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Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB External Drive Review

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex is of 1 TB (Tera Bytes) capacity with USB 2.0 as interface. The dimensions of the drive are 158 mm in height, 124 mm in width, 44 mm in length, its weight is 1080 g and 3.5 inches of form factor. The drive comes in both vertical and horizontal orientation.

The hard drive comes with quick start guide for easy learning for installation and usage. Once it is plugged in you can easily take a backup of your files from your pc, it also allows you to copy certain selected files from your system to the drive. The files get updated if any changes are made to the files in the system, it turns on and off along with the system.

The drive has pre-loaded backup software with encryption, where encryption is 192 bit Triple DES (Data Encryption Standard – block cipher which uses shared secret encryption) this software is provided to secure your back-up files and also protects privacy for your files with the encryption software.

The drive also provides dashboard management tool which allows you to easily manage backup schedules, file encryption and can view drive statistics. The USB 2.0 desktop adapter comes with capacity gauge display, the interface can be upgraded to USB 3.0 using desktop adapters. Its compatibility varies depending on the OS and hardware configuration, it works on both Windows and Mac OS platforms like Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X and etc., the drive is also available in 2 TB and 3 TB capacities

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex 1 TB External Drive Specifications :

Capacity : 1 TB

Interface : USB 2.0

Dimensions : 158 mm in height, 124 mm in width, 44 mm in length

Weight : 1080 g

Form Factor : 3.5 inches

Orientation : horizontal and vertical

Allows you to copy certain selected files from your system to the drive

The files get updated if any changes are made to the files in the system

Pre-loaded backup software with encryption, where encryption is 192 bit Triple DES

Provides dashboard management tool which allows you to easily manage backup schedules, file encryption and can view drive statistics

USB 2.0 desktop adapter comes with capacity gauge display

The interface can be upgraded to USB 3.0 using desktop adapters

Compatible with : compatibility varies depending on the OS and hardware configuration, it works on both Windows and Mac OS platforms like Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X and etc.,

The drive is also available in 2 TB and 3 TB capacities

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Western Digital Elements 1TB External Hard drive Review

While looking back the previous hard disks few years before where all of only 1GB max but now we have hard drives of memory storage up to 1024 GB ie., 1TB. WD Elements External Hard drive is of 1TB(Tera Bytes), USB 2.0 with data transfer rate of 480 Mbps.

Its dimensions are 1.42 inches in height, 7.01 inches in depth, 4.59 inches in width, 1.02 kg in weight. The hard drive comes with Quick installation guide therefore easy to install and store all the data from your pc to the external drive, AC adapter for external power supply to the hard drive, USB cable for connecting to your computer.

Its operating temperature is 5 degrees C to 35 degrees C and non-operating temperature of -20 degree C to 65 degree C and it dissipates less heat than other hard drive during data transfer. The hard disk is compatible with Formatted NFTS for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X, and etc., It is noiseless and has a LED light placed at the rear side of the box. There are also other capacities available like 500 GB, 1.5 TB, 2 TB and etc

WD Elements 1 TB External Hard Drive Specifications :

Disk size : 1 TB

Data Transfer Rate : 480 Mbps

Dimensions : 1.42 inches in height, 7.01 inches in depth, 4.59 inches in width

Weight : 1.02 kg

Operating temperature : is 5 degrees C to 35 degrees C

Non-operating temperature : is -20 degree C to 65 degree C

Compatible with : Formatted NFTS for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X, and etc.,

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How to enable USB drives , USB ports and USB Mass storage devices ?

This post answers the below questions. If you want answers for these you are in the correct place. Else please leave a comment to editor for more information.

1.How to Enable USB Mass storage devices in Windows XP PC within corporate Networks or Public PCs ?
2.How to enable USB drives ?
3. How to enable USB Flash drives or Portable hard disks or Pen drives?
4. How to install USB flash drives in Windows ?
5. How to enable USB registry ?
6. How to download UsbStor.inf for Windows XP?

[ Warning: You can get fired from your company if you are caught doing this or caught stealing information from your company . This information is just for essential usage.]

Now if you are someone looking for enabling USB Mass storage devices in your corporate Network or public PC , You need to have access to your c:\Windows\System32\inf folder  or Your windows driver folder.

You also need USBStor.inf file in the folder or anywhere else in your PC. If you don’t have the file most likely your IS team would have deleted this file.

Download the file USBStor.inf  Download here. 

You can copy this file to your drivers folder C:\Windows\System32\Inf\ if you want others using PC to install USB mass storage devices or keep in your folders just for you alone.

If you don’t want copy to drivers folder your USB Mass storage devices wont be installed automatically, You will need to go to Device Manager and select device (the device with exclamation) And click update driver and point to the USBStor.inf file.

And you also need to change a registry entry to enable to USB Mass Storage devices – How to enable USB registry entry? 

Change value of the below key to 3 to enable USB Mass Storage device, if it already
3 no need to change this value. If your USB Mass storage device is not working even after installation using driver this will be the culprit, companies set this value to 4 to block the USB Mass storage devices.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor

When you do this, the USB storage device is detected and works automatically if it is installed already.
To set the Start value, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

3. Locate and then click the following registry key:
4. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\UsbStor

5. In the details pane, double-click Start.

6. In the Value data box, type 3, click Hexadecimal (if it is not already selected), and then
7. click OK.

8. Exit Registry Editor.

But many companies wont keep the drivers under C:\Windows\System32\Inf\ folder
So you might need to go to Folder options in and enable * show hidden files as below

And then do a search for *.inf and find your driver folder. Companies with smart Infrastructure teams do this so users wont copy drivers directly.