Seagate's FreeAgent drives get official, Go Desk EXtreme

Seagate just officially announced what we already told you about last month: they're shedding brown with the introduction of the thoroughly redesigned FreeAgent series of external storage devices. Things break down into USB 2.0 PC and USB+Firewire Mac flavors for both the multi-colored, portable FreeAgent Go Drives ($240 for up to 500GB plus $30 for optional docking station and carrying case) and home-based FreeAgent Desk Drives ($270 for up to 1TB). A higher-performing 7,200rpm FreeAgent XTreme Drive tosses in an eSATA jack to complement the USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 ports in capacities up to 1TB ($230). Both the XTreme and Desk drives will hit 1.5TB capacities starting next month. Macheads happy with USB 2.0 and suitably skilled to reformat a hard disk will want to examine prices closely: while the Go and Desk Drives for Macs list for $10 and $40, respectively, more than their PC brethren (for the value-add of Firewire 800/400 jacks and an OS X pre-formatting), the 1.5TB FreeAgent Desk Drive for Macs is expected to list for an unexplained $70 premium over the $280 PC version when it ships in October.

Gallery: Seagate's FreeAgent drives get official, Go Desk EXtreme

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[Adderz @ Sep 15th 2008 4:28AM]

It was about time they had a redesign. I didnt buy a Seagate purely because i didnt want that hideous brown thing next to my iMac. (i know, typical Mac user)

In Australia i had to pay a $170 premium for a Firewire Mybook. $299 for FW, $130 for a USB 500gb drive. bah.

[Adderz @ Sep 15th 2008 4:33AM]

Sorry that was meant to be $70 difference. $130 for USB, $199 for FW.

I hope they arent loud, it seems to be hit and miss which External drives will sound like a tractor and which are quiet.

[DarkLord7854 @ Sep 15th 2008 4:37AM]

"1.5GB FreeAgent Desk Drive for Macs is expected to list for an unexplained $70 premium when it ships in October"

1.5Gbs for a 70$ premium? Amazing.

[Syntax Error @ Sep 15th 2008 4:50AM]

I guess the Apple tax applies not only to Apple products, but peripherals for Apple products. Go figure.

[Michael Scrip @ Sep 15th 2008 4:52AM]

I've been wanting an external 2.5" drive with a dock. Here it is!

I'll probably pick up the Mac version since it has Firewire

[xValentine @ Sep 15th 2008 5:07AM]

Wow seriously, is this the first time you've seen a 2.5'' HD with a dock ?

Ever heard of WD Passport ? Seagate's FreeAgent ?

[Michael Scrip @ Sep 15th 2008 5:30AM]

Yes, seriously!

This new FreeAgent Go is the first drive to have a dock. Other 2.5" drives only have a cable.

Do you even know what a dock is?

[ymmit @ Sep 15th 2008 4:54AM]

Freeagent Mac is aluminium according to press release, standard one (look at the pic) has vent holes in front and is probably plastic.

[Kabadisha @ Sep 15th 2008 5:26AM]

Good point. Clearly Seagate have their heads screwed on - mac users who buy an external drive will probably be Mac(book) Pro owners and will want their new drive to match their aluminium baby.

[ben @ Sep 15th 2008 5:12AM]

do you mean 1.5TB, not GB? my grandpa, (who was quite into computers during the late 80s and 90s), was shocked to find that I had a 1TB time capsule. he didn't even know what a TB was, had to explain to him that it was 1000 x a GB…
lol, old people… :D

[Kabadisha @ Sep 15th 2008 5:19AM]

The $70 premium isn't exactly unexpected - mac heads already pay a premium for their kit from day one. It makes good business sense for 3rd parties to cash in on their fat wallets...

[Patrick @ Sep 15th 2008 7:57AM]

Fat wallets? That's a nice way to put it. I would have said blind stupidity. I just bought a 1TB eSATA external from Newegg for $120. Who would buy this PoS? Oh yeah, that's right.

[bidur @ Sep 15th 2008 5:59AM]

for mac ...... for so small number of mac user its waste of time and resources to develop anything for them .. let steve jerkass announce whatever for them ...


do more research and make it better for windows . .


hahahhahaaa :)

[Kevlar @ Sep 15th 2008 6:07AM]

Or, you know... it costs money to stuff a Firewire controller into the case on the mac version... explaining the premium. It's still a tad steep, I agree, but at least its not a "this one's white, so it's for macs, and therefore costs more" premium.

