With the base of Mac users continuing to grow in the wake of the failure known as Windows Vista, it looks like everyone is trying to figure out a way to cash in. Last year, Targus sent us a new line of products built from the ground up for Macbook users. This was a departure from their previous efforts that resembled PC products moonlighting as Mac ones. Storage manufacturers have also caught on to this trend by introducting products packaged and preformatted for Mac users only, rather than a PC product with Mac compatibility. Today, we look at one of those efforts from Seagate.
The Seagate FreeAgent Go for Mac is a portable hard drive product that panders to the Mac demographic by supporting Firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0 interfaces. An included hard drive dock gives it the convenience of “drop-in and play” without having to fumble for cables.
What’s Inside the Box?
There’s quite a bit included with the FreeAgent Go for Mac. Of course, you get the FreeAgent Go drive itself, which was provided to us in a 320GB size spinning at 5400RPM, but you also get quite the assortment of cables which include:
- Firewire 400
- Firewire 800
- USB
- USB (power only)
Rounding out this package is the included dock which functions only via Firewire 800 and has no other connectivity options. I guess this means you’re out of luck if you own anything but a MacBook Pro or a Mac Pro Tower. A case is also included to protect the drive during your out of office adventures and a quick setup guide runs you through what you need to do to get going.
Features and Specifications
Besides the 320GB version, the drive also comes in a smaller 250GB and a larger 500GB version: all of which utilize one of Seagate’s energy efficient 5400RPM 2.5 inch notebook drives and support your Mac’s power management features. Yes, it also supports Time Machine backups. All of the drives include Seagate’s five year warranty.
The color shown is the only choice, but if you’re going for that “Mac Look” then this drive should cause no complaints. The drive is encased in a lightweight plastic shell and the front is covered with an aluminum plate.
The drive features three connections on the back with the Firewire port doing double duty as both Firewire 400 and 800 connections merely depend on the cable you choose to use. Of course, you have to have either port available on your Mac. To the right of this is the USB 2.0 connection, and to the far left is an auxillary power connection for systems that lack the juice to power the drive with a single USB cable. This is typically only a problem with older systems that only support USB 1.1, which won’t be the case for most modern Mac systems.
Docked at Firewire 800 Speeds
The most interesting part of this package is the hard drive dock which seems to serve only those with Macbook Pros and Mac Pros. The dock only connects via Firewire 800, leaving users with Firewire 400 and USB 2.0 connections out in the cold. Yes, this means MacBook users, both old and “Al-Loo-Min-Nee-Um” get shafted, but you’re OK if you’re pimpin’ the “Pro” goodness.
Built for Travelling
Although the dock is strictly a stay at home item, the case that comes with the drive is also quite capable getting the drive out of the home. It holds the drive snugly and the case is oriented properly so that you still have access ot the connections. This means that you can leave the case on the whole time, providing extra protection for your sensitive data. It even has a pocket for the cables, allowing it all to travel as one.
Speaking of cables, it’s nice to see that they are cut to the right length. I typically see drives with some really long generic cable thrown in the box, which ends up cluttering up your laptop bag, and takes away a bit of that portability factor. Seagate decided to make them short and easy to store. They are just the right length and all of them fit in the elastic pocket sewn onto the case.
Setup and Installation
There really isn’t much you need to do to get the FreeAgent Go for Mac setup. Since it comes with no addtional software, all you need to do is plug it in using any of the included interfaces (Firewire 400/800 or USB 2.0) and you’re set to go.
If you have a Firewire 800 port, you can plug the dock into that and leave it be, docking the drive as needed. Don’t forget to eject of course. If you want to use it as a Time Machine backup drive, you can go ahead and set that up too.
You know you’ve hooked it up right when the light comes on and the Firewre or USB drive icon shows up on your desktop. Like I said, there’s not much you need to do to make FreeAgent Go get going.
Performance
In order to see how this drive performs, we ran it through a few tests to figure out the perdinent details like read and write speeds. We used two different sets of files which included a folder of smaller files like photos, documents and spreadsheets which weighed in at about 500.4 MB’s and another folder filled with three larger video files that weighed in at 1055 MB’s.
In order to figure out the read speeds, we dropped each folder from the drive to the desktop and in order to figure the write speeds, we tossed the folders back onto the drive. The stopwatch method was used to measure the time, and then from the times, we calculated the read and the write speeds of both file set. Here are the results:
As you can see here, the drive fares much better copying over large files like the video files in the large file folder, while it slows down considerably copying large numbers of smaller files. This is likely due to the inability of the tiny 2.5 in drive’s ability to keep up with the large volume of tiny random reads and writes. You can also see a small bottleneck start to form as the Firewire 800 interface barely edges out the Firewire 400 interface on the large file speeds, as the tiny drive starts to tap out.
Overall, some very respectable performance numbers for a portable drive, but if you’re looking for higher performance, and don’t need portability, an external drive with a faster 7200RPM desktop drive might be in order. We’ll be looking at one from Seagate a little later on this month so check back with us on that.
Final Thoughts and Conclusions
Sometimes all it takes it giving your users a little recognition and by recognizing Mac users, Seagate will likely sell a ton of these drives. Ultimately, what will sell the drives in the long run will be the user experience out of the box. The drive is easy to setup, requires no further formatting, and uses the most common interfaces on the Mac which include Firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0. I particularly liked how Seagate includes cables that are a reasonably short length, instead chucking some generic cable that requires much coiling to get it to fit into your bag. I also appreciated the inclusion of the case and really liked that it accomodated the cables as well.
With the inclusion of Firewire 800, the drive is clearly aimed at the MacBook Pro user or Mac Pro user at home. However, the dock itself offers no other connection except for Firewire 800, which makes it useless for anyone but MacBook Pro or Mac Pro users. If you’re going to include a dock, you really should make it useable for all Macs, or at least include the more pervasive USB 2.0 as a backup.
Overall though, I think Seagate has done a great job for Mac users. The drive performs well and most importantly, easy to use.
Pros
- Easy to setup and use
- Triple interface includes all Mac friendly interfaces like Firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0
- The case not only provides protection but storage for all the proper length cables
- The drive dock provides easy connectivity without fumbling for cables
Cons
- The drive dock helps no one but users with a Firewire 800 interface
- Only one color choice for those of you that “Think Different”
Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10.0
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Seagate FreeAgent Go 320GB Portable Drive For Mac Photo Gallery
