Level 1

37 points

Seagate FreeAgent Xtreme Hard Drive

I am in the market for a 2nd external hard drive to compliment my 250GB iMac and 320GB Western Digital MyBook that is connected by firewire 400. I found the FreeAgent Xtreme 1TB hard drive ( http://freeagent.seagate.com/en-us/hard-drive/external-hard-drive/Free-Agent.htm l) at a local retailer for a good price but it does not say it is compatible with Mac OS. There is a "Mac compatible" version ( http://freeagent.seagate.com/en-us/hard-drive/hard-drive-mac/Free-Agent.html) but it costs close to $100 more which seems ridiculous to me. Is there any reason why the Xtreme version wouldn't work if I connect it by firewire and use disk utility to reformat it? Has anyone tried it?

I don't care that it is not a "Mac color scheme" since it is so much cheaper!

I temporarily bought a Western Digital My Passport Studio which has firewire 400 connectivity, but it is only 320GB so it really doesn't allow me enough room to back up both drives (my hard drive and my iTunes catalog on the other drive).

Thanks for any help you guys might lend!

iMac 20in (Intel), Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Dec 29, 2008 3:28 PM

25 replies

Apr 5, 2009 7:56 PM in response to TosaDeac

I've just purchased the 1.5 TB FreeAgent Xtreme - and was told the only difference between the Mac labelled one and this one was the price. The drive shows up, no problem, but will not accept a copy or paste of any data. If I reformat the drive - is the partition with the GUID partition table the only way, or can I do the apple partition map? Are there any downloads with drivers etc. available to to make it work or this workaround the only way?

Apr 5, 2009 11:56 PM in response to Unruffled Sandpiper

Found the easiest solution:

Download the following,

Download FreeAgent Desktop Software .ZIP file (for Macintosh)

from

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=fa-desktop-sw&vgnextoid= e7acb5b59b7d5110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD

then simply follow the directions. (I found the site by googling: seagate_manager for mac...)

Indahlma

Level 1

0 points

Apr 19, 2009 11:36 AM in response to TosaDeac

I just bought a Seagate 1.5 TB FreeAgent Xtreme external drive. I followed your instructions and it SEEMS to have worked, as it shows up as Format: Mac OS Extended (journaled) but it shows the capacity as 1.36 TB and only 250 MB used. Do I now have 2 partitions? How do I make it just one? (I don't even know what a partition is, but it sounds like two separate spaces to store stuff)

Where are the other .14 TB? I know very little about computer workings, but your instructions were detailed enough for me to follow and THANKS MUCH for that help.

Apr 30, 2009 3:42 PM in response to Indahlma

All drive capacities are theoretical. They vary in other words.

You don't get 1.5TB on a 1.5TB drive. After formatting and other overhead, you are left with what you have. It's like the old tube type tv's and monitors. They were measured from the edges of the tubes so that a 20" was sometimes actually 16" because the frame took up 2" all the way around.

Klaus1

Level 9

52,879 points

Apr 30, 2009 3:51 PM in response to real gonzoid

More a question of how you measure it.

The capacity of my internal 250MB hard drive is described as 232.8 GB (249,925,094,400 Bytes), and of my 1TB external as 931.5 GB (1,000,204,886,016 Bytes).

So you can't really sue them for that! 🙂

Pondini

Level 8

38,863 points

Apr 30, 2009 4:00 PM in response to Indahlma

Indahlma wrote:

it shows the capacity as 1.36 TB and only 250 MB used.

The 250 mb is the directory and various other hidden files on the disk, that will be used by OSX.

Do I now have 2 partitions?

No.

(I don't even know what a partition is, but it sounds like two separate spaces to store stuff)

You're right. Multiple partitions can be very useful. For most purposes, they're treated like separate drives. Each shows separately on your desktop and/or Finder sidebar.

Each partition takes up a separate, contiguous, part of the physical disk, unlike, say, a folder that can have it's contents scattered anywhere.

Whether you need more than one depends on what you're going to do with the disk. For example, if you plan to use if for Time Machine backups, but also put other data on it, then you should partition it, as TM works best with it's own, exclusive partition.

If you're going to use it for, say lots of photos and music, then partitioning could limit your flexibility.

Not Zura

Level 1

0 points

Jun 6, 2009 2:23 PM in response to Unruffled Sandpiper

Gonna try your solution and get back...

Not Zura

Level 1

0 points

Jun 6, 2009 2:47 PM in response to Not Zura

EDIT: Okay I dont know if it worked but after installed the software I restarted and nothing came up. I unplugged the firewire and power and waited for it to spin down. Then plugged in the firewire and then the power and it came right up. I'd say it is worth a shot...

Jun 8, 2009 4:01 PM in response to Topher Kessler

Hello,
Thanks for your tip here.
I tried that a few times, it only works on some.
Is there any new procedure, something like a firmware update for this drive?
I called in Seagate, all they offer is to replace my drive as many times as necessary, that takes lots of time, I've done it once and it didn't fix it.
Thanks,
Best regards,
Guilherme

Stefan_z

Level 1

0 points

Jul 6, 2009 4:14 AM in response to GuilhermeM

It's a real wonder that after like 12 years of FireWire one of the top-HDD manufacturers is the first to build a FireWire device that won't work on Macs.
I have seen like 300 different drives, readers, audio-devices, capture-boxes and so on in the past - but NONE refused to even show up in the system profiler - except for the defective ones.

I was able to format the drive via USB and it works on both the G5 and Intel-iMac - but FireWire doesn't do a thing.

Wether this is a marketing-trick by Seagate or just their incompetence - it BLOWS!

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Seagate FreeAgent Xtreme Hard Drive