Final Thoughts
Seagate has another great product in the FreeAgent XTreme external hard drive. The new style of the drive will really appeal to consumers and the all black color is really sleek. The LED display on the front of the drives is really cool and many people will like it over the single LED’s on many other external hard drives. Also many people will like that you can place the drive horizontally with the stand.
The software that comes with the drive easily allows you to setup a backup plan and sync folders, although you can only have 1 backup plan per drive. The software also allows you to make an encryption folder, which is very important to people these days. The ability to turn off the LED’s on the drive is also a plus especially if you do not like the LED’s.
The performance of the drive is on par with other USB and Firewire connected drives we have tested in the past. The thing that I didn’t understand is why Seagate did not include an eSATA cable? I can see maybe not included the PCI bracket, but not the cable at all? What’s the point of having an eSATA connection on the drive if you are not going to include the cable for people to use it? Out of the 3 connections on the drive it is the fastest and I’m sure the people buying this drive would want to take advantage of that. The Firewire connection is not much faster than the USB so this drive is basically the FreeAgent Desk with a Firewire connection.
Right now you can get this drive for $179.99, which is definitely a good price for a 1TB drive, add on another $10-15 for an eSATA cable and PCI bracket and you are set. Overall ThinkComputers gives the Seagate FreeAgent XTreme 1TB External Hard Drive an 8 out of 10 score.
Pros:
– Sleek design
– LED array
– Firewire, USB and eSATA connections
– Easy setup
Cons:
– No eSATA cable or PCI bracket included
– Can only have 1 backup plan
