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SOFTWARE INSTALLATION
The FreeAgent GoFlex Home comes with its own software called the Seagate Dashboard, powered by Memeo Instant Backup service, with the drive being run by Axentra OS. Adding users and computers is extremely simple, as well as the instant backup provided by the Memeo service. Both allow configurations of the drives connected to the GoFlex, whether it is another GoFlex drive, or external drives running off of the GoFlex’s USB port:
The Seagate Share software has a few drawbacks, the main one being that the standard free version only allows five users accounts, and the second being the exclusion of various features. Chances are most people will not have more than five computers, and in case that situation occurs, a user account can be reused on any machine. However, only the data on the GoFlex associated with that account will be allowed access, thus in order to create separate sharing spaces on the drive for various users, new user accounts will need to be created for each. A comparison of both services is listed below:
The documentation stated that the Pro version would cost $19.99/month, however a quick search reveals an update page with a new price of $9.99 for life with a free trial before you decide to buy. The Memeo Backup service costs a one-time payment of $49.95 for all devices attached to the GoFlex, with a 30-day free trial. Not too shabby of an investment considering the extra goodies:
The software also maps the drive into three categories automatically (Backup, Personal, Public), and a fourth should you add a storage device/devices via USB (External Storage) The drive mapping, however, can be done manually as well without the software. The GoFlex will present itself over the network as a UPNP device, at which point double-clicking it will install a storage driver, which will then allow root access to the device:
The options in the Seagate Dashboard will take you to an online, browser-based GUI running off the GoFlex with the provided IP by your router (in my case, 192.168.100.124). There are a plethora of options here, including the ability to upgrade firmware. Keep in mind however, that when making changes to the GoFlex, any disruptions in the process can cause it to brick or become unresponsive, leading to a hard reset/firmware flash rendering a complete wipe of data. Think of the GoFlex as a router with a hard drive, and keep in mind of the same precautions:
The FreeAgent GoFlex Home supports a USB print server, or an external storage device to be connected to it in order to become a part of the network. You may have noticed in the above screenshot of the GUI, there are three drives showing under the GoFlex rather than one. I connected a generic ten-port powered USB hub in order to test whether the GoFlex could support more than one USB device off its port, and to my surprise, it can!
Your wired and powerline tests indicate around 12MB/s – that to me implies something in the network is running at 10/100 ethernet speed? The Goflex Home has a gigabit ethernet port , and I can get read speeds of over 60MB/s and write speed of 35MB/s to/from a PC with a gigabit port (I get 12MB/s to another PC with a 10/100 port).
You mentioned that a hard reset will wipe the data – that’s not the case (according to the documentation): the data is still there on the disk but you will loose the user accounts that were set up. If you recreate the same user names you will regain access to the data. Alternatively you can use a SATA cable or a GoFlex Desk base unit to access all data (for all users) on the drive.
Hey Nick,
These were the speeds I got consistently, but I do believe that the powerline kit is 10/100 only. The wired connection had the same as well. The tests were different in the NASPT benchmark too, so I went with the lowest average.
As for the hard reset, the data only wipes if updating the firmware fails during installation. At least in my case, when I accidentally closed the browser during firmware installation, the GoFlex went into a constant state of activity (blinking green light) and did not show up on my network. I had to flash back to stock firmware to get it running again, which had to be done by hard resetting it and loading the firmware via the USB port. I lost all my data during the process, but I’m not sure if that’s always the case.
can you put the ethernet cable directly into a tv or does it need to register as a network device only using a router? i need a fast storage for videos plugged directly to a tv, not bridging it all over a home network..
In theory you should be able to connect it directly to an internet-ready TV, but I’m not 100% sure as I don’t own one.
ok, thanx
Is it true that it only supports backing up 3 computer? I have 4 Macs I want to back up
it is said the extension of use comes with purchasing additional licences
I have one and want to no how can I figure out the pass word if I don’t even remember putting one. Need help like where do I go if I don’t remember?
Hello. Can it download torrent by it self ? Thank you.
Hi, Deepak. First of all, sorry for my poor English and lack of technical expertise. My questions are: can I connect a GoFlex Home directly to my PC via ethernet cable? Continuous Backup mode does not saturate the network traffic? And finally: You can perform the backup of a full 1Tb disk in a reasonable time, either via wi-fi or wired connection? Thanks, in advance.
Can I use the external USB drive to do automatic backups?
Is there anyway to recover the data if it is having network troubles? I have tried everything but cannot access it over my network anylonger. I have no idea what happened. Worked great for 4 years. Now I have a newer version of the same product but want to recover the data from this device. Any ideas?
I event reset the factory settings, uninstalled the software, and set it up new, but still the same problem.
Sorry no ideas myself…
same here, I believe the NAS base has died and now I’m trying to read the drive inside out outside of the case. What kind of format is the drive? Nothing I have tried yet seems to be able to read it.
Any suggestions for a speed test of my own, I’m finding speeds of 10mbps wired to my laptop and speeds of 1mbps wireless to my laptop. I need some help finding the cause of the bottle neck
Hello
Forgot password for go flex and not sure of where the install disc is. How can I reset password?