Seagate FreeAgent Pro, an affordable backup solution.

Posted by John P. on August 23rd, 2007 Comments Printer-Friendly

Seagate FreeAgent Pro

In May I took a look at a portable backup solution for users on the go, the Seagate FreeAgent Go, but let’s say you have a desktop at home and need a bit more storage to back up all of your digital content. Check out the bigger brother of the Go, the FreeAgent Pro.

Available in capacities of 320GB, 500GB, and a whopping 750GB â€“ the FreeAgent Pro is best for the media junkie who has tons of digital music or full-length movies. The FreeAgent Pro comes with the AutoBackup software from Memeo that backs up all your content automatically. All you have to do is set up AutoBackup once and the drive goes to work. Today we’ll be reviewing the 750GB version with FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA interfaces.

In terms of performance, we tested out the drive using both FireWire 400 and USB 2.0. FireWire 400 had about a 30% performance boost over USB 2.0, but both interfaces offer enough speed to safely transfer your data over. Unfortunately, we were unable to test the eSATA interface at the time of this writing, but it should be somewhat faster than FW400 and USB 2. In simple terms, this drive has superb performance for all types of users. Speeds were very similar to the older 750GB Pushbutton Drive we reviewed from Seagate, since it utilizes the same drive.

One thing we did notice is that the drive’s aluminum casing became extremely hot after using the drive for an extended period of time. Since the drive is fanless it keeps noise down and extracts heat from the drive out through the casing. Not a negative, it’s just keeping the drive cool.

The 750GB Seagate FreeAgent Pro external hard drive is available for around $249 depending on where you purchase it. Other models are available for a lower cost without FireWire 400 or at a lower capacity.

Pros