Surface Temperature

We monitored the surface temperature of the external hard disk drives during their benchmarks. The following chart shows their operating temperature range, from idle to maximum load. Please note that instead of giving you the absolute numbers, we are showing the temperature delta, which is the difference between the actual temperature and the ambient room temperature.

The 500 GB FreeAgent GoFlex drive was the coolest-running external drive in this comparison, running a tad cooler than the 160 GB Western Digital My Passport at full load. Its surface temperature increased a little when we upgraded it with the USB 3.0 adaptor, but overall, it remained one of the coolest-running 2.5" external hard disk drives in this small comparison.

Platter Transfer Rate Profile

When equipped with the standard USB 2.0 adaptor, the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex drive was stuck at a maximum throughput of 20 MB/s across the entire storage capacity. Even though USB transfer rates are generally slow, this is slowest USB transfer rates we have ever seen. Most USB external hard disk drives will score a transfer rate of around 30 MB/s.

When we upgraded the drive with the USB 3.0 adaptor though, everything changed! The FreeAgent GoFlex was instantly able to deliver the full potential of its hard disk drive. The 500 GB hard disk drive inside delivered a maximum throughput of about 87 MB/s at the outermost tracks. Even at the innermost (slowest) tracks, it still managed a transfer rate of about 42 MB/s, which is more than twice the throughput of what its pathetic USB 2.0 adaptor was capable of handling.

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