We recently purchased a Seagate FreeAgent ™ Desktop drive to replace the LaCie 500GB, 300721, USB/FW that had failed (see
When the Backup Hard Drive Fails).

The Seagate FreeAgent is a 500GB, USB 2.0 , external hard drive that has a vertical profile. The drive is quiet and runs pretty cool. A ran it all day under a moderate load and I was impressed with how cool the drive remained.

The FreeAgent is also fast. It is rated at 480 MB/sec transfer rate and has a spindle speed of 7200 RPM. The drive comes with the standard items, the drive, USB 2.0 cable, AC power adapter, and a quick start guide.

Since putting the 500GB drive into service, we have purchased several 250GB models (ST302504FDA1E1-RK) for use in our IT department. These drives will get some heavy use, so I will be able to report on how they perform. So far, I like the drive, its performance, looks, and quiet-cool operation.

Seagate makes the FreeAgent in 250, 320, and 500GB. The 250GB model retails for $95.95 at
Geeks.com

P.S. It is difficult to see in the photos, but the drive is brown in color, which is the only complaint I have heard so far.

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The Blue Screen of Death error can be one of the most frustrating errors to track down and fix. Today I was working on a Dell Latitude D600 laptop that would bootup and show a BSOD. Usually the BSOD error indicates a driver or software conflict and the error message itself may or may not help determining the problem.

The BSOD the D600 was showing was a “DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL” message. The BSOD also showed the ssrtln.sys file as the issue. After a Google search of the ssrtln.sys error I found that the file is related to Sonic DigitalMedia. I uninstalled Sonic and reinstalled and rebooted. The BSOD was fixed! Sometimes a BSOD fix can be easy, and other times–not.

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