My seagate freeagent can´t be found by the computer.

[Ante]

Hello.
I bought this external hard drive about two mounths ago. Have all the pictures of my newborn son and movies of him stored and secured in this hard drive. Yesterday my girlfriend was making an photo book with some of those pictures and everything was fine. Suddenly she heard a silent beep from the hard drive and a "burring" (like some electrical transformators can sound). Since this happend the hard drive haven`t been found by the computer or another one.
Our hole world fall apart......panic......sweat.......

What can we do about this.
The store where i bought this hard drive says that they need only the hard drive inside the "shell" to make a back up.

Now to another tricky question.
How can i go in to the hard drive without breaking the "surrounding shell".

Is it maybee assembled like a tv remote controll? The plastic cover halfs "snapped" together?

Please. Is there anyone who can help.

Regards Ante from sweden :o

[Rob Williams]

Hi Ante,

I do not envy you right now... this is another reason why important data (especially baby pictures) should -always- be backed up to DVD in addition. Backing up to a single external hard-drive is great, but it sounds like you didn't have a backup at all... that was your primary copy.

Hopefully it's just the FreeAgent malfunctioning and not the hard-drive inside. I am not sure how to break into the FreeAgent, and I assume doing so will void the warranty. You might just want to void the warranty anyway and slowly open it up, or e-mail Seagate and explain the situation. If you describe to them what you described to us, they might have a solution just based on those facts.

Good luck man, I hope your pictures are going to be fine.

[Ante]

I havn`t had any succes with the store where i bought the drive about getting out the info i want.

So now there is not so much i can do other then try getting into the drive without damadge the shell that surrounds the hard drive.

And so far as you can see in the picture there are three different cables. Those are connected to a circuit board in the foot of the harddrive. The power and the usb cable are also connected to this circuit board. I think that maybee this circuit is brooken.

Is it possible to connect those cables to another device and backup the info on the harddrive.

If there are anyone out there that have any info about how this harddrive is built i´ll bee more then greatfull.

Ante from sweden.

[DarkSynergy]

Honestly, I would contact Seagate about this. The hard drive itself can be connected to any PC with SATA support... if you can get it out of it's casing and thats the tricky part. If you can get the drive out, you -might- be able to get the files that you need off of the drive. You might also be able to look around the drive itself and see if there has been any burning.

I know it's a terrible situation but without removing the drive from the casing, there isn't much that I can help you with. If you do get the drive free, let us know and we will do all that we can to assist you further.

Good luck.

[Ante]

Hello again.

Guess what.......i got inside the casing without any damage to the casing. I have checked it for any burnt electronics or other strange failures. I could not see anything wrong. And i didn´t even smell any burned electonic.
So....today i took my hd to a computer store (another then the one where i bought the drive). And they will test the drive......no, as they said " we will do everything we can to save all the data on the drive to another drive". And if they manage to do that then everything will be fine in the end. I can after this put the hard drive back together and return it to the store where i bought it and get a new one.....hopefully.

Another thing......

I here have a foto of the circuitboard where al the cables are connected. And as you can see it dosen`t look god. The copper on the board is starting to turn green and there are grey fields around the soldering. In my oppinion this circuit board has been in touch with damp or something that makes the solder react and short circuit the electronics.

And now after this breaking into the hd........what`s the meaning of contacting seagate. I have broken the warraty by breaking into the casing and have no use of the warranty. All i think i can do is to tell you all out there is that it is possible to get inside of the casing without any damage. Just be patient and very carefull. This may give some hope to those who sits in the same position as i am.

Why build a casing without any openings, if the hd stop working you need to take it out and try fix it.:mad:

Ante from sweden

[Rory Buszka]

That's the only beef I have with all the FreeAgent hard drives - they don't open up well. I'm interested to know how you disassembled yours. The hard drive itself should be perfectly fine - I'd say the chances for recovering your data are good. Really, if you had sent the drive to Seagate for repair, you would have likely got all your data back, and another perfectly working drive.

[tj911t]

I need help.... I need someone to post pictures of the free agent drive opened up so I can see where the tabs are or at least a detailed description of how to get the case off non-destructively. I have searched everywhere I can think of, but have found no pictures or detailed instructions? I don't want to break it in case I need to use the warranty in the future. I am having trouble getting the eSATA to work with my older SATA 150 motherboard. I believe the drive has a jumper to force it to work with SATA 150 and think that is worth a shot. If I can't get the eSATA to work, I think I will have return it since my benchmark times for the USB are not very good. THANKS!!!

[Ante]

tj911t......

I can take pictures of everything if it`s not to late. I have opened up my free agent without damage it.

Ante.

[seagate on fritz]

Ante,

Please post some pictures or instructions on how to open the case. I was in the process of backing up my entire hard drive to what I believed to be a reliable external when the drive crapped out on me. I'm sure, especially after reading everyone else's horror stories, the data (95% of which is gone from my PC now) is safe on the drive. I just have to open the case to save it.

Please, please, please, please, please help. (Is that enough pleases? If not, here's a few more: please, please, please, please, please, please!)

Thanks in advance!

[Nick1696]

My freeagent drive, that I've had about 3 months craped out on me right after I finely filed it up {500gb}:mad: when i tried to compress it, it also beeps when i power it up but i can not access it at all. so some pics on how to open it would be great!!! & dose any one know if it would be possible to simply plug the hard drive i self in to a desktop with a free hard drive slot!

I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem!!!:confused:

Thanks!!!

Nick

[danny800]

i have a freeagent drive too.

my first one died after two months and i just got a replacement today and its the same problem you're having. with the buzzing and the beeps, although it sounds more like clicks on mine.

it usually stops after a while, i guess thats the drive going to sleep. but the light just stays steady on.

its really doing my head in. im hoping i can get a refund so that i can go buy a different brand. :(

[Nick1696]

danny800 Did you lose your data or did they recover it for you? And i really need to know how to open it up!!!! Here is a pic so were all on the same page!
http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/prod_lrg_images/102/204110102.jpg

[AudioHound]

I have the same Freeagent drive that crashed in the same way with just a vibration and some beeps. The drive won't spin. How does the case open?

This was my backup storage while creating a raid. Now the raid is ready to go and I am going insane with this stupid 4 month old Seagate Freeaget!

[danny800]

I'd lost a few videos that were on it, but my 3000+ pictures are still on my computers hard drive, and the second one... well it never worked from the beginning so it doesnt matter.

