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(More customer reviews)After having serious problems with Western Digital's products, I decided to switch back to Seagate. 3 years ago Seagate had kind of bait-and-switched me the last time I bought drives and I was stinging from that, but research and recommendations brought me here to give them another try.
The GoFlex desk is a very good back-up drive. Unlike other brands I have used, the drive is heavily shielded on the inside and multiple rubber cushions lock it firmly in place to minimize vibrations. After complaints about earlier models having a base that made it impossible to lay the drive sideways, Seagate have improved the design here--the base can hold the drive upright or you can lay it flat (which I recommend). They've also made the base modular, which is helpful in two ways:
1) If/when you decide to upgrade to USB 3.0, you don't have to buy a new drive - you can just buy a 3.0-compatible base. They even sell a version that comes with a USB 3.0 card to put in your PC if you need one.
2) If you keep two drives in order to have off-site backup, you can leave the base(s) plugged in. Undock the drive, take it with you, and plug it in to the other base. No need to drag cables and power adapters with you.
While the GoFlex Desk is a good drive, it is still a USB drive. That means you could easily use it for things like playing music or videos, or saving important files directly to it, but you shouldn't expect to rely on it to grow your PC's storage space (such as installing games on it). As a Seagate rep confirmed for me, it's more for you to be able to back up files and restore from the drive in an emergency. I have two identically configured (one goes to work with me and the other stays home). If my house burns down I have a backup locked in a cabinet at my office. If I want to listen to my music at work, I've got my whole library with me.
I've used this drive on Windows XP and Windows 7. As some of you may know, often the problem with large USB drives is the glut of software they expect you to load on your system in order to get things to work. I've discovered some good and bad news about that:
The good news is, Windows 7 easily recognized my drive plug-and-play with no installation. It also easily attached to my HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server and could serve as a backup volume to backup your server in case the server itself blows up.
The bad news is, I had a problem on one Windows 7 machine in which the drive decided to regularly disconnect itself and reconnect again--even in the middle of trying to copy files to it. Research turned up that this is a feature built in to the drive, and the only way to make it stop doing this is to install the software, go into the "Settings" link on the "Drive Manager", and change the "Automatically disconnect" setting to "Never". Fortunately, doing this once appears to write to the drive's firmware and you shouldn't see this again no matter where you connect it.
I've been (un)fortunate enough to have to replace one of these units, so I also know about that process too. I can tell you that Seagate's staff are very friendly and knowledgeable. I spent very little time on hold. Rather than the usual "You can't try anything with that drive to recover it or you'll void your warranty", they quickly assessed my skill level and told me to go ahead and try to recover my files. They even stayed on the line and helped me crack the case, pull the drive, and try to load it directly onto my PC to see if the problem was the controller (it wasn't). Once we determined mine was dead, I had three options:
1) pay Seagate to recover the files. If you ever had a dire need to do so, their data recovery hotline will tell you that the recovery is as full as possible. They'll talk about certified clean rooms and full examination and restoration, and they'll tell you up front that that sort of thing starts at around $700 and can go higher.
2) ship the drive back to Seagate and they'll send you a replacement. You pay shipping to send yours back, they pay shipping to send you a replacement.
3) pay a "replacement fee" of about $20 and Seagate will put together the full RMA for you: send you a new drive ASAP with a prepaid label. Put the dead drive in the box, slap the label over the old label, and drop it off at a UPS pickup location and you're done. I found this worth the money. My drive got to me in about 3 business days and they got my returned drive processed in about 2.
If you're looking for a reliable drive to back up your files, there aren't a ton of good choices out there right now. However, the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk is one of the best. It's quiet, its design is improved over earlier models, and Seagate appear to have a good support path for you should things go wrong.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 1 TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive STAC1000101
The GoFlex Desk external drive delivers high-capacity storage, backup and encryption for all your files with its plug-and-play USB 3.0 connectivity. And, as the world's most upgradable external desktop drive, you now have the ability to upgrade your connection interface to suit your needs. Simply pair the drive with the included USB 3.0 desktop adapter or upgrade to FireWire 800/USB 2.0 GoFlex Desk desktop adapter. The GoFlex Desk drive works interchangeably between a PC and Mac computer and can be set in either a vertical or horizontal orientation, complementing any desktop environment.
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