Seagate's FreeAgent GoFlex: Modular External Storage
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Should you pick a 3.5” or 2.5” drive? USB 2.0 or FireWire? USB 3.0 or eSATA? There are plenty of storage options, and sometimes it seems hard to find an ideal solution. Seagate’s FreeAgent GoFlex emphasizes modularity so you can mix and match drive form factor, capacity, interface, and features into the configuration that’s best for you. We looked at the GoFlex family to see if spending more on Seagate’s "universal" drive makes sense in an environment where storage prices are continually falling.
GoFlex Separates The Drive From Its Features
The GoFlex concept looks very complicated when you see the many different products listed on Seagate’s home page. However, the idea is actually quite simple. There are two basic drive types, 2.5” and 3.5”, named GoFlex Ultra-portable Drive and Desk External Drive, respectively. Both consist of Seagate hard drives in SATA-enabled shells.
With the 2.5” drives, you can attach one of four Upgrade Cables to equip the GoFlex Ultra-portable with one of four popular interfaces: FireWire 800, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, or eSATAp (bus powered). The GoFlex Pro Ultra-portable Drive comes with integrated and encrypted automatic backup and synchronization. Alternatively, you can insert the Ultra-portable drives into Seagate’s TV HD Media Player or the Net Media Sharing Device. The 3.5” drives have to be plugged onto one of three possible GoFlex Desk Desktop Adapters: the FireWire 800/USB 2.0, USB 3.0, or USB 3.0 with a PCI Express controller kit. All GoFlex drives use SATA interfaces, which means that all of they may be directly connected to internal SATA controllers and SATA power, but you need the Seagate cables or adapter solutions to operate GoFlex drives as external or portable storage.
If you purchase a FreeAgent GoFlex drive, you’ll have to pick one interface option. All others can be added later. We looked at the 1 TB 3.5” Desk External Drive, the 2.5” Ultra-portable Drive, along with every Upgrade Cable and Desktop Adapter, to check usability and performance. We also included the Auto Backup option and GoFlex Net Media Sharing Device for data distribution across networks.
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Annoying things about moden external drives - apart from only one. 1) They invariably come on with the PC and do not have an on off button 2) enclosures usually do, but on the BACK (one unit also has the LEDS there - duh).
For those reasons, I only buy Samsung Story drives.
DrT
I have the 2.5 320GB model with USB 2.0 and 3.0 with a Buffalo PCIe 3.0 card. I can tell the difference for sure, but not as what I had expected.
The backup software that came with mine looks totally different? It is still the Memeo though.
In regards to not being able to turn them off, see above, the Hitachi G-Drive's all come with an on/off switch and do have an LED light as well. A feature that is nice as you stated DrT. They are formatted for Mac's out of the box, but you can change that for Windows very easy.
Thanks for the great write up. I enjoy reading your tests on stuff that I have purchased and getting your point of view on it.
One thing I think you left out, or I didn't catch. If you buy just the 2.0 drive interface model, it comes with a little stand that you set the drive onto. The stand has the female end on it. It's a good idea. FYI, all the connectors that you can buy to pop onto your drive are female. It is basically a different snap on connector and you can use your own cables of different length if you have them. Hope that helps a little.