Reviews for Seagate FreeAgent Desktop External 320GB Hard Drive
USB 2.0, 7,200 RPM, 8MB - MPN: ST303204FDA1E1RK
Nicely styled external hard drive
Strengths: Good value for the dollar; 5-year warranty; Runs cool and makes no noise
Weakness: none?
I've purchased several of these FreeAgent drives, and I've been quite satisfied. While this unit only comes with USB (while others can come with eSata and Firewire), it's plenty fast enough for my needs. I plugged it into my Infrant network storage appliance in order to perform backups of mission cricital data. The device recognized the drive, was able to format it, and did the backup successfully. It was plenty fast enough, not that I was waiting around to see. This drive only has an 8mb buffer, versus the 16mb available in the pro version. It is amazingly quiet, no clicky-clack noises like other external hard drives. I had a Hammer Storage enclosure, which drove me crazy (contained a Western Digital inside), as I thought the sounds coming from it were always going to be it's last breath!
And finally, how can you argue with Seagate's industry leading 5-year warranty?!
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopGood deal
Strengths: Compact, large and clear status light indicator but not too bright, stylish, 5-year warranty, very quiet
Weakness: No on/off switch, no one touch backup button, but those are minor points
This is my second external hard drive and it's also from Seagate. In contrast to the first one--which was very bulky and heavy--this is a major improvement. The status light is cleverly built into the design. It would be even nicer if it came in different colors. Design aside, there has been no problem with the usage so far. It's very quiet; you barely notice that it's on. It also works well with Windows' power management scheme as the hard drive goes to sleep/standby when not in use, so there's no need for a power button. It powers off right when unplugged from the USB port, even when the power cord is still plugged in. Overall it's a good value at a good price.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopExcellent Value For The Money
Strengths: Seagate 5yr Warranty, Read/Write Speed, Appearance, Desk Footprint, Almost Silent, Ease Of Use
Weakness: none so far
This is an excellent product for the money! This drive is silent compared to my other external hard drives. Works right out of the box without the need to install anything. Hats off to Seagate for not including any unnecessary software on this drive which makes using this a pleasing experience.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopReliable and Helpful Media for data backup
Strengths: New look of style. 5 yrs warranty. Easy to use. Good speed of writing/reading data.
Weakness: no additional backup software included
This external hard drive is easy to use. I like its data writing speed which is fast. I bought it when it was on sale at a local computer store and it was a good deal. The yellow LED is very attractive and it is blinking when copying a large file and it is cool. Overall, I would highly recommend this product to the people who want to have an extra media to backup movie/data/songs.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopExcellent Drive
Strengths: 5 Years of Warranty, Turns On/Off with the Computer or NAS. Sleek design, Golden Glow.
Weakness: None
This is a great drive which works without any problem with my NAS (Linksys NSLU2). It turns ON/OFF with the NAS so I can program my NAS to turn on and off at the specified time and the Hard disk is turn ON/OFF with it, saving electricity and increasing its life. It comes with 5 years of warranty. During operation its noiseless. The golden glow is excellent. I am impressed with this one.
I have formatted this to EXT3 format now and its working perfectly.
Great product.
83% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopJan 6, 2008
Hey,
I have NSLU and I have been reading extensively on the NSLU support forums, etc on how to get the seagate drives to spin down. You mentioned that you could program the SLUG to turn itself on and off? I would love to know how you did that!! I am not very LINUX literate at this point, but I did UNSLUNG my SLUG and tried to implement someone's spindown proc, but it won't work. One of the main complaints from the users is that the SLUG will not power up after a power failure...you have to press the button. I have not seen anywhere that they have been able to program it to turn off and on (presumably while it has power). That would be great. Can you provide instructions or something? I plugged in my seagate drives right out of the box and formatted to EXT3. The SLUG keeps them alive at all times, so I am not even sure if the disk manager SW (setting spindown times) will fix that if they are getting "keepalive" signals from the SLUG.
Best Buy
Strengths: 5 year warranty, great price.
Weakness: None I can see.
