Tech Review

The computer industry is odd in many ways. I can buy a Toshiba 160GB laptop hard drive all by itself at Fry's for $149.99 or I can buy the Seagate external FreeAgent Go with a case, USB chord, and some software for 109.99. If you just wanted the drive it would be cheaper to buy the FreeAgent Go and remove the hard drive from the case. And, you'd still have an extra cable for free!

Follow up:

Shopping wisdom aside, buying an external drive is a good decision for many users, but it's a no-brainer for anybody with a laptop and a large collection of either video or music. The reason one would prefer a small 2.5" (the kind of hard drive that goes into a notebook) over the bigger desktop drive-based 3.5" drives is that they're able to function using only the power from the USB port -you don't need a separate power adapter, making it truly portable.

Impressions:

FreeAgent Go has a nice design. I would have preferred aluminum, but the plastic seems to be of good quality. It's uselessly tapered on one side, giving it an extra inch of width, but it's no big deal.

Inside is a 5400rpm, 160GB hard drive. I learned recently that some external drive makers (I'm looking at you, Toshiba) opt for a slower 4200rpm drive which eliminates it from consideration for me. In a comparison with a desktop 5400rpm drive, the Seagate worked similarly when transferring large amounts of data.

Seagate provides a "Y" cable which allows one to use two USB ports to power the hard drive. In testing, I learned that not all USB ports or USB cables are created equal. Some cables failed to supply enough juice to the FreeAgent's hard drive and another laptop's USB port was inadequate to the task even with a short, quality cord. On my Dell and using the Seagate-supplied cord, I only had to use one USB plug and I suspect that you'll probably get by on one USB port as well, although one is assured of error-free operation by having the power of two USB ports. Some external drives accept power from a 5V AC adapter, which would provide additional peace of mind, but the FreeAgent Go does not.

Seagate attempts to give the FreeAgent Go value-added features to distinguish it in a market with little differentiation. One is the Seagate backup software. It let's you set the interval at which the Seagate "sleeps" after a period of inactivity which is a useful feature on laptops; adjust the slow pulse of the mystifying amber light (I prefer a fast light; it makes me think the hard drive is working harder); and synchronize folders. It's a nice, useful set of tools and the ability to take the software with you can be a big plus, although you probably already have Nero or some other backup software on your computer.

Also useful for computer butterflies is Creedo. Creedo launches upon hard drive insertion and lets you run programs from an XP "Start" type menu strait from the hard drive and without installing them on the host computer. You can run productivity apps. like OpenOffice; encryption programs like Keepass; browsers like Firefox (keep your bookmarks with you); graphics programs like FastStone; games like Chicken Invaders and AxySnake; and the most convenient, email clients like Thunderbird.

The advantages of running the same programs on different computers from a hard drive are obvious. I use the similar and excellent Portable Apps Suite to run Thunderbird from a thumb drive on my school computer, as the IT department doesn't let me connect to Yahoo (good policy for kids). Since I could only use the internet on a public computer, I also used it when I was stationed in Iraq (I'd download my email and take it back to my laptop).

The advantage of having your programs and your media on the same device is also clear and one of the reasons that the FreeAgent Go will replace my portable flash drive.

**update: You may want to glue the little rubber feet on the drive as they come off easily.

The drive with its hypnotic amber glow.

Seagate FreeAgent Go with Y cable.

The Seagate tools.

Creedo