Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB USB 3.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive in Black STAA1000101

I have purchased dozens of external Hard Drives over the years, and watched the specs go up, and the prices come down, just like everything else in technology. I have gone from disappointed, to moderately satisfied, and have dealt with all the issues that most of us have. For example, drives that are supposed to run just from the USB bus, but really just barely. Ones that are supposed to run off of USB, and need the double USB cable, taking up two USB ports, or ones that are supposed to run without an adapter, but just don't at all! Also, drives that have power adapters included (which sort of takes the convenience of a portable drive, and greatly diminishes it).This drive is the first one I can actually rave about. I checked reviews on every top manufacturer, and what really appealed to me, before ordering, was the "GoFlex." I ordered it with USB 3.0, knowing I could, if I chose to, add a Firewire 800 (1394), or eSATA interface later. That, with the incredible price on a 1 TB ultra-portable had my attention.Well, no turning back! The drive is small, incredibly quiet, works perfectly off USB, and is really fast. I do not even have USB 3.0 support on any of my computers, but since it is backwards compatible with USB 2.0, it works perfectly. There are some mixed reviews of the Firewire 800 adapter, and specifically, that it runs too hot. I am hoping that is resolved quickly, as I would have ordered it already, but USB 3.0, and the flexibility of the GoFlex system made it a non-issue. I was about to purchase the brand new 3TB Apple Time Capsule (new as of June 2011) to replace a first generation 1TB Time Capsule, but now, I would just get the new Apple Airport Extreme, and rely on a GoFlex drive, and save 50% of the $500 "Apple Tax," without any reservations.If you need a very small ultra-portable HD, and like the fact that you have an edge on upgrading the interface, rather then putting it in the closet when you need something faster, this is for you! Also, since there seems to be a battle brewing over USB 3.0 versus the new Thunderbolt interface, you can grab one of these, in whatever size you need, and know you will be able to use it for a while, with FORWARD compatibility, something that is not usually the case. Remember the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD battle? Nobody wanted to waste money on the format that might lose, for both equipment, and media. With this drive, you can buy a few large ones, and not worry. Right now, you can choose USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Firewire 800, or eSATA, and add adapters as needed. I am sure they will add a Thunderbolt adapter shortly, for those of you lucky enough to grab a brand new Mac. Great job Seagate!UPDATE: I liked this drive so much, I did proceed with buying the Firewire 800 adapter. Part of the reason I needed the original drive was I had to move around a specific 120G file, multiple times. As I was thrilled with the drive, I figured adding the speed of the Firewire 800 adapter could only make me like it more. I was right. It is a speed demon, and when moving my 120G+ file with USB 2.0 (My Macs have only USB 2.0 & Firewire 800) I had to walk away, and come back. Now, I can easily just wait. Can you imagine, the difference in speed and size over the last decade? Moving around 120G+ file, on an ultra-portable, bus powered mini-drive in a few short minutes? And, I have 800G+ left over to work with! I will be adding more adapters, and probably the 1.5TB model shortly, and can now, for the first time, say I have all my data storage bases covered.2nd UPDATE: Seagate made a press release a few months ago confirming that they are absolutely working on a Thunderbolt adapter for the GoFlex series! [...]3rd UPDATE: I did end up with a MacBook Pro with USB 3.0, and Thunderbolt support. I now love these drives even more, and have added another. I have one ready to transfer huge files on the fly between my MacBooks and my iMac. These machines are all networked and I use an Apple 802.ac WiFi device (new Time Capsule) and I can very easily move files with my network, but now that I sometimes work with really large files, sometimes it is easier to use these for transfers. I have one plugged right into a Time Capsule, so it made my 3 GB into a 4 GB, and I keep the other handy for transfers and data just to important to trust only a cloud. I use Dropbox which I think is great plus both Apple & Amazon cloud services, but I have gone through losing stuff to crashed hard drives just one too many times. Now with SSD drives in my MacBook Pro plus Time Capsule backups AND clouds, I know that my really important stuff - might just be a picture - but whatever it is, I will always have it backed up. The GoFlex design is exactly what I wanted, totally future proof. Years after my initial review, I am using them with USB 3.0, FireWire, and now that I have a Thunderbolt port, I need to convert at least one drive to Thunderbolt. Not relevant to a review of the the drive itself, but Thunderbolt is keeping me happy too. I added an Apple Thunderbolt 27" display to my MacBook Pro and it is is better then any desktop I ever had. I have the power of the MacBook Pro with the awesome display, but can grab the laptop and put it in my briefcase in 30 seconds. Now I just have to add a 4k display!!!

