Bill Fant1
Level 1 (20 points)

Q: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk frustration

Hi all,

I recently purchased a 2TB Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk external hard drive. Unfortunately, there seems to be a conflict with either my hardware or software. The drive seems to go to sleep after a period on non-use and consequently crashes the Finder and various apps when trying to gain access. I can see the icon for the drive... even navigate down some recently used directories, but then I'll go too far, get the beach ball and have to force restart the entire machine. The same will happen if I'm using an app trying to access files on the drive. I can force quit the app and/or Finder, but they will not be available for use until I force quit the entire machine. I've been trying to solve this problem for a couple weeks now without success, so I thought I'd turn to the Mac community here.

* The drive has been reformatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
* I have used Seagate Diagnostics and the drive passes all tests.
* I have disabled drive sleep under Energy Saver.
* I have tested the drive on a MacBook running the same OS as my iMac (10.6.6) without a problem.
* I have disabled Time Machine backup to a TimeCapsule to see if that helps. Does not.
* I have disconnected other drives to see if that helps. Does not.
* I have disabled virus scans, media servers and other apps (that I know of) that sometime run in BG.
* I have tried different USB ports and different wall plugs.

I'm beginning to think there is some sort of compatibility issue with my hardware, but it could still be some sort of software that is conflicting. I simply cannot find the pattern.

I spoke with Seagate support and we got as far as the recommendation to test on another machine. The drive seemed to work fine there, so I'll have to continue troubleshooting with them from that point, but I thought someone here might have some ideas as well.

27" iMac - 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.6.6), 4GB Ram / ATI Radeon HD 4850

Posted on Feb 9, 2011 8:54 AM

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Bill Fant1

Q: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk frustration

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  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Jan 30, 2012 4:22 PM in response to Peter Honeyman
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jan 30, 2012 4:22 PM in response to Peter Honeyman

    Peter -

     

       That is extremely illuminating!  Thanks for the details that pin down the exact source of the problem.  I'm assuming that you did an install of the Seagate software following the new drive instructions? From your description sounds like those Seagate drivers wound up on your internal (System boot) hard drive.

     

       To summarize your experience, the USB 3.0 STAC2000100 drive works just fine on Macs out of the box, and the Seagate software should NOT be installed.  This is different from the Mac specific drive, STBC2000100, where installing the additional Seagate software does not cause any problems (my drive). 

     

       I'm wrirting an article for my local Macintosh User Group (MUG) and I greatly appreciate the benefit of your hands-on experince.  Glad all is well now on your end. 

     

       - Randy

  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Jan 30, 2012 4:31 PM in response to georgefromcoffeyville
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jan 30, 2012 4:31 PM in response to georgefromcoffeyville

    george -

     

       To Partition or not to Partition, that is the question ....   Just kidding.  Its really just a matter of personal preference, so if you want to keep the drive as it came with a single partition, that is just fine.  Sorry I lost you on my details about keeping old Time Machine backups.  Since you just want to start Time Machine over from today, forget all of the confusing junk!!  LOL

     

       I'm delighted you got your new drive this afternoon and, for your trouble, they upped it to 3TB!  Cool beans that's working well right out of the box.  Looking forward to hearing back from you that all remains well ....

     

       - Randy

  • by georgefromcoffeyville,

    georgefromcoffeyville georgefromcoffeyville Jan 31, 2012 11:12 AM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jan 31, 2012 11:12 AM in response to Randy Knowles

    Randy, Peter and to everyone following this post:

    I am almost at the 24 hour point with the Seagate GoFlex Desk for Mac with out any problem what so ever!

    The sleep cycle, and evereything else seems to be working as promised.

    Knock on wood!

    I will keeep all informed.

    George

  • by Randy Knowles,

    Randy Knowles Randy Knowles Jan 31, 2012 4:15 PM in response to georgefromcoffeyville
    Level 1 (45 points)
    Jan 31, 2012 4:15 PM in response to georgefromcoffeyville

    EXCELLENT to hear george!!!

  • by georgefromcoffeyville,

    georgefromcoffeyville georgefromcoffeyville Feb 2, 2012 7:47 AM in response to Randy Knowles
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 7:47 AM in response to Randy Knowles

    Here we are another day with no problems what so ever!

