I bought a Freeagent GoFlex Ultra-portable 1.5tb drive about a year ago, including a few add-on interface adapters (USB 3.0, eSATA and Firewire 800).
This drive was so riddled with problems since day one that I simply stopped using it, and almost forgot about it until now. I feel like I'm dipping my hand into the hornet's nest here, as it seems that complaining about ineffective and sub-standard hardware on the Seagate forum nets nothing but abuse from the moderator(s).
Anyway, here goes:
Problem #1:
I simply cannot copy large files onto the drive.
Copying a file larger than about 700mb or so will freeze at some point during the copy. I've managed (at most) a file of about 2gb, and that was a very rare occurence. This happens whether I use Mac OS (10.6, 10.7) or Windows (XP, 7). I've tried it on the other interfaces to no avail.
USB 2.0 seems to be the most reliable, but the failure rate is still unacceptably high. Followed in descending order by Firewire 800, eSATA and USB 3.0 (copying almost anything over USB 3.0 seems to freeze).
On both a Mac and a PC, the only choice I have is to quit the copying process if I can (doesn't always work, forcing me to restart) or to pull the drive out and risk losing data. On a Mac this almost always necessitates a reboot as well.
Problem #2:
Random drive disconnects from Finder/Explorer
This has been a much discussed issue on the forum, even being officially acknowledged multiple times.
However, this happens to me on both a Mac or on a PC, and the solution offered for Macs (to do with using the Diagnostic tool to disable sleep mode) simply didn't work.
Problem #3:
Disappearing files, but folders remain
This is another issue I found discussed elsewhere, and the moderator chose to, instead of answering, link to two completely unhelpful articles on revealing hidden files, when this is obviously not what's going on here.
Basically it's this: When I copy a folder onto the drive (assuming even that works) and take it to another computer (whether Mac, PC, USB, Firewire or eSATA) the folder is there but the files are not.
Even if I take the drive back to the original computer, the files are not visible in the copied folder.
The files only become visible once I copy any other file onto the drive, in any directory. Suddenly the files are all there, in the original copied folder.
As you can imagine, this is a major hassle. Also, being a power-user, I have both my Mac and PC set to view hidden and system files, so this is blatantly not the issue.
These three problems render the drive an expensive paper-weight. I'm pretty irritated by this, having also spent the money on three of the extra adapters, all of which are comparatively useless compared to the slow USB 2.0 connection, and even there the failure rate is high.
If these issues are not fixable, via a firmware update or some other means, the only solution for me is for Seagate to refund my money, or to replace it with another, working solution. The replacement would need to be a drive of at least 1.5tb, with all four common interfaces at my disposal (USB 2, USB 3, Firewire 800 and eSATA).
I hope this can be resolved quickly, and that Seagate will take responsibility for this.