This is the best buy drive for the price and storage capacity available. The five year warranty is by far above and beyond what is being offered by any other company. You will not find a better deal than this.
75% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopSeagate Freeagent 320GB
Strengths: Fast, quiet, small base, very stylish.
Weakness: Needs a stronger color, maybe black.
Very fast. Transfered over 20Gb's in no time. Looks sleek, and I'm loving the status light. Has a small base, so doesn't really clutter alot, and is extremely quiet. Will def. buy Seagates from now on.
50% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopNot just sleek, but efficient
Strengths: fast and silent transfering of data. It has a very nice subtle yellow light that really doesn't help with transfer, but looks really cool, it flashes while data is being transfered.
Weakness: Advertised at 300 GB, its really 298, I didn't even see any software/spyware on the harddrive. Also it needs to be plugged into an outlet, though most other drives probably do.
I'm really happy with my purchase. This bad boy saved my computer and did it while not being annoying. Plus it looks really cool! It's plug and play, so if you want a little more control, I'm assuming you should go with the pro version, maybe then you can get the full 320 GB. Though, if you're not a media hog, this model should be sufficient for quite some time.
0% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopFreeAgent 320gb external HD
Strengths: Worked once.
Weakness: Worked once.
The unit worked long enough for me to download sensitive information. Then it stopped working. I contacted support and could not get it working. Unfortunately due to the sensitive nature of the information I could not send it back and had to swallow the loss. Advice: Try it for a while with out sensitive material and keep ALL packaging. The company did say they would replace it.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopGreat drive; good value
Strengths: Nice design. Good value. Silent. Works straight out of the box.
Weakness: No on/off switch. Uses wall wart.
This a terrific drive which requires no installation. Have only had it 10 days, so I can't comment on durability, but it did have excellent reviews.
However, I only use this drive for multiple image backups so I only need it working a few hours a week. Therefore, I don't want it powered up all of the time. But this drive has no power switch and requires pulling the power connection to accomplish the off condition.
The last external drive I had (WD) had the power transformer in line with the power cord so it had a standard cord plug to connect to a surge suppressor. This drive uses a "wall wart" which conflicts with adjacent plugs.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopIn general a great product
Strengths: Fast, compact and dead silent
Weakness: Mine heats up. So hot, that the plastic floor mat it was sitting on, discolored to dark brown. The unit is now on its side instead.
I wouldn't put this unit on carpet or wood. The small pads it sits on don't seem are not tall enough. The unit should be suspended at least a half inch off the surface. Other than this issue, it is an excellent product.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopSeagate FreeAgent 320GB External HDD
Strengths: small form factor, Seagate's 5-year warranty, silent operation, Seagate quality.
Weakness: None
Personally, I don't like the orange/black color scheme and the weird vertical stance with flat base. I think Seagate could've done a much better job on the design. Overall, it is a great external hard drive, the USB2.0 interface is limiting the actual transfer speed of the SATA drive inside the case. Will get eSATA version of this drive next time to utilize the full speed data transfer from the SATA drive inside.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopVery quiet, Plug n Play, Good speed, 5yrs warranty
Strengths: Very quiet, plug n play, good transfer speed, 5yrs warranty
Weakness: No power switch, no backup software or instructions to backup your incremental data
The drive is very quiet and sleek in design. Hooked right out of the box. Data transfer rate is good. Perfect device to store all your photos, music and documents. Also, can't beat the 5 yr warranty.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopFast, Reliable Storage
Strengths: Quiet, no power switch, does not get hot, fast
Weakness: None
This is my first Seagate external hard drive and I must say it is amazing. I've purchased a number of internal Seagate hard drives in the past and like those, this one does not disappoint. It comes with plenty of storage at 320 GB. It uses USB so it's pretty compatible with almost all computers. It is very quiet. It makes almost no noise at all and does not get hot at all. It is warm at best. This uses USB 2.0 so the speed is decent. If you are looking for Firewire or eSata, look to Seagate's FreeAgent Pro.
