Seagate FreeAgent Go Hard Drive      

(Review) - Segate's FreeAgent series of hard drives are an excellent way to protect your data without the need for a complicated NAS storage device, which is great for beginners who may find working with NAS devices somewhat complicated. The FreeAgent Go is the smallest external drive of its series and promises a multitude of features and topnotch performance at affordable prices. FreeAgent Go is available in three flavors: 80GB, 120GB and 160GB (our evaluation unit) and the only differentiating factor between the three is their storage size, naturally.

The drive isn't complicated at all, similar to other USB 2.0 external solutions. FreeAgent Go is a simple, yet intuitive, looking drive with a grainy, black exterior with plastic edges, one of which shines bright orange to indicate healthy activity. On the opposite end is a mini-USB connector that connects the unit to the PC with a 2-way power cord. Even though we appreciate Seagate's concern to include two USB connectors (the drive is bus powered) to make up for lack of power that some computers can't provide, let's stay current with times, Seagate. Who could seriously be interested in a FreeAgent drive, but doesn't have the computer that couldn't power a portable hard drive through USB? It's just a hassle working with two connectors unnecessarily. Thanks for the concern, though, Seagate. Once you get past this quirk, FreeAgent Go is as perfect as they come. Simple and attractive - a deadly combination.

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Similar to SanDisk's U3 technology, Seagate also integrates Ceedo that allows you to take your PC environment with you anywhere you go. For instance, you could install Skype on the drive and regardless of the PC you use, your Skype account with specific settings will be ready to make phone calls. The same applies to your passwords, bookmarks and other settings that are personal to you. According to Ceedo, there are approximately 100 applications for you to pick from, which is not a bad selection at all. And honestly, if you need to install 100 applications on the FreeAgent Go, should you really be leaving behind your notebook and using a third-party PC? Not to mention, what are you doing with all 100 applications anyways? The only issue we have with Ceedo is that you are limited to 100 applications in Ceedo's library. If you have a specific program that you work with and it's not in Ceedo's library, you'll be out of luck, unfortunately. Of course, there's no one but Ceedo to blame for this.

It's also important to note that Ceedo is available as an application for $30 and you can install it on thumb drives, portable hard drives and even your iPod. Technically, you don't even have to purchase a Seagate drive if Ceedo is what you are after. Moreover, Ceedo is only compatible with a Windows PC. For Mac users, you'll just be buying a barren storage shell in the form of a FreeAgent Go, albeit a nice one.

Then there's the FreeAgent Tools that lets you sync and backup folders between the drive and the desktop and run diagnostics on the unit. Personally, this utility is more exciting and useful to us than Ceedo. Good job, Seagate!

In our performance tests, the FreeAgent Go (5,400RPM drive) did fantastic at 8:15 and 11:02 minutes to read and write a 11GB data folder that consisted of images, text, audio and video files of various sizes.

Seagate's FreeAgent Go portable hard drive is available for $127.95, an affordable price tag for an otherwise excellent drive. If you are looking for a massive amount of storage in an external drive solution, Seagate seals the deal with FreeAgent Go. Absolutely recommended!

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