    Everything is working great!

    george

  • by SuperSizeIt,

    SuperSizeIt SuperSizeIt Feb 2, 2012 7:49 AM in response to georgefromcoffeyville
    Level 3 (579 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 7:49 AM in response to georgefromcoffeyville

    I returned mine to Seagate and they will send me a replacement "GoFlex Desk for Mac". This one they say is 100% compatible and respects the disk spin down behaviour without disconnecting itself from the Mac or turning off by itself.  Looks like its working for you so I hope this one works exactly as my other drives.

  • by georgefromcoffeyville,

    georgefromcoffeyville georgefromcoffeyville Feb 2, 2012 9:00 AM in response to SuperSizeIt
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 9:00 AM in response to SuperSizeIt

    SuperSizeIt, I certainly hope your experience is the same as mine.

    Just a heads up, I did not install any thing from the Seagate drive. 

    The tech support person said that everything was already on the GoFlex Desk for Mac.

    Goodluck,

    george

  • by georgefromcoffeyville,

    georgefromcoffeyville georgefromcoffeyville Feb 2, 2012 9:15 AM in response to georgefromcoffeyville
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 2, 2012 9:15 AM in response to georgefromcoffeyville

    I wonder if everyone having the same problems should ask Seagate to replace all these drives with the Mac specific drive? It seems to me as this is a Seagate problem!

    george

  • by phcreinhar,

    phcreinhar phcreinhar Feb 5, 2012 3:15 PM in response to Bill Fant1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 5, 2012 3:15 PM in response to Bill Fant1

    What is the number to call to contact Seagate for a replacement?  I looked on their website and could not find one.

  • by georgefromcoffeyville,

    georgefromcoffeyville georgefromcoffeyville Feb 6, 2012 4:25 AM in response to phcreinhar
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 4:25 AM in response to phcreinhar

    Heere we are February 6 everything is still running somothly!

    No problems that I am aware of.

    Phcreinhar, I just slicked on support, the tech support.

    My experience may not be the same as yours, my drive was still under warranty!

    Good luck.

    george

  • by SuperSizeIt,

    SuperSizeIt SuperSizeIt Feb 6, 2012 7:24 AM in response to phcreinhar
    Level 3 (579 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 7:24 AM in response to phcreinhar

    Go to their site and use the online chat to get to a warranty person. From there he/she can then give you the RMA number and can start the process. Their number is on the contact link which is all over the site.

  • by Peter Honeyman,

    Peter Honeyman Peter Honeyman Feb 6, 2012 7:45 AM in response to georgefromcoffeyville
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 7:45 AM in response to georgefromcoffeyville

    I don't think the problems have anything to do with the drives — it's the drivers!

     

    Since purging my computer of Seagate drivers, I have had no problems with my 2 TB drive.

  • by georgefromcoffeyville,

    georgefromcoffeyville georgefromcoffeyville Feb 6, 2012 9:19 AM in response to Peter Honeyman
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 9:19 AM in response to Peter Honeyman

    Peter, you may be right, as I said in my post, I did not install anything when I received the new drive, I wanted to install the program, but did not know how to do that without installing the drivers.

  • by georgefromcoffeyville,

    georgefromcoffeyville georgefromcoffeyville Feb 6, 2012 9:42 AM in response to georgefromcoffeyville
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 9:42 AM in response to georgefromcoffeyville

    phcreinhar,      I just now located the seagate phone number I used, hope this helps:

     

    1-800-732-4283

     

    You need tech support - at least that is where I started.

    george

  • by macfanjay,

    macfanjay macfanjay Feb 8, 2012 7:53 AM in response to Bill Fant1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 8, 2012 7:53 AM in response to Bill Fant1

    Having the same issues with 2 different drives. One 2TB and one 3TB STAC versions.

    It isnt a sleep issue as I have tried all sorts of keepalives. Both connected via USB, no hub involved.

     

    I just tried Peter's "Destroy all Seagate files" approach and I am moveing about 1.6TB from one drive to the other.

     

    I am guessing this is a very good test of this approach since both drives were having issues. My only  potential issue is that one of the drives is NTFS (2TB) the other is Mac formatted (3TB). If I can get it all copied I will reformat the NTFS drive to Mac Journaled.

     

    I will let you know if it works. So far 100GB copied with no crashes, which is more than I have been able to do in 2 days, fingers crossed.

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