Seagate continues to make hard drives. If you are in need of an external, the FreeAgent line is a good choice.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopGreat Drive
Strengths: 5 years warranty, quite, fast, very easy plug-and-play, cool orange light, space saving as a standup module and warranty info loaded in the drive as pdf
Weakness: none
It took me less than 2 minutes to setup everything. After the setup, I transferred all the files from my Maxtor 250g external HD to it. This Seagate was better in terms of speed, quietness and coolness. Also, the 5 years warranty was very attractive to me and it was printed as pdf file and pre-stored in the HD. If anything bad happens in the future, I won't have to look for the info. At last, I like the orange light a lot in my dark room. It made me felt like traveling in the space. :D
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopGreat Product!
Strengths: 5 year warranty, small footprint, quiet drive
Weakness: Not adjustable (must be standing up)
Overall, this is a very good product that you won't be disappointed with. The Five Year warranty by Seagate ensures that you have someone else backing up your backup drive. Fast, quiet, and does what it needs to do. It still runs a bit warm during extended applications, but that's to be expected with the amount of information it is processing. It is also not adjustable like many other drives, so if you need one that doesn't stand up, this isn't you guy. All in all, very satisfied!
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopGreat value
Strengths: Plug & play installation, good performance, quiet, 5 YEAR WARRANTY!
Weakness: None, except that it is what it is. No NAS, no eSATA. A little heavy.
The SATA II drive inside is a waste since you're only running USB2.0 speeds. Runs a little warm which is to be expected with any hard drive. No fan and it probably doesn't need one either. Illuminated light as you can see in the pic which is not bright enough at all to be distracting. Good design/footprint.
Biggest reason to jump on this drive is for the 5yr warranty. That alone will pay for your investment down the line. Spend the extra bux and go for this drive if you're looking for a usb, 3.5" drive.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopOutstanding unit in every way.
Strengths: Silent, works right out of the box without installing drivers
Weakness: None. (Really.)
Outstanding unit in every way. Silent, works right out of the box without installing drivers, attractive looking with the nifty yellow illuminated bar down the side, and best of all- very small footprint. Can't say enough positive about it. Excellent.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopThe drive is very good
Strengths: -very quiet, fast speed, reliable.
Weakness: -No power switch
-The drive is very quiet and reliable. Besides, it is very fast for transferring data.
-The only thing I dont like about this drive is that it does not have a power switch.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopGreat External HDD
Strengths: Unique look and runs very cool. Transfer speed is very quick. 4.32 gigs within 3 min. 5 year warranty.
Weakness: Not stackable, otherwise none.
I already have two other external hard drives that were assembled and they can't really compare to Seagate's FreeAgent. This drive is easy to set up. Just plug and play, no need to format or anything. Great transfer speed, runs very cool and makes no noise at all. I highly recommend it. Overall a great buy.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopPortable 320 GB Hard Drive
Strengths: Lots of Space at high speeds (320GB / 7200 PRM). VERY small footprint for the size, same as a Stapler. Looks Good. Light/Portable.
Weakness: Drives aren't stackable - but look great next to each other.
I recently purchaed 2 of these drives to go along with my MacBook Pro -- they work great and were plug n' play from the start. Speeds over USB 2.0 are reasonably quick, I moved 160GB of data in about 20 minutes.
My only "complaint" is that these drives do not stack. It would be nice to stack these like my Lacie drives, but they look great standing verticle next to each other so no worries.
Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?
TopSeagate FreeAgent Desk USB2
TestSeek.com has collected 30 expert reviews for Seagate FreeAgent Desk USB2 and the average expert rating is 82 of 100. The average score reflects the expert community’s view on this product. Click below and use TestSeek.com to find all ratings, product awards and conclusions.
Top
hapyy so far
Strengths: 5 years warranty, silent, speed, very easy to install/use, slim, nice design
Weakness: none so far
this is my first external hard drive. the main reason to choose this model/brand was the warranty (5 years), second the price very competitive even in local stores, and finally the shape, others hds with the same capacity..too bulky.
100% of readers found this review helpful. Did you find it helpful or unhelpful?