Configuration:

The Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5TB external hard drive was connected to a Windows 7 Pro system running an Intel Core i7-920 quad-core processor, an ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 motherboard, 6GB of Patriot Memory Viper II Sector 7 1800MHz DDR3 memory, and a 6GB/s Seagate Barracuda 2TB hard drive. The drive was connected via both the native USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connections found on the motherboard during the course of the review.

The first screen shot is from CrystalDiskInfo, and is provided to confirm some of the drive's features. We see that it rotates at 5400RPM, has 16MB of cache memory, and internally has SATA 3Gbps connectivity.



The next set of screen shots were taken from the Windows Explorer, simply to show some of the drive's pre-installed content. We have looked at these items in previous reviews of GoFlex products, and will simply highlight that they are included this time around. The drive comes pre-loaded with simple-to-use backup software which will make archiving files from your systems quick and easy. The bulk of the used space on the drive is movie files which you will probably never get to see, so you might as well just erase them on day one. Seagate gives you the rights to view the pre-loaded copy of 2009's Star Trek movie, but there are about 20 other movies on there that can only be viewed once unlocked by paying for the access code.



Testing:

We have taken a look at a handful of FreeAgent GoFlex drives recently, and instead of delving into detailed performance tests, this time around we're simply going to compare the USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 performance as indicated by three popular benchmark applications... CrystalDiskMark 3.0 x64, ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46, and HD Tach 3.0.4.0.

CrystalDiskMark 3.0 x64:

This test was first run on the FreeAgent GoFlex 1.5TB external hard drive while connected to a USB 3.0 port. While USB 3.0 is capable of speeds "up to 10x faster than USB 2.0" (as printed on the drive's packaging) do not expect to get there with this drive or any other. I'd be happy with results in the 4x to 5x range, which would be above the 100MB/s mark in terms of actual transfer rates, and something that is physically possible. Given the relatively slow 5400RPM drive found inside the FreeAgent GoFlex, we'll be seeing results a bit south of 100MB/s.


USB 3.0 results

Despite not hitting the high speeds you might expect from USB 3.0 with some drives, when compared to the USB 2.0 results below, you can see that you are seeing close to a 2x-3x improvement in performance in sequential and 512k reads/writes.


USB 2.0 results