I have the Seagate FreeAgent Desktop Drive 320GB

[Nick1696]

Well that sucks! & AudioHound What did you mean by The drive won't spin? I'm pritty sure that the vibration is cosed by the drive spinning. any way i lost over 15,000 pics and 80 hours over home vids and if i don't get it back my family is going to kill me!!!! so if any one knows a way to get the drive working or get the data back I would be truly greatful!!!

[AudioHound]

Nick,
I think the drive won't spin because there is no gyroscopic resistance when you pick up the drive and twist its axis.
Normally when you pick up an external drive that is spinning you feel the resistance when you twist your wrist against the spin axis.

[seagate on fritz]

Class action lawsuit?

This drive is a piece of crap. I always thought Seagate was a reputable brand. But, this seems to be an epidemic of a crappy product. I will never, EVER, buy a Seagate product again.

I'm still waiting on the suggestions on how to successfully open the case. Please post what you know as soon as possible.

Thanks.

[Ante]

Hello everyone.

I feel sad, reading al this stories from you al. But don`t worry "yet". As i posted earlier, i`ve taken the drive to a service store and they have found that the circuit bord on the harddrive have a burnt component. They have ordered a exact copy of the drive and when it arrives they will test to start the drive. Hopefully this will work.

Then you realise that it may not work just getting the drive out and connect it internaly just because of the burned circuit board component. But test it before any other solution.

I will take pictures on the case so you al can see the inside.

And we should send this thread to seagate so they could take action and help resolving the problem.

So the data you have on the disc is probably safe.......so safe that not even you self can reach it.......thats to safe......

Good luck to you al.

Ante from sweden.

[Ante]

Hello again.

A short and disastrous uppdate.

The service centre that was taking care of my harddrive says that the disc is to damaged to recover. It wasn`t the burned circuit board.

This is for me and my family a disaster.

I have to look around for another solution to this matter.

I will still post some pictures here. With hope that it may help you get the data back and a new disc from the warranty.


Ante

[Nick1696]

Well Guys I got it apart and it was the biggest pain in the ass!!! the drive is most likely dead Just like AudioHound said the hard drive itself is crap!!! Not the circuit bord!! I think that It spins then the read arm hits the disks thats what the beep is!!! but If you don't hear the beep you my still be able to get your data back!

Heres how to open the drive i will upload pics of the proses! This will most likely void your warranty!!! Remember to remove every screw you see!!! I used a butter knife to open the bottom then after taking out the screws I used a very small screw driver to pry open the case from the bottom. Once you get the metal jacket out pull off the rubber bumpers there are screws underneath then you can take out the drive note that the case is constructed like a tv remote you have to force the two half's apart!!! I have not tried to put it back together yet!!!

Here's the pics... 01http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/01.jpg
02http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/02.jpg
03http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/03.jpg
04http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/04.jpg
05http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/05.jpg
06http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/06.jpg
07http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/07.jpg
08http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/05-1.jpg
09http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/10.jpg
10http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/11.jpg

as you can see there are a lot of pieces and even more screws!

Hope this helps some!!!:rolleyes:

I will still try to recover my data once i get the wires to connect it directly to my computer it dose not use standed wirering But the odds are that the drive is dead!

I also Like the idea of a Class action lawsuit cause I got the Seagate drive for is reliability & I most likely lost everything! Plus there customer service has been giving me the runaround:mad:!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[seagate on fritz]

I just got my case opened. It was easy. I never would have thought of taking off the bottom first.

Once you get that as the starting point, it is quick. A half dozen screws, lots of prying (that damn case is a pain), and voila, it's done.

Now, I just need to get the drive to my buddy to try to access it. I'm about to go on a work trip, so I won't have a chance to try it for a week. I'll report back when I find out.

[Strider]

Hi everyone,

I'm so glad I found this forum thread. I just came back from LA where I was shooting a documentary (I'm an amatuer filmmaker) and of course....I used a SEA-BREAK Free Agent to back up the files.

Now, it won't power up.

I'm currently in Taiwan, where I need to get the footage off the harddrive.

I've read all the posts about how to get it open, but honestly, I'm not a very good hardware person. I think with the pictures, I should be able to get it open, but I'm still a little scared.

And also, I can envision taking it to a local shop, but they are not as "corporate" as US companies (I mean, the little technology shops around Taipei)...

So, can you guys provide an opinion on:

A. Should I attempt to package, mail, send this back to Seagate? Risk getting more damaged in the process, probably have to pay for a recovery fee, and then maybe wait for a couple of months?

B. Try and open it myself and take to a local hardware store to see if the harddrive will boot up?


THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP.

I'm so sorry to hear about the guy who lost the family videos/pics. Mine is only a documentary, so it's not as bad as family memories, but it is something I put a lot of time and money into.


- Damon

damon@subtitledfilms.com

PS: I bought the drive 7 days ago.

[Nick1696]

Strider I don't think there is much point in opining it up for you! If its not powering up then it my have more to do with the powersaply your using in Taiwan! Even my drive powers up. so there my not be anything wrong with it!

And A & B SUCK!!!

A= you will most likely lose all data and get a refurbished drive that will probably brake agen and in less you bought it from them directly they wont replace it at all!

B= ? but if you take it to a shop theres no need to open it... Inless you smell somthing burning form the inside its probably not the circuit bord!

I tested mine and they were fine thats why i think the hard drive is the problem for most of us! So at lest for me the ship is sinking quick http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/sinkfa.jpg

but does any one know a way to hook the drive to a standard drive slot the seagate wires are.... Not standard I need a way to hoke the drive to my pc directly then i can try to recover the data!

[Strider]

- Nick1656

I got it half open, but I don't understand how you guys got the case open?

I'm attaching pictures...

I don't see any more screws to unscrew...

At this point, is it just a case of prying open the two sides of the case? Or are there hidden screws somewhere?


Thanks,

Damon

[sunwmax]

Nick1696 - can you please post:

- a detailed picture of the drive's label
OR
- the exact model number that appears on the label?

I have a dead 500Gb FreeAgent Desktop. Luckily enough, the important stuff (my 5500 family pictures) are ALL on Flickr. The drive still has some semi-important data that I'd like to get off. If it's standard SATA or eSATA, I'll be able to plug it into another machine and save the data.

Please help! Your prior work is greatly appreciated. I will post back with anything I find in the process.

