Seagate FreeAgent Go 500GB External Hard Drive Review

Software & Longevity

Software

The preloaded drive management software is aptly called the Seagate Manager. It self-installs when you first connect the drive and gives you full control of your device. From the My Drives tab, you can view basic information and also access the drive’s settings (more than one drive may be connected at the same time). Here, you are able to adjust power settings, test your drive to find out if it is functioning properly or even adjust the LED controls. The LEDs on the drive are illuminated while the drive is connected and accentuates the design pattern on the front of the drive, similar to a backlight. Still in the settings, you can also manually or automatically check for software updates. You can even enable or disable the Seagate Advisor messages.

In the Backup tab, you get the opportunity to do just that, backup and more! Scheduling is available and conforms to the rest of your settings as well. Within your settings, you can be selective of which files or file types you wish to backup, view your backed up files and even restore files to your device.

Syncing in made easy at the Sync tab, with one of two choices. A Simple Sync automatically synchronizes the data of your Personal folder (My Documents, Contacts, Downloads, etc). The other option is a Custom Sync in which you select which folders you wish to synchronize.

Last but definitely not least, the Security tab gives you full encryption capabilities and is a very useful tool for those of us that work with sensitive information. That aside, it can be useful just to secure certain files that may contain ultra-personal data such as credit card and other banking information, etc.

So there you have it; a very robust management software that is preloaded and very simple to use. It is full of functionality and remains practical. I like it a lot!

Longevity

There is a five-year limited warranty on this drive which seems to suggest that Seagate expects your product to last you at least five years. Keep in mind that the end user needs to take good care of his/her product to maximize its length of operation.

After having this drive for roughly three months, I can assuredly say that it has not skipped a beat. There have been no errors, no hiccups, no slowdowns and best of all, no data corruption. Now three months is a long way off five years but this is a first impression that I expect to last five years.