We've been thoroughly impressed with the FreeAgent XTreme 1TB during our time with it. The exterior styling has been dramatically improved over the previous incarnations of the FreeAgent, and the new white backlit design looks fantastic and understated - exactly what you want from an external desktop drive. The connectivity options of the drive are equally impressive, with the combination of eSATA, USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 making it one of the most well equipped external hard disk drives on the market right now.

Performance wise, it again impressed us with its blisteringly fast eSATA file transfer rates and solid USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 performance too. Even the included software performed the feat of being both falling-off-a-log simple to use and actually useful, we would have preferred more security options like the ability to password protect the entire disk.

However, this is still an excellent external drive, and while more expensive than lower spec rivals compared to others with eSATA it can be found a little cheaper depending where you shop. If you simply need some extra hard drive space, we'd still point you towards an OEM internal hard disk, where the cost per GB is significantly lower, but if you need the flexibility of an external hard disk drive and the performance of an internal drive, the FreeAgent XTreme 1TB delivers. We just wish Seagate had thrown in that eSATA cable!