[Nick1696]

Strider - All you need to do now is finish removing the bottom then pry open the side and slid you small screw driver in the direction noted :rolleyes:


sunwmax - not sure what you meant by If it's standard SATA or eSATA, I'll be able to plug it into another machine If you mean the wires there not normal i have three other computer that all have the same wiring & it won't work with them!!! But here some pics hope it helps! :rolleyes:

[sunwmax]

The data cable looks like it's standard Serial ATA. Are you able to remove the two cables without damaging the drive's connector?

[sunwmax]

Another thing I noticed: is it whiteout on the label?? I can't believe they'd conceal model numbers like this.

[Nick1696]

LOL!!!:rolleyes: No its not whiteout on the label I erased it with paint I would still like a refund from seagate If they see my drives info i don't think they will!!!

& yes the wires come right off...

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z55/GS1696/FreeAgent004.jpg

[sunwmax]

I doubt they look at these forums, but can you just post the model number? Does it look anything like ST3500630NS?

[Nick1696]

Yes but there all different! Im sure you have the same drive!

[Rory Buszka]

Hey, guys. I've got a question for you all.

In my review from April, I reviewed the Seagate FreeAgent Pro model, which I suspect has significantly different innards from the plain-vanilla FreeAgent. How many of you are having these problems with the 'Pro' model? What I'm trying to determine is if people are having these problems with the 'plain vanilla' FreeAgent, or the 'Pro' version, or both.

As far as my own experiences, I've had nothing but good things to say about my FreeAgent Pro. Even though it's been powered up almost 24/7 (with weekend-long respites every now and then), I've only ever twice had an issue with the drive showing up in Windows after plugging in its USB cable. However, pulling out and reinserting the FreeAgent's power adapter plug always rectified this, and I can count the times it's happened on one hand.

[sunwmax]

Is the Pro version the one with multiple interfaces? It seems as if though my FreeAgent Desktop (and possibly the other drives in this thread) are having all these issues because of faulty controller boards. The logical conclusion would be that the boards in Desktop and Pro versions are different enough to make your drive more stable than mine.

My drive is working fine at the moment. I'm sure if I disconnect it now, it'll throw the usual tantrum again (rapidly blinking LED, doesn't show on my Mac), which is why it's gonna stay connected for a long time now, until I'm ready to take it apart. At that point, I'll leave the crappy Seagate board behind and stick the drive in a run-of-the-mill SATA/USB enclosure and be merry.

[sunwmax]

By the way, I'm buying these two babies to replace the Seagate enclosure:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5fid=1501&sku=30504
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5fid=1912&sku=29566

[Ante]

Hello again.

Here i have some pictures of both harddrive and the covering.


First picture is the harddrive showing the circuit bord.

The technicians believed that this circuit board was damaged. They tried one new exact copy of the circuit bord on the drive without any succes. The drive still don`t start.

Now there is only 2 things left to do.

One thing, is to take the drive to a harddrive service store. Let them put it to pieces in a so called "clean room". The will take out the actual discs and put them in another machine and then download the data to another drive or storage device. If the discs are not damaged this will work. Since the mechanism inside the seagate drive is damaged it will never start again. The only sad thing about this action is that this is not cheap. This will cost " i`m not really shore in usd" but be prepared for something like 1000-1500usd. Maybee more maybee less.

Now there is just one other thing to do.
Go back to the store and get a new external hard drive from the warranty.
A tip.......not a seagate.

...........wait a minute...........

There is one more thing you can try.

If you used this free agent external harddrive as an backup the data should come from somewhere.
For example, a harddrive in a computer that you have formated and gave to a friend (that`s what i have done). If so.....tell that person not to use the hard drive.......The data that you had before you formated the drive is still there. It`s not visible for the operating system. There is a program called " i think" (ntfs recovery). And this program searches through the whole drive and saves the data on another storage device. And this can take about 15-20 hours depending on how much data you had. This is what i am going to try out next week.

Those other pictures shows how the outer casing looks like on the inside. You can see the hooks that you have to reach with long smal sticks and gently bend apart, and at the same time with little help try to open the cover.
This is what i did. Take long time to understand how i fits and be very gently.

I really hope this workes for you al with the same problem. And that you get the data you want.

Ante

[danny800]

Uhhh this drive is so annoying.

I didnt lose any data as such but i need a working one soon as im always concerned about my PC making strange clicking noises.

I ideally would like a refund so that i can get one the same as the ones we use in school to backup all our media and moving image coursework.

I believe they are iomega drives.

Hah i few people i know are saying it doesnt work because the Seagate plant up the road from me (Limavady) is closing. Thats obviously not the reason.... :p

[seagate on fritz]

I have the regular version, not the pro.

[Nick1696]

I also have the regular version, not the pro.
I think non of us have pro.

[Ante]

Hello again.

To all of you out there with this seagate free agent harddrive problem, how is it going. It`s been so quite here for a while. Is the problem fixed, have you found another way to solve the problem.....

Ante

[Nick1696]

Nop and im in limbo till i get the money to get new parts! I will never ever EVER buy a Seagate drive again!!!

[seagate on fritz]

Ok, checking in.

I took the drive apart (a major pain). But, with the instructions posted and knowing where to start from, it was ok. I suck at these types of things, so other probably won't find it as bad.

I attached the drive to the PC with a dongle, and everything worked. I just went and got a Mad Dog external case and hooked it up a few minutes ago. Seems to be working thus far. I'm copying about 50GB of data over to it (while keeping the original stuff, just in case).

I'll play around with it and report back in another few days. But, thus far, I'm encouraged.

[seagate on fritz]

Oh, the external case I bought was $25 at radio shack. I didn't want to brave the best buys/comp usas/etc with holiday shopping in south florida.

[seagate on fritz]

I transferred about 25 GB from my hard drive to the seagate (in its new case) last night without a problem. The drive fired right up, responded and ran smooth. Success seems within my grasp.

[Vicutu]

I'm (most sadly) joining your ranks. My FreeAgent begun it's slow descent to the hell that spawned it. I had it for 3 months and i don't think it was used more than a 5 hours total (and about 40 gigs). Luckily i recovered all the important data from it with a repeated "put him out in the cold - stick it in the computer - use the 5 min of it running to it's best"

I bought it as a backup for my data so, after reading a lot about it on this forum and others, i can't trust it's replacement. So i'm very interested in the idea of de-casing it and using it in a separate USB rack. The drive itself looks to function right until it's overheating (all info on it could be recovered after cooling it) and the Seagate application tested it (in the 5 minutes till overheating) and reported he's ok.

