Seagate's FreeAgent Pro

This worthy backup device with a terabyte of space may be a little too bulky to tote, but it'll look nice on your desk. And price? Per gigabyte, it's a steal

by Aaron Ricadela

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Copious, inexpensive backup storage in an attractive device that doesn't hog desk space

The Bad: Too big to throw in your computer bag

The Bottom Line: Most don't need a terabyte of disk space, and the backup software isn't dead-simple to use

Reader Reviews

For computer users who've taken the plunge into the world of backup storage devices and services meant to safeguard their files, life can be a series of trade-offs. Online services including Mozy and Xdrive promise hardware-free peace of mind, but the backups can be slow, and some people find it unsettling to store precious files and confidential information on someone else's servers. On the device side, the panoply of hard drives that users can plug into their PCs supply speed and a sense of ownership but can run short of space and often come bundled with clunky software that can be frustrating to operate.

Well, disk-drive maker Seagate Technology (STX) has obliterated at least one of those concerns with a bulked-up version of its FreeAgent Pro external drive. Boasting a hefty terabyte of storage capacity—that's 1,000 gigabytes—the FreeAgent Pro is one drive that most users are unlikely to fill. The device, compatible with Windows and Mac computers, costs around $350 in stores—hard on the wallet at first, yet cheaper on a per-gigabyte basis than the other external drives I've tested. And its software, while imperfect, is still a far sight better than what competitors offer.

Standout Device

In my quest for pain-free backups of my own digital life—mostly work files, I'm sorry to admit—the FreeAgent Pro offers more bang for the buck than the two add-on hard drives I've reviewed so far, Hewlett-Packard's (HPQ) Pocket Media Drive (BusinessWeek.com, 1/16/08) and LaCie's Little Disk (BusinessWeek.com, 11/7/07)—as well as other drives I've tested informally.

Granted, it's a different class of device. At 8 in. high, and 3 in. by 5.5 in. at its base, the FreeAgent sits like a data-chewing monolith on your desk (even if Seagate's literature would have you visualize it as taking up roughly the same amount of desk space as a stapler). Where HP's and LaCie's drives can handily fit in a laptop bag, the FreeAgent weighs 2 lbs. (nearly as much as those little free weights at the gym), so you probably won't want to tote this one around.

Per-Gigabyte Perks

But performance and looks are what make the FreeAgent Pro really shine. Literally, in fact. The shiny black slab is cleaved by a glowing orange strip that runs up and over the drive. (Users can now extinguish this light, a new option that Seagate added because the glow was an annoyance for people who sleep near their PCs.) Instead of a power button, the drive has a heat-sensitive switch that turns the device on and off when you rest your finger on it—not that it's needed. As long as the drive is connected to your computer, it'll turn on and off with your PC.

FreeAgent's price is also a knockout, at least on a per-gigabyte basis. A terabyte amounts to 35¢ per gigabyte of storage—about half as expensive as La Cie's per-gigabyte cost and a third of HP's drive. (Seagate also sells a 750GB model for about $280 and a 500GB version for $185.)

Setup couldn't have been much easier, a point underscored by Seagate's simple instructions. Page 1 reads: "This won't take long." And it didn't. Without shutting off my PC, I plugged in the power cable and the USB cable, at which point the device's orange stripe lit up and a window on the computer screen prompted me to install the bundled software from Memeo). Within a minute or so, the software was installed (though as with most software installations on Windows, I had to reboot my PC to finish the process).

Synchronicity Issues

Memeo's software, while not perfect, is leagues better than what Seagate's competitors include with their drives. The software is designed to combine archival and synchronization features into one application to perform periodic backups while saving smaller changes to individual files as you work.

That's the theory. In practice, Memeo software requires that you close the document, photo, or any other file you're working on before it synchronizes any changes with the FreeAgent. This strikes me as a serious drawback because when I'm working on a file all day, I don't want to think about closing it periodically so my changes can get backed up.

Seagate also offers an online storage option with the drive for those people who worry, reasonably, that any fire or other destructive incident that damages your computer would likely destroy any device connected to it. I didn't test this online service, which costs up to $50 a year for 5GB of storage, so I can't comment on how easy or not it might be to use.

On the whole, I found the FreeAgent Pro a worthy vault that operated silently on my desk without forcing me to think about it too much. For users with backup needs that won't fit on more typical add-on drives, FreeAgent Pro offers a fine compromise at a reasonable price.

Ricadela is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in Silicon Valley.