Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Upgrade Cable FireWire 800 - STAE102

After reading through the reviews here, I wasn't sure if I was going to pick this up for my new GoFlex drive or not. I went ahead and got it, and I'm so glad I did. The speeds are blazing fast compared to USB 2.0. I started using this drive as a new Time Machine backup drive on a Mac running Lion, and the initial backup of 150 GB completed in about 3.5 hours, compared to the 6 it took to transfer to my USB 2.0 drive. I haven't noticed the speed difference that much when transferring smaller files, but when considering large backups it's definitely worth it.Also in regards to the flaws of this cable other reviewers have mentioned, I haven't experienced any such issues. After that 3.5 hour Time Machine backup, my cable was just as cool as when I had plugged it in. And speaking of plugging in, I also have not had any issues with the cable fitting my FW800 port in my mid-2010 MacBook Pro. It goes in and out with ease, and the cable is just fine. I'm assuming Seagate must have made some revision to the cable to resolve these issues, or something else is at play. I have had none of the issues others have mentioned.Overall, I think it's a worthy investment for any Mac user looking for a way to speed up a backup, use the drive as a Photoshop scratch disk, or any other application where you want faster file transfer. Otherwise, I think the original drive's USB 2.0 cable should be just fine for the average Joe.

I had to make an overseas trip and I wanted to have a back up hard drive with all my files with me.The 1.5 TB - Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex, 2 1/2 inch drive has worked perfectly. I formated it for my Mac Powerbook (OS 10.5). The drive is extremely quite and this Firewire 800 optional Cable/Dock is perfect for my needs. Firewire allows the option of speed and can be used as an external boot drive if needed. Check around on prices - I have now bought a total of 3 of the 1.5 TB drives. Compact, huge capacity and fantastic prices. I am going to get another Firewire cable/dock for my wife. She has a powerbook as well.

I purchased this interface cable (12/2010) to go with the 1.0 TB FreeAgent GoFlex drive for my wife's laptop (MacBook Pro). I have used numerous Seagate drives with satisfaction over years of use, thousands of hours of cycle time. The data transfer rate with this cable is the maximum you can get on a MacBook Pro (they do not support USB 3.0 yet), and I wanted the fast rate to use it as a TimeMachine backup disk. I had read some reviews of this cable (FireWire 800 interface) that indicated it ran warm under use, but I had purchased one for my work laptop and used it for several months with good results so I bought this one for personal use. Note that in my experience with both my work cable and the cable for my wife's computer, this cable interface where it attaches to the GoFlex drive gets VERY warm during normal use. This is the first time I have seen a significant issue with any Seagate product. My wife had put her laptop in "sleep" mode (spins down all the drives, shuts off the display, and puts everything on the machine into a dormant mode - apparently the FireWire drive interfaces stay up during sleep and still remain "lit", producing heat), and went to bed. First thing the next morning, she asks me to come look at the FireWire 800 Seagate cable going into the 1.0 TB Seagate drive: the cable housing for the interface to the drive had severely distorted and deformed, like heat damaged plastic. It had gotten hot enough that it deformed the housing of the Seagate drive as well. From a performance standpoint, this cable is top notch; from a durability point of view, be forewarned this product has very little consideration designed into it for heat release and thermal management. Do NOT use this cable attached to a machine if the room temperature will be warm for any extended period of time, or for a machine that will be left in a "sleep" mode. I have two of these cables, this is the first one to fail this way but it was pretty surprising when it happened. The normal USB 2.0 interface does not generate even 25% of the heat the FireWire 800 one does. Update 6/26/2011. Seagate did replace the heat damaged cable with a new one under warranty without any difficulty, it shipped promptly.

When I bought the drive and added this cable I was thrilled to have a FW 800 option for my MacBook Pro. Then the cable came and worked well, all was just fine. Looking at it, I wondered if it would also work fine with a bare drive. Tried it and it worked perfectly! Best investment in such things I have made in a long time. Fast. Use with multiple bare drives, not just the Seagate one you can buy with matching colors (also good, but shhhhh--don't tell them you need not use that one). Not sure about the other reviews, but to me this is a winner. So much so I bought an extra cable. Great for drive transfers and more.