So if u could report further behavior of your disk Fritz, i'd be very grateful....i was so happy to read all is "good" this morning....please keep us up to date

[seagate on fritz]

After putting it in the new case, I have not had a problem. I turn the case on, the drive powers up and stays working. I turn it off, and it actually goes off (unlike before when I had to pull the power cord out).

If it was still able to be returned, I'd bring the hell-spawned piece of crap back to the store where it was purchased. If not, I'd take it out of the case, buy a new case, and run it that way. Might as well get something for the money you already spent. I figured 25 for a case was better than 150 for a new drive.

Hope it works for you. I'll keep reporting back.

[Vicutu]

To return it i'd have to make a trip to germany (where i bought it) and i don't know if the store would replace it with another model. And i don't want another one of those i'd be afraid to use, thinking of losing all the data on it.

So i think i'll do the same and purchase a Vantec case for it. What do u think of this one: http://www.vantecusa.com/p_nst360u2.html ? It seems the hard inside FreeAgent is very heat sensitive, after cooling it (i didn't took it out of the case) at about 2-3C it works fine for about 5-9 min than gives an error. In the 5-9 minutes u can take any of the data on it (even the one it stoped at in previous session). So i hope with some decent cooling it will work fine all the time.

Good luck to us :)

I'll keep trolling around here for updates (i'm gonna do it in some 1-2 weeks when my budget will allow me to puchase the case). Till then i can use it as paperweight. :mad:

Cheers

[seagate on fritz]

Looks like a decent case.

I can tell you this much... This drive gets HOT!!! I think I will operate it with the case open in the future and just close it up when it's not in use.

[noegruts]

The Seagate FreeAgent Pro line of drives appear to have widespread problems with their eSATA interfaces. Seagate has (non publicly) released a firmware update for the drives which does make them faster, but many people still report reliability issues even after applying the update.

There is a link to the firmware update on my blog post on this topic here:
http://blog.noegruts.com/2007/12/seagate-freeagent-pro-esata-problems.html

Hope that helps!

[Nick1696]

:confused:Vicutu & seagate on fritz:confused: Did your drives make a beeping noise when they first broke down? because mine dose & i don't want to buy a new case if it won't help!

[Vicutu]

if i remember right it makes 1 loud "click" when starting. This happens one time when i plug it in. Did u tried to cool it and see if it works at last for a little amount of time Nick1696?

[mfield]

I just bought one of these to backup my 500gb internal drive. I had to do a disc recover on my internal drive and I just started to transfer the files across to the Seagate but it's very slow, would I be as well to exchange it or should I take out the drive and fit it to another caddy? Any help would be great.

[dvs211]

Hi, i am having a problem with my 250gb external drive. Im not sure if the power or if it is not being recognized by the computer. The yellow light doesnt come on anymore. I tried calling customer service, but they kept giving me the run around and the next thing i knew they told me it would cost from $700- 3000(usd) to recover the data. IM dobe with them, i just wanna kno if anyone can help me pinpoint the actual problem.

[shakemistake]

just recently had this problem
had the 500gb external hard drive for about a year, filled it up half way, about 300gb of information
one day my housemate knocked over the freeagent while it was in operation. it fell over about 4 inches unto soft carpet. after that the drive started making harsh metal grinding noises and fails to be found by my laptop.
i took it apart to see what the problem was
some people on this thread seemed to have faulty boards on their hard drives and got it to work when they removed the case
so i tried that, figuring it might be overheating or what have you
nope same grinding noise even after i had taken the drive completely out
so the way things stand, i believe i might have a dud drive
going to take it to a best buy or something to see if anyone can backup the information
the drive label says warranty would be void if drive was subject to 350gs of force? or something like that
mines just fell on a god damned carpet.
are you friggin serious.
i know hard drives need to be in a static position but i didn't know that a five inch drop would destroy it.
so much stuff lost if it is completely dead
stay away from this hard drive

[Rory Buszka]

If your hard drive is making mechanical grinding sounds, that's a sure way to tell that not only is the drive itself hosed, but there's virtually no chance of retrieving data. As you know, hard drives operate under hair-thin physical tolerances, with the magnetic read/write heads floating mere thousandths of an inch above the surface of the platters. If your drive experiences a physical shock that exceeds the drive's specifications for shock tolerance, the heads physically 'crash' into the surface of the disk, destroying data and practically ruining the drive itself. If this is what really happened to your drive, I wouldn't hold out any hope of recovering the data.

[nguyenbr]

Hi, I found this thread on google after my freeagent desktop 500gig stopped working. Basically, I was moving it from one room to another, and I was surprised to see that the orange lcd suddenly was not working any more - I tried many things and could not get the damn thing to power up. I did not see or hear any indications that the hard drive had failed, so I thought I would try to open up the case and try the drive as an internal drive on my computer.

Long story short, the instructions posted here for prying open the case were VERY helpful as were the pictures. The drive itself was perfectly fine and so I blame the faulty circuitry of the external case. I am happy to have not lost any of the data and thus I am here today, signing up for a user account to express my gratitude.

Thanks!!!!

[Nick1696]

well I finally got the money to try to prepare my drive and i bought all new boards but to my dismay i was not able to get any of my data back and i voided the warranty by opening it!!!

but i fond a way to replays it for free... if you go to best buy and by a new one then switch the bottom plat you can take back the busted one and get you money back and still have a working drive... thats what i did!:o:o:o

[tmvnz]

Hi,
My 6 month old freeagent desktop 250GB will not power up after running fine up until now, I contacted seagate and they told me to try another cord, which I'll do but I'm not hopeful. I was advised by seagate that if I provided a letter from a data retrieval company then opening the case would not void the warranty. The messages and photos in this thread have been very helpful.

[Vicutu]

well for me the situation ain't that bad, i took apart the drive a couple of days ago and right now it's mounted as a internal in a pc and works fine. I really can't understand if the problems are from drive overheating or a faulty integrated circuits board - i tend to suspect the second as the drive lost its mechanical head parking noise since i mounted it in the computer. Ordering right now a vantec enclosure for it :)

[tmvnz]

Hi,
The best option for me was to remove the hard drive from the seagate case and put it in a off the shelf HD enclosure (Nexstar3). All good now. My warranty is now void but my priority was retrieving my data. The problem with the seagate external HD (desktop 250GB) was, i believe, the power supply.

