Seagate FreeAgent Go 160 GB
(ST9016031E1-RK)

Installation and Software

All bundled software (about 120 MB) comes in the storage drive itself:

Was it too much to add a mini CD with software to the bundle? Now a user has to back up the bundled software just to be able to restore it in case of a data loss (frankly speaking, I haven't found the software in the list of available downloads on Seagate web site).

The software that comes with Seagate FreeAgent Go allows not only to synchronize files between computers, but also to keep your settings and program configurations (browser, e-mail client, some utilities, passwords, contacts, and many other), in order to get access to your personalized environment in any computer. Seagate even recommends that users should store their personal information in FreeAgent, because it will be protected from unauthorized users with AES encryption.

When you connect FreeAgent to a computer for the first time, it's detected as a usual USB drive.

Then you should install Seagate FreeAgent Go Tools to your computer. Select the language for this installation,

the program will ask you to register on Seagate's web site, its installation will take 136 MB of disk space - I wonder if this simple program could have been a little smaller. ;) However, you can manually remove some libraries in unnecessary languages and reduce the installation size to 42 MB.

The resident program FreeAgent Launcher will be loaded automatically at start up (it will use several megabytes of system memory) in system tray. When you connect Seagate FreeAgent to your computer, it will report the connection and offer to start Creedo (what concerns our sample, this utility failed to startup and popped up this error message).

Clicking the FreeAgent icon in tray opens an info window of FreeAgent Go Tools, where you can choose Creedo or to sync folders following on-screen instructions, or start various utilities, including drive diagnostics, adjust drive sleep interval, and drive lights.

That's it. No more software peculiarities - it's very easy to use, which will certainly add popularity to the product.

There is another pleasant feature - the storage drive really falls to sleep after the specified idle interval: as even this 2.5" hard drive generates some noise (by the way, Seagates are subjectively noisier than most competing products), disabling extra sources of noise and power consumption (if the storage drive is powered from a notebook running on batteries) is only welcome.