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Switched On: A new spin on external hard drives, part one
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. Consumer hard disk connectors have been pretty stable for the past few years. Most internal drives use SATA connectors and most external drives connect via USB; there hasn't seemed to be much frustration with this other than the speed of USB 2.0, which is showing its age and is being superseded by the backward-compatible USB 3.0. Seagate, though, is betting big that a new series of breakaway connectors will bring the old usage model of floppy drives into the 21st Century and accommodate complete media libraries, as well as include a few new twists that take into account such modern tasks as media streaming, remote access and networked entertainment.
Seagate gets NASty with Pogoplug-based FreeAgent DockStar: hands-on
Hard to believe this is Seagate's first consumer NAS offering (keyword being "consumer"), but sure enough, the FreeAgent DockStar is the company's first major effort to get its own line of FreeAgent Go hard drives onto your network. Without getting into too much detail, this simple dock is essentially a Pogoplug with a built-in cradle for one's FreeAgent Go USB (read: not FireWire) HDD. Thankfully, a trifecta of USB 2.0 sockets are littered about the edges, ensuring that at least three standard USB drives can also be connected and accessed over the web. We've yet to have a chance to put this bugger through its paces, but since we know all about the underlying technology, you can probably learn everything you need to know from our Pogoplug review. For those who'd rather opt for a Seagate'd version of an already available product, this DockStar is shipping today for $99.99. Oh, and we should mention that it comes with a year of the Pogoplug service, but after that, you'll be shelling out $29.99 per year for unlimited sharing and remote access.In related news, Seagate is also introducing three new capacities for its FreeAgent Go family. In addition to the 250GB, 320GB, 500GB and 640GB versions already out there, the range will now include a 750GB, 880GB and 1TB version. Too bad no pricing or release details are available on those, but we'll be keeping an eye out.%Gallery-73065%%Gallery-73143%
Seagate introduces FreeAgent Go Dock+ with powered USB hub
We have no idea why Seagate buried this in a warmed-over press release touting rehashed FreeAgent for Mac drives, but there's a new $40 FreeAgent Go Dock+ that doubles as a powered three-port USB hub. Pretty convenient if you're into the whole FreeAgent Go lifestyle, we'd say, but we're sticking with our versatile bareback SATA docks.
Seagate's FreeAgent Go series bumped to 640GB
Seagate's giving its FreeAgent Go drives a fresh new 640GB capacity ceiling, and while it's not the first external to cross that 500GB threshold, it's certainly on the thinner end of the totem pole, physically. Nothing revolutionary here otherwise, it's still the standard USB-connected with up to 480Mbps transfer with multiple color options. Also distinctly the norm? Not a bit of info on pricing or availability, but if Seagate's posting promotional materials on its main site, we suspect it's not too far off.[Via Slashgear]
Engadget's recession antidote: FreeAgent Go hard drive for your Mac!
This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff / companies stop sending things. Today we've got a FreeAgent Go 320GB hard drive plus dock on offer. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Check after the break for some photos of the prize!Special thanks to Seagate for providing the gear!The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one Seagate FreeAgent Go hard drive and dock. Approximate value is $180. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Entries can be submitted until Thursday, April 2nd, 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
Seagate expands FreeAgent Go line with yet more color options
Seagate kicked out a couple of FreeAgent Go hard drives a few months back, but it's now gone all out and let loose an even more colorful batch in the hope of attracting a bit more attention among holiday shoppers -- as usual, Festivus revelers luck out year 'round with the ever-present, aluminum pole-matching silver option. From the looks of it, the drives are still available in the same 250GB, 320GB, and 500GB capacities as before for $120, $150, and $200, respectively, and those that register their drives between November 28th and New Year's day will get a bonus multimedia package including 50 free songs from eMusic and some other goodies. You can also pick up a desktop docking station separately for $30, just don't expect to get it in matching colors.[Via Electronista]
Seagate's FreeAgent drives get official, Go Desk EXtreme