Seagate told me that a letter could be provided by a data retrieval company then opening the case would not void the warranty but I was impatient and needed to access the data asap.

A few lessons learnt - back up is a copy of data, not a single version. Portable hard drives have precise moving parts and are not flash drives, portable hard drives need to be moved around carefully.

[hiyman]

well for me the situation ain't that bad, i took apart the drive a couple of days ago and right now it's mounted as a internal in a pc and works fine. I really can't understand if the problems are from drive overheating or a faulty integrated circuits board - i tend to suspect the second as the drive lost its mechanical head parking noise since i mounted it in the computer. Ordering right now a vantec enclosure for it :)

How do I mount the hard drive as an internal drive. I got the external one taken apart and got the hard drive out but can't figure out how to get it installed as an internal.

[DarkSynergy]

What do you mean? If you have it hooked up correctly, SATA data and power, all you should have to do is go into your Disk Management console and initialize the disk.

Right click on My Computer > manage > Disk Management

Find the newly installed internal hard drive in the list, right click on it and follow the few steps.

[hiyman]

What do you mean? If you have it hooked up correctly, SATA data and power, all you should have to do is go into your Disk Management console and initialize the disk.

Right click on My Computer > manage > Disk Management

Find the newly installed internal hard drive in the list, right click on it and follow the few steps.


I took the drive out of my Seagate external drive and I want to check if the drive works. I want to hook it up to my desktop but the connections are different. I know a few other people on here did that and I was wondering how they did it.

[doubleyoo]

I have been reading through this thread, which is just about the only thread on the subject I have been able to find and I am starting to lose hope that my drive will work again. Here is my problem, I hope that some of you can offer some advice. I have the 320gb freeagent desktop drive and sometime within the last 24 hours it has given up on living. The only thing that happens when I plug it in is the flashing orange light. There are no beeps or clicks or anything coming from the drive or my computer (i'm on a mac). I will even hold the drive up to my ear when I plug in the power and there isnt even the slightest noise coming from the entire case. Just that damn flashing orange light. I have tried plugging it into other computers and its the exact same thing. I have about 250 gigs worth of files on it and like an idiot I use the drive as the primary location for those files instead of a backup. Anyway, am I screwed? does the complete lack of any noise mean that it is completely dead? Should I try taking it out and putting it in another case? Oh and I have had the drive for less than 2 months. Any input is will be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[delonge_hoppus]

This is definately the worst buy I've ever had the misfortune of paying out for.

I've had the same problem as a lot of you guys and I just wanted to post my frustration with it. I bought mine maybe 5 months ago and it's been brilliant. I use it as a backup to my laptop but up until December I just kept putting things on it instead of my computer and now my drive ceases to be recognised.

The light stays on but nobodys home. It occasionally likes to beep at me but doesn't power down or anything. I was wondering if someone could give me a quick summary of my options bareing in mind that I'm not 100% sure I have the skills to dissmantle it and locate the data and stuff myself without alot of help.

I know people have already been through alot of what i'm asking but if anyone can summarise it would be good. Thanks loads.

Simon.

[Nick1696]

If you are not able to disasibal the drive your best bet is to pay a computer shop to try to retrieve your data and that will cost a lot!!! I would try to remove the drive from the case and put it in the extra HD slot of a desk top. But your drive sounds as if it has the same simtams as mine did and that means that you are SCREWED you will haft to pay some one a few grand to take the disks out in a clean room and put them in to a new drive!

So those are your options.

Good luck:cool:

[interpretasl]

I got the same thing. Seagate Desktop and my wife unplugged it from one computer and attempted to plug it into another and that was all it wrote. I hear, what I think is the fan, and an attempt to read the drive, but both of my computers, laptop and desktop, aren't even seeing the drive.

It's still under warranty, but I've got all kinds of "stuff" on it.

Any suggestions?

[Rob Williams]

I still can't believe there are so many problems with these drives. interpretasl, if you are brave, you could tear it open manually and recover data that way. The smarter thing might be to call Seagate up and ask them what to do. Maybe if you send them your drive, they'll just put it in a new enclosure and your data will remain intact.

[trebius]

I too have just been stung by this terrible design! Had mine for only a couple of months and it was working fine, despite my hammering if with fairly heavy useage, but a few days ago it finally decided to break on me. It gives me that dreaded Delayed Write Failed message and won't let me access any files on it, although I can usually see the directories and some of the files if I try and access the drive. I've tried it on two computers with the same result so I'm pretty certain it's the drive. Does that sound like a controller issue or an issue with the drive itself? I'm tempted to try opening up the enclosure to steal the drive to use as another internal sata drive but I don't particularly want to void the warranty if the drive itself is already dead!

trebius.

[Kougar]

That msg would be due to the drive itself.

A friend of mine owns a Freeagent drive... it routinely spins itself down after so many minutes as a power saving measure, and Windows gives him that exact same error message. He discovered that it was a "feature" of these drives... the "Freeagent Pro" versions are the only ones that let you keep the drive from powering itself down.

[trebius]

The last time I checked my drive was set to a 15 min power save shutdown and as the error occurs seconds after the drive is connected I don't believe this to be the cause of the problem. Even if it is the software to change it won't recognise the drive after the delayed write failed error in any case and so there's not much I could do to change it. When connecting the drive the XP autorun scans the files and folders as it does when any new storage is detected but halts after it has scanned some of the files and then a few seconds later gives a Delayed Write Failed message, usually pertaining to the MFT. If I try and access the drive after this I can usually see all the folders but can only see files inside the folders that were successfully scanned during the initial autorun and even then can't open any of them. This again leads me to suspect the controller rather than the drive. I'm just loathe to crack open the enclosure to access the files I have stored on there if there's a possibility that the drive is faulty and won't be of any use even if I install it internally. On the other hand I'm not sure I even want a replacement if the same thing is going to happen to it in a few months time! Oh the agony of choice...

[kwits]

Good Day,

I have had my FreeAgent Desktop drive for about 6 months and have not had any problems until recently when I had to reset the power on the drive just before booting to Windows because the OS would not detect and mount the drive. Also, even when the drive was mounted after a few hours of use, it begins to fail with MFT write errors. I have run internal diagnostics on the drive and have not found any errors. I have also updated the drivers for my USB controllers but now the drive still is not detected when I plug in the USB cable. I have read this forum and am not sure what to do. I have bought another FreeAgent drive in hopes of copying over my data.

