Seagate Free Agent Pro Forgets eSATA Cable For a Reason
I picked up a pair of Seagate Free Agent Pro 750GB drives from Best Buy for $176/each last week when they were on-sale for $199.99 - 12% (Rewards Member). Seagate, like most other hard drive vendors, have been selling their external drives for cheaper than their internal versions. With eSATA (external SATA), I assumed it didn't matter anymore. Boy I was wrong!
I thought Seagate merely skimped on the eSATA cable in the box (only USB is included in the E2 models, USB+FireWire for the E3 models with the FireWire option) for cost reasons. That's hardly the case. As I've now been reading, in addition to the overheating issues, the Free Agent Pro's eSATA connector is very loose! Indeed, trying a number of eSATA cables now, I can verify it is very loose!
In Windows XP, it will just "hang" the system at some point without warning, sometimes during boot. In Linux, it's a bit more tactful. It keeps trying to step down the ATA signaling. I'm using very short (19" eSATA) cables here, to a Silicon Image 3132 ExpressCard/54 (notebook) as well as the nVidia nForce 4xx series (desktop using a bracket). At some point, when it drops below Ultra16 (UltraDMA mode 0), and tries to flip to PIO, it will hang in Linux as well. It's not merely the shielding or length of the SATA cable, but it clearly seems like the "loose" connector edge on the Free Agent Pro itself. Using USB, of course, solves the issue -- something I have not had to do with a Beyond Micro USB+eSATA enclosure.
This clearly leaves a very poor mark in my book with regards to Seagate, and I think the lack of an eSATA cable was intentional because of this design flaw/oversight. I mean, the whole reason for the "Pro" series is eSATA support, which is drastically faster than USB or FireWire (long story). But I'm not the only one to experience the issues with the connector, and I plan on contacting Seagate very shortly to find out just what cable I am expected to buy to get solid contact and performance.
PS, and yes, I know about the 15 minute power down default. That's not the issue. Not only did they come back up on access (within 3 seconds, even in Linux), but I use the Windows utility (when the drives were connected to USB) to disable that setting anyway. That's not the issue at all. Ironically enough, their decision to not include an eSATA cable is probably costing them more in support costs (let alone the fact that no one stocks them in retail yet).
I thought Seagate merely skimped on the eSATA cable in the box (only USB is included in the E2 models, USB+FireWire for the E3 models with the FireWire option) for cost reasons. That's hardly the case. As I've now been reading, in addition to the overheating issues, the Free Agent Pro's eSATA connector is very loose! Indeed, trying a number of eSATA cables now, I can verify it is very loose!
In Windows XP, it will just "hang" the system at some point without warning, sometimes during boot. In Linux, it's a bit more tactful. It keeps trying to step down the ATA signaling. I'm using very short (19" eSATA) cables here, to a Silicon Image 3132 ExpressCard/54 (notebook) as well as the nVidia nForce 4xx series (desktop using a bracket). At some point, when it drops below Ultra16 (UltraDMA mode 0), and tries to flip to PIO, it will hang in Linux as well. It's not merely the shielding or length of the SATA cable, but it clearly seems like the "loose" connector edge on the Free Agent Pro itself. Using USB, of course, solves the issue -- something I have not had to do with a Beyond Micro USB+eSATA enclosure.
This clearly leaves a very poor mark in my book with regards to Seagate, and I think the lack of an eSATA cable was intentional because of this design flaw/oversight. I mean, the whole reason for the "Pro" series is eSATA support, which is drastically faster than USB or FireWire (long story). But I'm not the only one to experience the issues with the connector, and I plan on contacting Seagate very shortly to find out just what cable I am expected to buy to get solid contact and performance.
PS, and yes, I know about the 15 minute power down default. That's not the issue. Not only did they come back up on access (within 3 seconds, even in Linux), but I use the Windows utility (when the drives were connected to USB) to disable that setting anyway. That's not the issue at all. Ironically enough, their decision to not include an eSATA cable is probably costing them more in support costs (let alone the fact that no one stocks them in retail yet).
