Hello, My Seagate 250GB Free Agent software cannot find my backup drive. I have the Seagate Manager open, I select "My Drives", and I get, "No external drives were found. Make sure your external drive is connected and turned on". The external drive IS turned on, Microsoft Explorer recognizes the drive and everything on it, yet the Seagate application won't let me perform a backup due to "No external drives" being found. How can I get this backup drive up and running again? (Windows XP, Version 5.1, Service Pack 3)

the drive is failing return if it us under warranty

You have "Simple Backup" on. To turn this function off and add custom files, you must open the Seagate Manager and select "Custom Backup" and then select the files and folders you want backed up. This should be under "Start" button, "Programs", "Seagate". Hope this was helpful.

Depending on your version of Windows, you can go to Accessories>System Tools>back up. From there it will give you the option to back up selected files or the entire system. Win Vista and Win 7 have made this process very simple.

attach the seagate open windows explorer click on my computer if you can see this seagate free agent select the files you want to transfer right click copy navigate to the seagate select it then right click paste or select the files right click send to seagate
hope this helps

what OS you are using??
try to check the cable connector of the hard drive..

Go to http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/ and select your product then you can download any documentation and drivers that you need.

Install the seagate manager on a different computer and decrypt the files there first then move it back to your computer using the basic copy/cut and paste.

Try connecting it to another computer. If you can see your data then back it up etc.
After you have recovered your data connect it to your computer, from Disk Manager, remove the partition, recreate it again and then format the drive, hopefully your external drive will be operational again.
There is a possibility that the hard disk has died and you will have lost your data. If you are desparate, hard drive data recovery companies charge an arm and a leg to recover data from dead drives.

hmm, no problem plugging in either side, just be sure to do the power cable first. What's doing the beep, beep?

Found a guy who had similar prob, here was his solution:
Go to Control Panel. Click on Device Manager.
Check to see if FreeAgent is shown as a disk drive.
If not, check the device list for any Free Agent device, double click and check driver. No driver installed? Update does not work? On the driver tab….click uninstall device.
Shut down computer. Unplug Free agent USB and power at the drive.
Reboot computer. As it is rebooting, plug in the power cord. Wait a minute or two….then plug in USB cord.

Windows will “found new device” ….. Just let the computer complete the reboot.
Then go to the device manager. Chances are you will find Free Agent in the drives….and in the USB list of devices. Open windows explorer….and you should see you Free Agent as a drive.
Windows will ask you to install manufacturer disk. You have no disk…non needed. Windows has installed the device. Just click on close. I you keep getting windows wants to install device…..ignore it. You can click on “don’t ask again”. (That is if your Free Agent drive is showing in the device manager as a disk…and in windows explorer….along with your other drive or drives.)
If at some later time….your Free Agent drive does not appear….repeat the steps as listed above.
(You may think it is not working….or that it has gone bad. Try this before you try to return.)
Seagate Tools…the new version….does not recognize to diagnose the Free Agent….
I have not tried Seagate Tools after getting the computer to recognize the drive.
I am surprised Seagate does not provide a Tool to recognize their own drives…and install and/or test Free Agent.

This does work for me with Vista. Thought I had lost the drive…. Seagate should provide a patch or a drive that Windows will recognize when you get the “found new hardware” and Windows asks you to insert manufacturer’s installation disk. I do not understand why that is not already there….a driver file for Free Agent...that Windows would install.

I did not buy Pro….because I did not need the backup software. I wonder if those who bought Pro are having these problems.

465.66 x 1024 x 1024 x 1024 = 499,998,617,764 bytes. The problem is the definition of gigabytes.