Regards,
Keith

[doob]

Im gutted!

just found the forum and thread and a previous post is like mine.
Grinding noise almost like 'the bearings have gone' If you turn it on its side the speed increases (vibrates a lot) and eventually stops...then a small electrical beep as if somethings trips out.Its like its trying to speed up
Yeh It did get knocked onto its side by accident (carpet too) earlier tonight but I didnt expect it to kill it.I must point out it stands on wood to not over heat,and no nothing is backed up.Just cant believe I bought my new computer today to transfer the 500gig of stuff onto it so it would be backed up.Music/photos/and loads of films. I dont think i can send it to seagate due to copyright laws with whats on the drive.7 yrs gone....gutted, absolutely gutted

Is it all gone???
Advise please.

[doob]

By the way its about 1yr old ,what a pile of crap wont be buying anything seagate again..

[doob]

well ripped it apart,the casing that is so Ive just got the hard drive itself connected.Same thing,its like it trys to get up to speed but cant,as if the motors knackered??? could this be a possibility (i know nothing about hard drives) also if anyone thinks I can recover the data can anyone in the UK recomend someone .
Many thanks in advance,
Oh yeh and only 4 screw on mine which were the metal housing covering the circuit board,everything else was cheap and nasty clip together crap.I am so sorry that I ever bought this drive

[Merlin]

well ripped it apart,the casing that is so Ive just got the hard drive itself connected.Same thing,its like it trys to get up to speed but cant,as if the motors knackered??? could this be a possibility (i know nothing about hard drives) also if anyone thinks I can recover the data can anyone in the UK recomend someone .
Many thanks in advance,
Oh yeh and only 4 screw on mine which were the metal housing covering the circuit board,everything else was cheap and nasty clip together crap.I am so sorry that I ever bought this drive
Any kind of storage we can use can have problems, we may buy a good item and in the next box of the same item ....well, it may be the lemon.
For best storagem burn to DVD/CD disks, if they are that important.
We all have lost files and media in some way....
And I have been at fault as well.... I need to burn files myself right now
Good luck in getting your files back....I'd like to have some of my files back as well.

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

[Kougar]

Doob, it would probably ruin your warranty but you can take the hard drive out of the thing, and plug it directly into a SATA port on your motherboard.

With any luck it will work for you if the drive controller in the external box is somehow bad... but if the problem is indeed the motor for the drive then this won't help. It's worth a shot if you want the data though... there should be some guides on doing this.

Found one: http://blog.thydzik.com/how-to-disassemble-a-seagate-freeagent-pro/

[doob]

Yeh its not the case or the drive controller. The rattles bigtime inside ,it trys to spin and does spin slowly but makes a bad noise and stops.If you then tilt it, it trys again,myself I think its knackered.

Ive had a look at a place that can recover data,but to be honest I think its just a harsh lesson learnt:(

[Merlin]

Yeh its not the case or the drive controller. The rattles bigtime inside ,it trys to spin and does spin slowly but makes a bad noise and stops.If you then tilt it, it trys again,myself I think its knackered.

Ive had a look at a place that can recover data,but to be honest I think its just a harsh lesson learnt:(
I think those spin on it's side...maybe if you try to take it out and use the SATA connection with computer,on a level surface.

I hope you can get your files back.

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

[doob]

Ive tried it every way up you can imagine.Its derinately goosed.:mad:

The recovery companys Ive looked at are very pricey so it would'nt be immediately if I do decide to go down that route....but a question if I did.

Does anyone know what their position is with regards to 'copywrite'
files that I have, mp3's,Movies etc? and I don't mean just a few;).

This was one of my reasons for not bothering to get intouch with Sagem`

[Merlin]

Ive tried it every way up you can imagine.Its derinately goosed.:mad:

The recovery companys Ive looked at are very pricey so it would'nt be immediately if I do decide to go down that route....but a question if I did.

Does anyone know what their position is with regards to 'copywrite'
files that I have, mp3's,Movies etc? and I don't mean just a few;).

This was one of my reasons for not bothering to get intouch with Sagem`
Well, this is a touchy question......If you did take it to the company and they got your files back, they could report you for having Copyrighted materials. A heavy fine or probation...or...just a warning like they did with someone at work for having movies.
Best thing to do is to just rent the movies, watch them and turn back in......there's only so many times you want to watch them anyway and you can have a clear consious.
Lawyers these days want to also take you to the cleaners.

Now feel better and just rent the movies. :)

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

[doob]

Yeh ,the films Im not bothered about,but unfortunately they are on there..

Like you say best to just rent,
The music though I would like back.
I don't think there would be much of a problem copyright wise as a lot of it was old vinyl thats been deleted.

I was a bit peaved at first but I am feeling a lot better lol,Just glad that I did have the family photos backed up:) after all they cannot be replaced.
I don't think I'd invest in the same external drive again though.

[Merlin]

Yeh ,the films Im not bothered about,but unfortunately they are on there..

Like you say best to just rent,
The music though I would like back.
I don't think there would be much of a problem copyright wise as a lot of it was old vinyl thats been deleted.

I was a bit peaved at first but I am feeling a lot better lol,Just glad that I did have the family photos backed up:) after all they cannot be replaced.
I don't think I'd invest in the same external drive again though.
Actually, that can happen to any drive,,,,you just never know
I have two different makes of external drive, Maxtor and Western Digital........ lost my files :mad:

So, burn some disks :D

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

[nibbler]

I have a similar problem with my 750 pro. When I turn it on it lights up and buzzes several times repeatedly. Sounds like there are bees inside the case. bzz, bzz, bzz... After about 12 buzzes, all noises and motion stops.

I have to unplug the power to get it to power down.

I'm going to try to open the case like the other users and see if the drive still works.

Does anyone else get the buzzing sound?

If I return this drive to costco, how do I protect my personal data? There is sensitive information on this drive.

[Merlin]

I have a similar problem with my 750 pro. When I turn it on it lights up and buzzes several times repeatedly. Sounds like there are bees inside the case. bzz, bzz, bzz... After about 12 buzzes, all noises and motion stops.

I have to unplug the power to get it to power down.

I'm going to try to open the case like the other users and see if the drive still works.

Does anyone else get the buzzing sound?