13 comments:
I'm still waiting on Seagate to response to two (2) requests now for recommendations on eSATA cables. Sigh, this is not a good indication of a company that cares about its eSATA product.
Have you heard anything about this? Also you tried a native esata controller and it didn't solve the problem?
I have two of these drives and am getting errors from my system when I use an sata to esata bracket. I'm using it on Windows Home Server and am getting disk controller errors (did you get the same). Its really frustrating. I am going to see what the deal is with the 15 min power down, maybe that could be it, but that is just ridiculous!
I am having the exact same problem you describe here. USB works fine, thought, maybe I should try this eSATA connector out. Bad move.
Everything powers up fine, I can see the contents of the drive, but as soon as I try to do any R/W operations it permanently hangs whatever process tried the R/W, be it an application or explorer itself!
After about 10 reboots and then reading your blog, I've pulled the eSATA cable out and now I'm back to using the USB. :-(
I had same problem and i found out that E-sata connector does not sit all the way in. I cut some plastics of the cable to get better fit and all problems are gone
Wow, I realize this post is almost a year old at this point, but I acquired a pair of FreeAgent Pro eSATA/USB 750gb drives 6 weeks ago and am experiencing all the issues you report. I'm on a Mac Pro (OS X)...same problems: one of the drives just seems to randomly disappear, hanging any app that has files open on it, sometimes hanging the system. I suspected it might be eSATA related, so I tried USB, but after very heavy r/w operations on the drive (sort of designed to test it on USB to confirm my eSATA suspicions), the same thing happened. Drive seems to just hang and become unresponsive.
At least on USB I could just eject the drive, power it off, and get back running.
This thing runs HOT! The base is too hot to touch, and I suspect now that that is the real issue. Heat shuts the drive down. I wonder if it is that the base is designed poorly, while the actual drive has no issues.
Interestingly, out of three units I have, only one is acting up, and it's not the most heavily used. I have one 750gb eSATA drive hanging off my TiVO as extended storage, and the TiVO never has any problems.
Anyways, I have never had issues with Seagate drives before, but these are my first external products from them.
Needless to say, I am sending the one back for warranty exchange, and now a bit nervous about my TiVO programs being lost someday.
Wish I'd seen this blog post before buying the things.
The eSATA cable did not come with my external hard drive which was one of the main reasons I purchased the product. It is very disappointing to hear I can not get this at a retailer and that there are so many problems with it!
The eSATA cable did not come with my external hard drive which was one of the main reasons I purchased the product. It is very disappointing to hear I can not get this at a retailer and that there are so many problems with it!
Call the attached folks to complain about the heat problem. My granddaughter was burned on the case and I received a burn and blister from the screw on the bottom of the unit. Since Seagate has failed to rectify the problem, hopefully these folks can. They were very helpful on the phone and will send you a confirmation form to complete. They just need more of us to complain, that will get the recall ball rolling. Even you guys that no longer have a receipt will be able to get restitution. Call on Monday!
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal regulatory agency, located at 4330 East West
Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814 Toll-free hotline: (800) 638-2772
Does Anyone have a 'better' suggestion for 1TB storage for video?
I have the Free Agent Pro 500GB that have the usb an the eSATA port, the USB port separated in the inside, and it is useless right now, I want to know if I can use the eSata port to pass my files back to my computer or if there is any way to open the case and put the memory in one of those cases that come for make external hard drives. If some one understand what I'm trying to said and have an answer i will be very thankful for that.
Not sure if this is a problem with Seagate, I have a Sumvision Apex caddy with a Samsung Spinpoint HDD, worked fine for a few months and then the PC crashed and would not boot with eSata attached.
Out of desperation I replaced the eSata cable and everything worked fine for a few months until the same error occured.
All I can think is that somehow the cables are "brning out"
Has anyone used or had any issues with the Firewire connections on the FreeAgent Pro series of externals? Thanks,
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