely SLOWER than the other eSATA drives I have running in the house (they average 50-55MB/s. So I tested the FAPRo, results were an average thruput of approx 23MB/sec - not acceptable AND the average seek times were around 30mS.
Talked to SeaGate tech support, and was basically blown off, with comments that the thruput I was seeing was NORMAL for that drive, and the disconnect issue I would just
Drive was intended to hookup to a eSATA port on my desktop. After hooking up via USB (to be able to use the FATools software to configure the drive, I shutdown, connected to my eSATA port and rebooted. Drive was NOT recognized after a cold boot. BUT it was recognized after a warm reboot. Leaving it up and running overnight (sleep mode disabled) the FAPro lost connection to the computer, requiring another warm reboot for the computer to find it and be able to use it
Then, while copying a lot of stuff to the FAPro, it was strangely SLOWER than the other eSATA drives I have running in the house (they average 50-55MB/s. So I tested the FAPRo, results were an average thruput of approx 23MB/sec - not acceptable AND the average seek times were around 30mS.
Talked to SeaGate tech support, and was basically blown off, with comments that the thruput I was seeing was NORMAL for that drive, and the disconnect issue I would just
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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
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
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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
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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.
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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
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
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I really like Seagate products and have always had great luck with them. This is a really 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
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
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