If I return this drive to costco, how do I protect my personal data? There is sensitive information on this drive.
If you can....take the drive out and install in your computer, take your personal info out, reinstall the drive into the external enclosure and take back to Costco.
I shop at Costco also, they are great at taking merchandise back.


:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

[nibbler]

In the event that I cannot access the drive, how do I maintain my security? I don't want the next guy to get it with my data on it.

[Merlin]

In the event that I cannot access the drive, how do I maintain my security? I don't want the next guy to get it with my data on it.
Most of what I have seen is, it's the circuit board inside controlling the hard drive...and then other have a grinding noise, which is not good at all.
Just see if you can get the files that you need and delete them, reinstall into the external case and return


Results 1 - 10 of about 3,270,000 for Seagate FreeAgent problems (http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&oi=dict&q=http://www.answers.com/problems%26r%3D67&usg=AFQjCNFbvAySyQ68b-0txK-ZIFPyQ9ngBA).

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

[lazerradial2003]

Hey, had the exact same problem with my flatmates Seagate, was full as well and needed all the data, managed to get it all off although wouldn't risk using the disk again.

Have put images and how up here if it's useful to anyone:

http://www.moneywhatmoney.co.uk/index.php/Bens-Articles/Seagate-from-the-Ashes.html

Hope that helps, what is it with every ones reluctance to put fans in electronics devices these days?!? this is third thing which isn't a PC/ laptop I've had temperature related hard drive failure in!

Disclaimer (thanks for the reminder DarkSynergy): This is by no means certain or fool proof, try it at your own risk. If it's really important data then pay for a professional data recovery service. Just put this up because it worked for me and saved a whole lot of hassle!

[DarkSynergy]

Thank you for sharing that with us lazerradial2003 (that was painful to type out). I should note that this method isn't guaranteed to work but I am happy that it did in your case.

[lazerradial2003]

Yeah you're right, I do mention in the article that it's not normally advisable to mix kitchen appliances and computers! Worth a try when you run out of options and can't afford the £1000 to have a professional data recovery company look at it.

Something to try before you chuck it anyway!

[Merlin]

Hey, had the exact same problem with my flatmates Seagate, was full as well and needed all the data, managed to get it all off although wouldn't risk using the disk again.

Have put images and how up here if it's useful to anyone:

http://www.moneywhatmoney.co.uk/index.php/Bens-Articles/Seagate-from-the-Ashes.html

Hope that helps, what is it with every ones reluctance to put fans in electronics devices these days?!? this is third thing which isn't a PC/ laptop I've had temperature related hard drive failure in!

Disclaimer (thanks for the reminder DarkSynergy): This is by no means certain or fool proof, try it at your own risk. If it's really important data then pay for a professional data recovery service. Just put this up because it worked for me and saved a whole lot of hassle!
Neat little trick.....I guess it may work with ANY hard drive, not just a freeagent

Mental note # 2,037,429,175

:techgage::techgage: Merlin :techgage::techgage:

[lazerradial2003]

Yeah should work with any hard drive, is an old trick but haven't seen anyone adapting to work for large amounts of data before.

[DarkSynergy]

Of course. I had never heard of this working until you kindly posted your experience in the forums. I have read other places that this works and I have read that it doesn't. I suppose your posting here confirms that it does in fact work. I doubt there is a 100% success rate for those that attempt it but it certainly gives a glimmer of hope to those that are distraught at the thought of losing an entire HDD worth of data.

Again, thank you for sharing this with us all.

[lazerradial2003]

Yeah will be nothing like 100% success, idea behind it is that cooling the drive causes all the components to contract slightly and so anything that's slightly jammed/ warped will be moved enough to make the drive usable. Only useful for mechanical failures, if the USB interface board or the HD controller board is gone then will be nothing doing and if the mechanical damage has led to the platters surface being scratched then there's not much you can do other than send it to a recovery specialist.

Always satisfying when a simple DIY trick works though, as tech gets more complicated there's less and less stuff you can sort out yourself!

[UBfusion]

(It's my first post here, you are doing a great job!) I found your forum by searching how to open my brand new FreeAgent Essential and I saw you having many problems. I wanted to open it to fit in a fan (you can read my story here (http://sites.google.com/site/ub/Unorthodox-Behaviour/adding-a-fan-to-a-seagage-freeagent-external-drive))

I think the main cause of your problems is overheating. As I describe in the link above, my brand new unit's temperature can easily rise to 58 °C (136.5 °F). After fitting a fan (even in a quick and dirty way) the temperature fell to 39 °C (102 °F) and did not exceed it even after 30 minutes of intense file copying.

The FreeAgent's cooling relies on passive airflow from the base grid (which seems adequate) to a very small exhaust on the top. This design, together with the very small dimensions of the box, does not ensure enough airflow to cool the disk.

After my experiences, I think the following advisory is mandatory:

1. Do not trust external hard drives not having a fan if they are designed to work 27/7

2. Do not ever buy a USB drive that does not have a fan or its enclosure does not have room for adequate intake and exhaust of airflow

3. Avoid as much as possible spinning down the drive, unless it doesn't have a fan (in which case it is designed to shut down after 5-10 minutes of inactivity

It's mainly heat that kills hard drives. Unfortunately not all of them are supported by SMART monitoring tools, so the average user does not know if the temperature he feels is OK or how hot the drive actually is. In the case of FreeAgents (which are supported) I strongly advise you to experiment a bit with a SMART monitoring tool (like Hard Disk Sentinel (http://www.hdsentinel.com/), which provides on their site very good information about SMART (http://www.hdsentinel.com/smart/index.php)) and watch your temparature rise to 58 °C (136.5 °F) as did my brand new one...

Finally, I believe that everybody using a computer:

1. Should urge Microsoft to develop free AND built-in AND installed by default SMART monitoring tools for its operatings systems. Most modern motherboards natively support SMART and probably you have noticed the reported temperatures when setting up your BIOS. Unfortunately, in Windows you need special tools to access the information, which has the disastrous implication to dumb down the users: a) they don't get the habit of monitoring their hard disks' health; b) they think of the hard disk as a black box, when instead it is a VERY sophisticated piece of technology INCLUDING predictive failure early warnings; c) when their disk fails, they blame the manufacturer of the disk, instead of the operating system which did not warn them.