Great portable external hard drive that can take some abuse. This 1tb hard drive has the space you need for a great price, is plug-and-play technology that doesn't require any installation (unless you want to use the backup service).The shell on the hard drive is very durable because I constantly was throwing this into a weekend bag and taking it with me and it only had minor scratches on it. Plus the drive itself didn't suffer or become damaged in any way.The part where the USB cable connects to the hard drive feels week and like it could snap (thankfully it hasn't) although the danger is always there. If you do travel with this hard drive make sure you unplug the USB cable to prevent any mishaps.As a storage device this product worked wonderfully. I didn't not have a need for the backup software (as it usually is slow, bloated, and process heavy). I did not use the software included with the hard drive and cannot comment in it.Good 1TB Hard drive with USB 3.0 technology for fast transfer speeds. Does what is needed.

I received router two days ago which arrived within 2 days of ordering. It's small and compact, easy to carry if you need too and has one of the best appearing menus I've ever used. Just another reason why I purchased Seagate since the first one I ever bought has given me the best performance, very easy to wipe clean and use on another PC or Laptop if you desire. One of the great things about this device and other Seagate products, if you have two or three or just one PC or Laptop that runs the same Firmware, ie: Windows XP or Windows 7, you can easily hook up the USB provided cable and backup information from them all individually. I would recommend that you rename the files if you wish to keep the files, otherwise those folders and files of the same name will be replaced with the latest version.If you only want to back up movies or save them direct and no other files, Seagate gives you that opportunity to do just that. Since I have a different schedule than my husband, I can easily save a downloaded movie to the Seagate external drive, attach my HDMI from my Laptop or PC to the HD-Tv, click on the movie I desire to watch and stream it to be viewed on the Big Screen HD-Tv.The Seagate is setup to make removing stored information easy by simply selecting and pressing the delete button. You also can select to move files directly to the external drive (after you screen them for virsus) to free up space on your PC/Laptop. Free up space keeps your computor running faster and less opportunity for having fragments too.I highly recommend this External Seagate Hard Drive to those looking to save files, save movies and photos and/or music or anything you want to protect, including backing up your PC/Laptop. It's smart, simple and easy, just plug it in, load the setup file and the rest is automatic everytime you connect the Seagate to your PC or Laptop.Is designed to automatically backup updated or new files while you work if you have it attached and save your information. Its fast, so it just takes seconds. The intial backup will take time, since the Seagate must format your files before intially backing up, but even that doesn't take long if you don't have a great deal of information on you PC/Laptop that you plan to use Seagate with.Amazon direct purchasing from support Merchant is the way to go, since the packaging is given great care, quality assurance and Seagate brand new comes with a Two year Warranty. I doubt you will ever need it, but do register your new device, since you never know when you might happen to get a Lemon.On this particular 1TB Seagate External Hard Drive, additional offer to backup and save files via their internet feature for a minimal yearly fee, just another way to backup your backups. haha Or if you travel for work and forget or loss or have your Seagate stolen, no fear the Seagate via internet backup service can save the day and in a click or two you can change your password to insure no one access your information. "But what about the stolen Seagate Hard Drive?" No fears, if it doesn't reconize the computor, its going to what to clear the memory and reformat the Hard Drive. Does that save you from an expert? Of Course not, but you must be a pretty important person with some pretty valuable information for someone to want to work that hard to access the hard drive. Just saying, don't be a worry wort. Buy it, you'll love it!