The GoFlex™ Desk external drive delivers high-capacity storage, backup and encryption for all your files with its plug-and-play USB 2.0 connectivity. You now have versatile connection options to suit your needs. Simply pair the drive with a USB 3.0 or FireWire® 800/USB 2.0 GoFlex Desk desktop adapter and instantly increase your performance by up to 10x. The GoFlex Desk drive works interchangeably between a PC and Mac® computer and can be set in either a vertical or horizontal orientation, complementing any desktop environment.
 
Seagate® GoFlex™ Desk
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Product Details
6.2 x 4.9 x 1.7 inches ; 2.4 pounds
3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
B003SU35M4
STAC3000100

Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) This review is for the 2TB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex model. The 2TB version is not small and portable like the 500GB model. The 2TB version uses a standard desktop size 3.5″ HDD, while the 500GB model uses a laptop size 2.5″ HDD. The 3.5″ HDD will transfer files faster than the 2.5″ HDD, but will produce more heat.

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My history with Seagate has not been so good. To me and many others, Seagate has a reputation for drives that fail quickly and unexpectedly. Everyone can repair a bad history, but I can't seem to forget Seagate's reputation. But like any bad relationship, things change and I must try to move on.

This Seagate GoFlex external hard drive looks good, really good. It's the kind of design that stands out from the crowd. But… where is the ventilation? All hard drives heat up, so why are their no air vents or fans? This worries me. All the eye-candy in the world won't make up for a burned up hard drive.

The performance statistics are like any other external HDD. 3.5″ disk, 7200 RPM, USB 2.0, 32MB cache. Nothing to get excited about. Matching stats makes me long for a hard drive brand that I can depend on… like Western Digital (I've owned 7 in the last 3 years and never had one fail even once.)

However, this Seagate does offer something new: the ability to upgrade to USB 3.0!!! Sounds amazing, but…. you have to shell out $40 for the USB 3.0 HDD adapter (and another $30 for the USB 3.0 card for your computer). So "The World's Most Upgradeable Desktop Hard Drive" comes with some fine print… USB 3.0 not included.

The lack of built-in USB 3.0 isn't terrible, however. The advantage of this external HDD is that you can keep your HDD and upgrade the base adapter when you decide to buy a new laptop in the future. That's a plus. However, we also have to consider that when USB 3.0 does become a standard component of laptops, hard drive size will also have doubled or tripled. And the 7,2000 speed barrier may be broken. (Faster HDDs are available, but are costly and small in storage space.) Then will you even want to use your out-dated hard drive?

Some people will never fill a 2 TB hard drive and for them this Seagate GoFlex design is great. You don't need to worry about transferring files to a new HDD for many years. And if you aren't using all 2TB, then you most likely won't overheat this HDD. However for those of us who fill up HDDs rather quickly, we may want to consider another external hard drive option – one with better ventilation and a better company reputation.

In addition, this Seagate hard drive has a 32 MB cache. This is the standard cache size for hard drives at this time, however 64 MB cache disks are available for under $200. A larger cache size makes a noticeable improvement if you are using the drive to run programs or stream files. For simple file back-up, a larger cache size won't make much of a difference.

Personally, I prefer using a multi-bay external hard drive set up. Something with hot swapable bays, networking, ESATA or RAID is ideal. In addition to my 4-Bay RAID Network enclosure, I use an external desktop HDD (like this one) to act as a second hard drive for my laptop. So I have 4 HDDs in RAID backing up everything in my laptop HDD and my desktop external HDD. (I am using 4 WD drives and 1 Samsung drive.) This gives me the fastest load time, most storage space, and file protection for a laptop setup. It may sound like an overkill, however I know the pain that comes with a dead hard drive and loss of irreplaceable files. (Did I mention that I also backup on Blu-Ray discs?)

For $200 a 2TB external hard drive is not a screaming deal. But this HDD does offer something that no one else does – the ability to upgrade to USB 3.0. Is it worth the extra $40+ down the road? (Plus the extra $50-70 compared to the current price of other 2TB external HDDs on the market.) Only you can make that call.

I've passed this Seagate GoFlex HDD onto my girlfriend. Seagate's included automatic back-up software is easy to use and this will free up some more space on my RAID setup for my own files. My girlfriend appreciates the ease of use, attractive design (if it only came in pink), and hassle-free back-up protection.

5 stars for looks
2 stars for ventilation
3 stars for hard drive performance
4 stars for upgradability
2 stars for cost
1 star for Seagate's past reputation

FINAL SCORE = 3 stars

** Computer components can be a boring subject, so if you've found my review helpful and enjoyable, please click "YES" below.

176 of 191 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars Tons of space, but only for one computer!?!, By J. Dugas "signature" (MA, United States) – See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   This review is from: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive STAC2000100 (Black) (Personal Computers) Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?) Pros:
1. easy to install
2. easy to use
3. Specific Folders can be selected for backup
4. It turns off and on when computer is turned off and on.

Cons:
1. Software license only allows use with 1 computer
2. Many ads to purchase more software in the bundled software
3. There is a memory leak in the software (version 4.60.0.7252)

I plugged this thing in and it automatically started the software install which was very easy to follow. Once it was done it defaulted to backup my entire computer which was perfect because 2 TB of space if plenty of space to do this for me. The software did have an option to select only specific folders which was nice to know in case I upgrade my pc and have to limit the amount of files for backup.
The software has built in advertisements asking you to try and purchase more of their software. They are easily avoidable, but I'd rather not see them. My favorite part about the backup software bundled with this external hard drive is that it is constantly working to create a mirror image of all the data on the pc. It updates files on the external as soon as they are updated on the pc.
The biggest issue I ran into was that the software only allows you to install it on one pc. I had planned on using this drive with both my pcs and backing it up over my home network. I am going to continue using the drive, but I will go back to using cobian backup which is free; though the interface is a bit less easy.[...]

I do want to say that if you are planning on only using this with one pc or you are willing to purchase extra licenses to utilize the very easy to use interface then this is a very good product.

** My original review didn't contain the below information ***
This problem didn't occur right away. The memory leak in the memeo software bundled with the drive causes windows to popup a message that there is a problem with .NET software. Windows will handle it when you click ok, but all that happens is the Memeo software is closed. I checked the system memory before I closed the program and saw it was using over 1.5 Gigabytes of RAM. I am currently running the most up to date version of Memeo instant backup (version 4.60.0.7252).