Seagate FreeAgent Go 160 GB
(ST9016031E1-RK)

A new product in Seagate's external hard drive series

Seagate's FreeAgent family includes several external products based on 3.5" hard drives and two mobile solutions based on 1" and 2.5" hard drives. Today we'll examine the top model Seagate FreeAgent Go 160 GB (ST901603FGD1E1-RK).

Exterior, Specifications and Design

Seagate FreeAgent Go USB family based on 2.5" hard drives currently includes three models - 80, 120, and 160 GB. They are absolutely identical except for their capacity: 122x99x18.5 mm, 182 g (with a hard drive), USB 2.0, they come with a 5400 rpm hard drive (to be more exact - Seagate Momentus 5400.3 with perpendicular magnetic recording) and bundled software (for example, 256-bit AES data encryption of a hard drive). These storage drives are compatible with Windows Vista/XP/2000, MacOS 10.3.9 and higher. They initially come preformatted with a single NTFS partition, 120 MB is used by the bundled software. Their specifications are taciturn even compared to WD Passport. But on the other hand, the Seagate model enjoys a five-year warranty.

If you remember, Seagate entered the market several years ago with the first generation of external storage drives in an "armored" metal case - with an impressive HDD shock-absorption system inside the case. But the new Seagate FreeAgent external storage drives have nothing to do with that design!

Like all FreeAgent models, this storage drive has a coffee-colored plastic case with one edge bevelled and the other long edge rounded, which makes it look like a book binding. FreeAgent Go case is quite compact - a rare competitor can boast of being only 122 mm long. The case has a fine-grain surface. Perhaps it does not look as good as a shiny case in some competing models, but it's much less prone to small scratches and finger prints, which inevitably appear when you use the device.

There is a single mini-USB connector on one of the end faces (the bundle includes a cable-splitter to power from the second USB port), the other face acts as a HDD activity indicator.

A transparent plexiglas insert covers a light diffuser that provides uniform illumination of the entire end face from a single yellow-orange LED.

This original solution looks stylish in this palette. It's especially striking in semi-darkness. Steady bright glow corresponds to idle mode (the hard drive is plugged and ready), slow and smooth pulsing on and off means HDD activity. There is only one drawback here - the pulse rate of the LED does not reflect data transfer intensity. The full cycle is always several seconds.

Design provides for only horizontal orientation of the storage drive on a table - it has four little rubber feet on the bottom (and designation).

Now let's have a look inside the case - it consists of two latched halves (that is a user can actually replace the hard drive inside).

The insides include the above-mentioned light diffuser, Seagate Momentus 5400.3 ST9160821AS 160 GB hard drive with Serial ATA interface (!) and a small PCB with an interface converter. The hard drive rests on four rubber shock-absorbers. But it's not secured inside the case (although the shock-absorbers are plugged tight into grooves in the bottom of the case), and the upper lid of the case does not touch the top of the hard drive (the clearance is approximately 1 mm). The controller board with a SATA connector is inserted tight into the HDD connector and screwed to it from below.

The heart of the USB-SATA converter is the new OXU931SF chip made by Oxford Semiconductor.

Thus, Seagate FreeAgent Go is one of the first representatives of external mobile storage drives with a SATA hard drive instead of traditional EIDE drives. On one hand, it adds flexibility to future HDD upgrades (PATA drives are getting out of use even in this segment). But on the other hand, we have seen many times that SATA drives consume more power than their PATA counterparts. And it can be a significant factor for mobile drives. That's why Seagate bundles its FreeAgent Go with a cable that has a splitter for additional power supply. ;)

Seagate FreeAgent Go offers an ascetic bundle. The cardboard box with labels in many languages and designation contains only the storage drive with a brief installation guide (in an anti-shock cardboard box) and a USB cable (75 cm long) with a splitter for additional power supply from the second USB port. However, a single USB port provides sufficient power for this device (from my experience). Unlike the old portable storage drive from Seagate (which required a special USB cable), any standard USB cable with a mini-USB connector would do.