mithril's Full Review: Seagate 500GB FREEAGENT GO RED USB 2.0 2.5 5400 RP...
Well Designed, Solid Construction Seagate FreeAgent Go 500 GB USB External Hard Drives are solid, reliable, and come in a wide range of colors I own five for all my data, music, video, and imaging files. They are excellent for taking your data with you as they are extremely slim and light. The cases are sealed to keep out dust and each drive has a built-in internal light that illuminates the case through cutouts in the aluminum when the drive is in use.
All The Same But The Color And Storage Size All of the Seagate FreeAgent Go drives with aluminum cases are the same but for their hard disk size and their case color. The black, silver, red, and light blue 500gb drives I have are completely interchangeable and otherwise identical. They each have lights in top that come on when powered up, tastefully glowing through cutouts in the aluminum body as the drive reads/writes. Each has only a single opening in the case - - the mini-usb connection. Each is as silent and reliable as the other. All are 500gb drives, other colors come in other sizes. Good Specs According to Seagate, the drives measure 5.12" x 3.5" and are under 1/2" (.49") thick. They each weigh less than .36 pound and are 5400 rpm drives. Most online reviewers rate these as above average. I find playback of music and video smooth and flawless.
Plug 'N Play The USB interface for this drive has worked reliably across different machines and operating systems, including Windows laptops, media readers, and Apple machines. My drive came preformatted as an NTFS drive. I simply plug them in to any device and they work like magic - - neither muss nor fuss.a
The colored 500gb drives (red, blue, silver, etc.), usually have white side panels. The black version is all black. I find that with all the external storage I use today, it is nice to be able to know that all my videos are on my red drive, my data is on my silver drive, and all my music on my black drive, etc.
Not all colors are available in all drive sizes and different stores seem to stock different colors - - not sure if they get exclusives.
Powered Via USB Seagate's FreeAgent Go seems to stay well within USB specs for power draw. I have never had a problem running these self-powered from any USB port on any device and I really appreciate this as I hate having to carry around power adapters. I have used these drives with an Argosy HD Media Reader and a Western Digital Media Player for playing music and video without problems and they power up from the USB port without fail.
$100 Well Spent At around $100 from online retailers, the quality and feel of these drives is money well spent. They feel like a sculpted piece of solid aluminum and each drive has a bottom coated with a rubberized finish that makes stacking easy and makes gripping them in your hand easy. No cheap plastic feel here. A handy, white, very short USB cable comes with each drive.
Quiet and No Heat Issues So Far The FreeAgent Go 500 USB hard drives are almost completely silent. Have had no issues with overheating even after watching several movies in a row they barely get warm.
Uninspired Accessories The recharging dock is an unnecessary item as these drives are easy to disconnect and connect directly with a cable and they stack beautifully so standing them on end seems a waste of time. The optional accessory travel case is a expensive but nicely padded and includes a nifty band under which you can stow the USB cable. Though a nice case, having three sides of the device exposed to dust and the elements makes it kind of useless. Try a small bubble-wrap envelope like I use to make the easiest and best way to carry these drives around in a briefcase or suitcase.
I Do Not Use the Included Software I use my own backup software and so I deleted the software for encryption and backup that comes with the Seagate FreeAgent Go drives to free up that space. Therefore, I do not have an opinion pro or con of the included software that comes on the drives.
Very Highly Recommended I plan on owning more of these drives and using them for every CD and DVD and picture I own to reduce my reliance on physical media (with backups of course). I very highly recommend the Seagate FreeAgent Go as the best external 500gb drives for quality construction and portability.
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