Seagate just officially announced what we already told you about last month: they're shedding brown with the introduction of the thoroughly redesigned FreeAgent series of external storage devices. Things break down into USB 2.0 PC and USB+Firewire Mac flavors for both the multi-colored, portable FreeAgent Go Drives ($240 for up to 500GB plus $30 for optional docking station and carrying case) and home-based FreeAgent Desk Drives ($270 for up to 1TB). A higher-performing 7,200rpm FreeAgent XTreme Drive tosses in an eSATA jack to complement the USB 2.0 and Firewire 400 ports in capacities up to 1TB ($230). Both the XTreme and Desk drives will hit 1.5TB capacities starting next month. Macheads happy with USB 2.0 and suitably skilled to reformat a hard disk will want to examine prices closely: while the Go and Desk Drives for Macs list for $10 and $40, respectively, more than their PC brethren (for the value-add of Firewire 800/400 jacks and an OS X pre-formatting), the 1.5TB FreeAgent Desk Drive for Macs is expected to list for an unexplained $70 premium over the $280 PC version when it ships in October.%Gallery-31907%
Seagate dumps brown, gets Mac happy with leaked FreeAgent disks
We have it from a highly trusted source that Seagate is working on a new line of stylish hard drives. Oh hey, what do you know, there they are pictured above. You're looking at a few of the next generation FreeAgent storage devices from Seagate. While unannounced, the drive on the left is a likely FreeAgent Desktop replacement while the drive on the right looks to either augment or replace the FreeAgent Go series with its thinner profile and docking port. Instead of traditional Seagate-brown, these drives will ultimately ship in several colors (grey, black, and silver at launch time) including red, green, gold, pink, and more. Speeds will start at 5,400RPM before moving towards 7,200RPM sometime down the road with at least one drive shipping Mac-ready -- Windows, not Mac users will have the privilege of reformatting the disk for use. We expect to hear an announcement for these drives as well as a new FreeAgent XTreme disk for gamers and speed-freaks sometime in September.Update: Regarding those "holes," they're actually glowing blue lights, illuminated only when the unit's on -- the air vents are located on the back.
Seagate introduces new BlackArmor secure hard drive, Pipeline DVR drives, new FreeAgents
Seagate busted out a slew of new storage gear today, including the new 160GB BlackArmor portable hard drive with built-in AES encryption pictured above. The tinfoil-hat-friendly drive, available in Q2 for $149, automatically encrypts all the data stored on it, keeping it away from prying eyes if lost or stolen. On the other end of the spectrum, Seagate is also introducing free software called Central Axis that allows you to access content stored on a Maxtor Shared Storage II device from any web browser without having to open firewall ports, and announcing partnerships with Sanyo, HarmanBecker and PortoMedia to incorporate Seagate's D.A.V.E "wireless mobile storage capacity" tech into their products. Seagate says future Harman car entertainment systems will be able to store music, movies and games using D.A.V.E., and that Sanyo's using the tech in its Xacti camcorders. On the more mundane side of things, the desktop FreeAgent line now tops out at 1TB, the FreeAgent Go will hit 250GB by the end of the quarter, and there's a new line of DVR-specific drives called Pipeline HD that are rated to work in case temps as high as 167 degrees Fahrenheit. Pipeline drives will come in sizes ranging from 320GB to 1TB, and they're targeted primarily at HTPC manufacturers -- but we'd bet a few Tivo-hackin' ears just perked up out there.
Seagate's FreeAgent lineup of data movers hit the market
Although Seagate has long been viewed as a hard drive producer, advocate of pornographic archival (or not), and little more, the company is looking to break new ground by unleashing its family of FreeAgent "data movers." Just under three months after being introduced to the world, the FreeAgent Go Small, Go, Desktop Drive, and Pro are all hitting the market, ready to take your computing comfort zone along with you wherever you may roam. Still ranging in size from 12GB all the way to three-quarters of a terabyte in size, these stylish drives all share a relatively small footprint, USB 2.0 connectivity, and the ability carry your critical documents, bookmarks, passwords, and other personal material from one PC to the next in a secure manner. So if you've been itching for a fairly attractive form of external storage, and don't mind the data moving capabilities being thrown in, you can reportedly snag one of these devices now from around $140 to just under $500.