2. We should urge Seagate and Maxtor to either design better cases, or to include a fan at the expense of price and/or noise. Don't they realize that heat destroys their reputation and their sales? Unfortunately users prefer to buy the fanciest or the cheapest drives and they do not sit back to think about the security of their data. It's true that including a 10 cents fan might increase the final retail price by $10 and make the product less competitive, but for god's sake, confidence on the storage device is #1 priority on my book (and not performance, geek factor or cool looks).

Long post, but I hope useful.

[johndenver]

My power adapter broke on my FreeAgent 500 gig. I hooked up a universal adapter and now I only get clicking on my hard drive. I went to Best Buy and they told me to buy one of their adapters and I tried it as well. The drive powers up but there is a constant clicking (2 per second) on the drive itself and drive is not recognized. Am I screwed? Any suggestions on recovery? I of course thought that maybe opening up the drive I might see a problem with the circuit board, but there wasn't one. Of course this voided the warranty so there is no chance of sending it to Seagate now.

Any thoughts?

[Rory Buszka]

I think whatever power adapter you were sold is not providing the correct input voltage. The specification on the FreeAgent power adapter is 12V DC, 2 A. (that second number identifies how much current the adapter can supply.) If you bought an adapter with the wrong voltage (9V or below, 13.5 V or above) then you might have very well done permanent damage to your drive.

[tog5632]

I've had my Seagate FreeAgent 250GB external hard drive for about 6 months now. I actually use it frequently and have it set up to be used as a backup drive.

It has always worked perfectly, until today. I woke up at 3 or 4 this morning to see the demon spawn alive and kicking. My computer was off, but the Seagate had brought itself out of sleep mode and its little orange LED bar was flashing. I thought nothing of it and disconnected it.

Reconnected this morning, and nothing happened. It was completely unrecognized. I tried it on 3 computers. Nothing. The light kept flashing even when not connected to a USB port. I turned it on its side and it worked for about 4 minutes then disconnected itself.

I'm about to open it and attach it to the computer internally seeing as how I need the data. It is not making any weird noises so I doubt it's the HD itself. We'll see...

[Rataskanken]

We share the same dreaded experience as others in this thread. Our 500 GB Freeagent Desktop Drive worked for some three months (enough to get filled up with data) then gradually started to show weak signs of failure and finally failed to report via the USB system when powered up. Having made use of Seagate warranty replacement before (with very good experience, I might add), I knew from their return policy that that they will not attempt any data recovery or even send you the defective drive back. (How would they otherwise resurface from their rebuild facilities as a "refurbished" drives?). As the data on the drive were far more valuable than the current price of a 500 GB external drive, the decision to void the warranty was easy. One just wonders how many users have made the same decision -- wrapping their hard drives in unopenable plastic containers might be a clever way of of Seagate to avoid warranty replacements?

A description of the symptoms of my drive prior to the "surgery" were as follows: On powering up with the supplied power adaptor, the drive would "hum" with a mains transformer type sound for some 5 seconds, whereafter it would produce a short (0.2-0.3 second) bumble-bee sort of "buzz", then remain totally silent for a couple of seconds or so. The rather disturbing audio sequence was then repeated again and again. Hope is the last thing that leaves man, so as I had a the power supply or interface card (both products of glorious Chinese "quality") suspected , I opened the plastic enclosure rather forcefully assisted by by some of the early posts in this thread. The initial observation when passing the interface region in the base, was the same corrosion on the PCB seen by others in this thread (we live in a very dry climate, so this is something that Seagate had arranged as a hidden bonus before delivering the drive). The nice part of this warranty-voiding pry-opening procedure was that a seemingly mint Barracuda 7200.10 500 GB drive came out physically undamaged (having not even approached the specified maximum G limits). With this drive, which is otherwise very reliable, liberated from the dreaded heat-insulating steel/plastic wrap, I immediately tried to hook it up to my external SATA system. I might add that this has a 3 A power supply and had shortly before successfully spun a 1 TB Seagate ES2 drive under full load (data transfer) for nearly 24 h, the time it takes to fill a 1 TB disk through USB 2.0. The reader can rest assured that I was not particularly amused by hearing exactly the same hum sequence with the drive on the bench. It definitely did not spin up, evident both from the sound and from the absence of any gyroscopic behavior. Numerous brisk rotational movements around the platter spin axis (powered in the "hum state" as well as unpowered) did nothing to help the drive spin up, which I have sometimes seen in older 5.25" hard drives with marginal motors -- a tip that I once got from Maxtor support in the early 1990's. Diagnosis: Since modern drives run on highly reliable and sturdy brushless motors that have no wearable parts except the bearings, this drive had certainly had its bearings fried. This is a failure that CAN be fixed through a third party data salvaging company, basically by rebuilding the drive with the existing platters, but it will be a VERY expensive procedure.

There is little doubt that this failure is due the utterly amateurish design flaw of enclosing a drive that dissipates on the average 13 W operating and 9.3 W idling (power dissipation values according to the Seagate PDF data sheet) inside a metal cage that is in turn housed in a totally non-ventilated, rather thick, and tight-fitting plastic enclosure. The effect is basically the same as placing a 15 W incandescent bulb inside a similar plastic box -- an undertaking that no fully sane person would do considering the obvious risk of fire. Added to this is the heat from the interface card which in placed underneath the drive.

My conclusion, which I seem to share with may others, is therefore that this is an utterly crappy product that should a) never have seen the market, b) when it did so, should have been withdrawn shortly thereafter, and c) a recall of all sold units should have been made, with data recovery offered to those who had already suffered data loss. That would have saved the reputation of Seagate.

The mystery remains: How can a company with such a vast experience and a long time hard earned reputation in the hard drive market release such a totally crappy product and not even withdrawing it more than a year after these problems have been made obvious by warranty returns through their RMA department??? This is to me really puzzling, but I can assure the readers of this thread that this is the last Seagate produce we will ever buy. Our most recent installation now runs five WD GP drives and the drive bay still stays very cool.

So, goodbye Seagate. You have given us safe data storage and good value for the money for a long time, but this product wrecked it all.

[randallf]

Someone I work with asked me to copy some files to his 1tb freeagent and it died on me.. it was brand new out of the box too

[jamaemae]

hello well when I rolled back my chair to get out the cord for the freeagent drive was coiled to the leg somehow and fell. It fell about one to two feet from the ground onto the carpet. When i tried to open a file from there the next day I couldn't find the device on my computer. Can i never use it again or see the files I stored on this device? ):