My “big drive” — a 2Tb Western Digital that I use to store our media library went sideways on my Friday, locking up while doing a simple shift of a video from movie to TV show category (thanks, iTunes; I know you were the culprit!) I could read, but not write to the drive and the Mac Air could not repair the drive.
As a result, I bought the Seagate GoFlex Home 2Tb network drive from Best Buy for $150. It’s an all-black unit that plugs into the networking base, which then plugs into the back of your router. Setup was simple, once I realized the drive was just not going to let me set it up without the Seagate software. I hate the way these companies set up the folders, and you can rarely mess with the higher level folders. Same issue here — I’ve got all these “GoFlex Public” and “GoFlex Private” folders. I’ll live with it because there’s a benefit — you can use their GoFlex Access app on your iPad to access the information from the drive via wifi, or through the internet (I’ve yet to try this, but the next trip to the coffee shop, I’ll experiment…)
Transfer speeds from the Air were very fast, the drive has functions, so far, flawlessly, and I was able to back up almost all of the iTunes library before the old Big Drive took a dump and had to finally be reformatted. I’m going to use the former for my Time Machine backups (as well as another disk) and to hold the iTunes library for my Air when it’s plugged in at home, but depending on how well the laptop and iPad can access the media through the internet, I may eventually ditch it or use it as a secondary backup for the media library.
My main concern about the drive is the same as the main benefit: it’s on the internet. Someone could , potentially, locate and crack the drive. The other issue is the Gestapo tactics of the RIAA and MPAA, and their minions in the Department of Homeland Security. These copyright trolls have been working hard to find any excuse to limit our free and fair use of media we’ve already bought form them in the name of preventing piracy (which studies repeated show do not impact sales, save to drive them up — it’s advertisement, like a radio station.)
If it doesn’t crap out like the WD drive, it’ll definitely be worth the $150.
The Black Campbell 
8 July, 2012 at 00:19
I’ve been looking for a new network drive (need at least 2TB – need 750MB for the Mac Mini Server and another 500GB to cover the old LaCie NAS that won’t play with OS-X Lion), but what I won’t buy is a drive that requires a utility just to access it for day to day use. You’re the first person I know with a Seagate so hopefully you can answer this question…you mentioned the Seagate software – is that required to mount the drive or can I simply map the drive via normal methods?
The other options are either a WD (not thrilled as the reviews aren’t that positive) or preferably the Synology 212.
Thanks!
8 July, 2012 at 09:10
Supposedly, you can map to it without the software. I wasn’t in the mood to futz with it after the big drive crashed, so I just loaded the software, which — to be fair — hasn’t given me any heartburn, this time.
I just get picky about how my file names are done.
8 July, 2012 at 11:11
Thanks. It’s another datapoint to consider. It annoys me that companies have to complicate things with proprietary software gimmicks instead of just designing a device that works simply and efficiently.
8 July, 2012 at 20:02
I agree, but in this case, it’s not too obtrusive.
I can give you a data point on a Western Digital — I had the thing for maybe a year before it died. Not impressed.
23 April, 2013 at 11:28
Nine months downrange, how is the drive performing? I noticed between when you got it and now you upgraded to Mountain Lion, were there any issues there? I’m torn between a LaCie 2Big NAS, Synology DS213, or one of these Seagate units. The Seagate is basic and does what I need, but the other drives offer a lot of other pluses.
23 April, 2013 at 12:30
It’s working fine. I’ve dumped over a TB of media to it, and use a partition for the laptop backup. I might back it up to another drive, as well, just to cover my bases, but so far, so good. The wifi connection is no issue, and the ability to access it through the Seagate site from anywhere in the world is a big plus.
23 April, 2013 at 13:25
Phenomenal! Thanks!