Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB

Full Review

Seagate's FreeAgent GoFlex series of portable hard disk drives brings in a new paradigm to the way one views external drives. With these models, Seagate has re-engineered the devices to separate the drive from the bridge board that translates the drive's native SATA to another interface connection. As a result, Seagate can offer a variety of cable modules for use with a single drive which is good for connection flexibility.

When used directly over SATA, eSATA, and USB 3.0 interfaces instead of USB 2.0, the speed improved getting close to that of a normal internal laptop hard drive.

Connectivity & Features
This way, you can even use it as an internal hard drive that works at full speed since it uses a SATA data+power connector. Most users though, would purchase this drive for use externally, and that is when the "GoFlex" name makes itself obvious. You can have the drive connect to your PC/laptop over the interface and cable of your choice - USB 2.0, USB 3.0, eSATA and FireWire 800. The drive we tested came with a USB 2.0 cable by default, the others are optional upgrades which can be purchased separately as per your requirements. There is even an Auto Backup cable (which turns the drive into an automatic-backup unit much like the company's now-retired Replica drive, using disk-imaging software powered by Rebit) as an optional purchase.

The Seagate's FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB portable hard drive came with Memeo software on the drive, besides drivers for the optional USB 3.0 PCI Card adapter. As with any drive of its capacity, we got 931.5 GB of available storage space. It looks like Seagate's current line of FreeAgent Go portable drives, except for being slightly thicker and having a glossy black casing. When used directly over SATA, eSATA, and USB 3.0 interfaces, the speed improved to be close to that of a normal internal laptop hard drive. So if you want faster speeds, that hover around 70 MB/s instead of the ~30 MB/s seen on USB 2.0, use one of the other interfaces – whichever one suits your needs. For instance, FireWire 800 would be preferred by Mac owners, USB 3.0 by those who have the latest PCs, eSATA if your computer supports it, or direct SATA if you own a desktop and like to fiddle with it.

Performance
To prevent bottlenecks, we use our top-end test-rig for testing. When used with a USB 2.0 adapter, it performs as well as any other USB 2.0 hard disk in the synthetic benchmarks and real-world tests. As expected over the normal USB 2.0 interface (bundled by default with this drive), the interface itself was a bottleneck. On synthetic benchmarks we measured a read speed average of 31.2 MB/s and a write speed average of 28.1 MB/s. Real world file read/write speeds conducted when the drive was empty were carried out for a single large file (6.42 GB) and for copying multiple smaller files (1287 files totaling up to 2.33 GB). Read/write speeds for large files stood at 30.6 MB/s and 19.5 MB/s, while for small files it stood at 26.6 and 15 MB/s respectively. Read and write access times averaged 20.9 ms and 10.1 ms (milli-seconds) respectively, with a CPU usage of 2 per cent on average. You can view the speeds this drive achieved over USB 2.0 and over the other interfaces, in an easier table-format, by taking a look at the "Performance" tab of this review.

The drive managed to get slightly warm to the touch during intensive testing (when using non USB 2.0 interfaces) at least partly because the internal drive is enclosed inside the casing thus retaining heat. A potential issue for some, could be the module concept itself. The drive has not one, but two connections to pass through (the bridge module's connector, and then the connection from the bridge module to your PC). On the shipping unit we tried, the connector module could be unseated more easily than with plain drives, but did require a little exertion of force. In time, this connector mechanism could become loose, so it would be preferable to leave it plugged into your chosen module, in a safe place. Seagate offers a three year warranty on this drive.

Bottom Line

The Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1TB portable drive performs well, is good for buying a module to upgrade performance a few months down the line, and will deliver fine, as long as the modular flexibility design's probable down side is acceptable to you. The initial launch price of Rs. 9,200 for this 1TB drive meant it sells at a premium of about 15 per cent compared to competing models (even the non-modular ones from Seagate itself). So choose it only if the upgrade factor appeals to you, or if a lower-capacity 500GB GoFlex drive is not enough for your needs.