Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Pro 500GB

Seagate has refreshed its line of portable hard drives and introduced its FreeAgent GoFlex system (available in both portable and desktop variants), which encompasses drives, connection modules, and accessories. The portable drives come in assorted capacities and colors ($100 (£66) for 320GB in silver or black; $130 (£85) for 500GB in silver, black, red, or blue; $170 (£112) for 750GB in silver or black; and $190 for 1TB in silver or black).

The unique hook to these models is that Seagate has reengineered the devices to separate the drive from the bridge board that translates the drive’s native SATA to another interface connection. As a result, Seagate can offer a variety of cable modules for use with a single drive – giving you plenty of connection flexibility. This approach goes counter to the trend of putting multiple interfaces (for example, any combination of USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and eSATA) on a drive.

One possible benefit of the new Seagate design is that you might not run into any power issues if you use the drive with an ultraportable laptop (sometimes, multiinterface drives require more power than the USB ports on such notebooks output). You could also save some money, in theory: Seagate says the new design lowers the drive’s costs, as you’ll pay only for the connectors you need.

Seagate offers six cable kits for the portable drive system. The USB 2.0 GoFlex Cable sells for $20, the USB 3.0 cable is $30, the eSATA cable costs $20, the FireWire 800 cable is $40, and the Auto Backup cable (which turns the drive into an automatic-backup unit much like the company’s now-retired Replica drive, using disk-imaging software powered by Rebit) sells for $30. If you travel a lot and you like to have a few spare cables handy, that will add up fast. It also means you have to use a different module unit for different connectors.