[Koray @ Sep 15th 2008 6:27AM]

Previous FreeAgent Pro series had massive overheating problems, due to very poor design and the use of a stupid eSATA chipset by Oxford Semiconductors. I have one and I keep it unplugged since it overheats even when it is not spinning. Go check reviews of the old series... If I wanted to buy one of these 'uber-kool-new-ones' I would wait for reviews first...

K.

[Mobius_1 @ Sep 15th 2008 6:49AM]

Wow, nice :)

But Engadget, please please please proofread your articles, I mean, the XTreme is $259.99 USD for 1TB and Home is $229.99 USD for 1TB

RTFA XD

[Max @ Sep 15th 2008 3:23PM]

I own two Seagate Freeagent 750GB external hard drives. The main issue here are a few things for everyone to know.

1) Seagate didn't provide total connectivity like their new models using 1394, USB and eSATA.
Meaning, if you want to use 1394, you had to unscrew the bottom unit to replace it.

2) All these units suffer from over heating conditions! Meaning, anytime you transfer videos, or want to defrag the unit, it's going to cause memory write errors, due to the slowing up of bandwidth here, as the USB/eSATA bottom unit heats up. It gets so hot you can cook eggs on it! My wife couldn't touch it.

3) Then there is the stupid switch to turn on and off the unit. Meaning, you must play around with turning the unit on or off, as by just touching the switch, it's a sensing touch thing, that doesn't work right, which causes you to try many times over and over.

4) Seagate didn't make it easy to replace the internal hard drive, should it fail too.

Recommendations, for anyone having bought this, be sure you use a quiet fan aimed at the bottom of the unit, where the USB unit is located when in use, so you don't get or experience memory write errors when hot.

I just cut out two slots in a cardboard box, dropped in both drives, on their sides, exposing the both units for better fan cooling, which resolved the issues at hand. A 5" fan did the trick... no matter what I through at it now, like copying 700GB from one drive to the other, mirroring them all at once, works without any issues... when using the 5" fan here aimed at the usb units...

[Erica Zeidenberg @ Sep 15th 2008 8:25PM]

Hey, when you are thinking about external storage, you can also consider some really great-looking and competitive drives from Fabrik – the Signature Mini – which comes in many colors and sizes. And the new eco-friendly drive, the [re]drive, is made of bamboo and aluminum and saves a lot of energy. You might want to give them a quick look.

[Pete Steege @ Sep 17th 2008 10:17AM]

It's thinner than a piece of toast. Really: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWYBOHhKE1k

[Stalker @ Sep 17th 2008 8:34PM]

Damn,amazing ^__^.They really look good :D not only in their capacity but there looks are

[Gangsta Jesus @ Sep 21st 2008 8:33PM]

I hope you all waste your money on that Sea gate Dog crap!

I bought a 500GB drive at Office Max last spring for a great deal($119)!
I used it for about 3 months. I left it on for 3 days and my lovely pile of dog $hit had its brains fried!!!
I talked to customer service and they wanted like $1000 to fix their junk and retrieve the data. Lucky for me I had most everything backed up on my computer.

If you look closely at the design, the Fan is on the bottom. The sea gate morons are too stupid to realize that heat rises. :(

If you have any thought of buying one, PLEASE CHECK THE REVIES!!!!

(PS don't be a grammar nazi)

[Smi @ Sep 15th 2008 11:12AM]

You've obviously not looked close enough at the design - they're cooled passively. Not that they get "hot" anyway, merely warm, even when spun up.

I've got a Seagate Freeagent 250GB drive and whilst it can be a bit loud (just put it on a rubber mug matt to muffle what vibration there is - it's literally just resonance from the desk) it doesn't get hot, is superfast and super reliable. I even quite like the brown.

I /did/ read the reviews - one pointed out, quite rightly, that over the years harddrive manafacturers have come and gone, some have risen, some have fallen - and yet Seagate have remained very strong. Not to mention that some weird twist of economics means they put their top end Caviar drives into all of the Freeagent externals - great performance for the cost.

Can't fault them. I'm not going to be a grammar nazi, because you asked nicely. I'll be a fact nazi instead - you're just plain wrong!

[shickOFF @ Oct 4th 2008 6:58AM]

We have no any docking station for FreeAgent Go in Latvia :( I can`t buy it. Please, tell me how can I do it

[MrPete @ Dec 9th 2008 4:16PM]

The only problem with the old design was confusion. It works quite well. Yes, a fan on the bottom is good design: by pulling air through the unit you get even temps from top to bottom.

The gotcha: you can't put the old units on a carpet or anything else that blocks airflow.

These new ones look even better!