Seagate plays the 4TB card with its GoFlex Desk external HDD, shipping now for $250
That tangled mess of a backup solution feeling a little cramped? Yeah, join the crowd. Seagate's looking to give you a dash of capaciousness -- a dash that you could desperately used -- with its newest desktop HDD. The GoFlex Desk line is about as sleek as it gets for a non-mobile drive, with 1/2/3/4TB options being made available. The stock model ships with USB 2.0 / 3.0 support, a required AC power adapter (blah) and support for OS X and Windows platforms. The entire unit weighs but 2.38 pounds and checks in at 6.22- x 4.88- x 1.73-inches; true to the GoFlex name, the lower base can actually be swapped out for those who'd prefer a different interface (you know, like FireWire or Thunderbolt), and there's a four-LED capacity gauge on there as well. In our limited testing, we consistently saw USB 3.0 burst rates top 100MB/sec, while sustained transfers hovered closer to 60MB/sec. When used on a USB 2.0 rig, we saw reads and writes hover between 30MB/sec and 40MB/sec. As for pricing and availability? The 4TB flagship can be found right now at Seagate's site for $249.99, while the GoFlex Desk for Mac -- which touts both Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 -- will be available in Apple stores by the end of the month. We're told that Thunderbolt will be supported once that GoFlex adapter is let loose, but an ETA isn't quite ready for public eyes.
%Gallery-132801%
Show full PR text
SEAGATE IS THE FIRST MANUFACTURER TO BREAK THE CAPACITY CEILING WITH A NEW 4TB GOFLEX DESK DRIVE
New Design, New Capacity, and a New Home for the Media You Love
CUPERTINO, Calif. - September 7, 2011- Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) today announced it is shipping a new 4TBGoFlex® Desk external hard drive – the highest capacity hard drive in the industry. This latest addition to the GoFlex Family of external hard drives showcases Seagate's new desktop design. The streamlined industrial design delivers a smaller footprint and better reflects the aesthetic of today's modern offices while still providing all of the benefits of previous generations of the GoFlex drives. The new 4TB GoFlex Desk is now available from www.seagate.com and will be available from select online retailers next month for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $249.99 USD. The entire line of GoFlex Desk products will also adopt the new industrial design in the coming weeks. The GoFlex Desk for Mac featuring both Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 will be available in Apple stores by the end of the month..
"Yet another industry first for Seagate, we have reached a new high-capacity in the 3.5-inch hard drive form factor. At Seagate, we are committed to pushing the limits for our customers and will continue to adapt and innovate our products based on customer needs," said Patrick Connolly, vice president and general manager of Retail products for Seagate. "This latest GoFlex® Desk drive offering with its new industry-leading capacity point is a statement of our continued commitment to meet consumer needs."
As more of our entertainment and personal data become digitize, the significance of greater access to local storage becomes increasingly more valued. The new GoFlex Desk 4TB drive has the space to contain over 2000 HD movies. This new GoFlex desk comes at a time when people are archiving more of their memories in the form of digital photo and video.
"IDC foresees there being an increase in global demand for personal storage capacity driven by the growing creation and acquisition of digitized videos, photos and music," said Liz Conner, Sr. Research Analyst, Storage Systems, IDC.
Debuted in May of 2010, the award-winning GoFlex Family of hard drives provide an alternative approach to external storage solutions by allowing users to change interface adapters to stay current with the latest in interface technology. With USB 3.0 still undergoing adoption and the emergence of Thunderbolt in the coming months, the GoFlex adapter concept has been proven as an idea that works and Seagate will continue with this design for future iterations of the company's external hard drives. The GoFlex drives are also Windows and Mac OSX compatible and have the flexibility to go between both operating systems. In addition to cross-platform compatibility, the GoFlex Desk can also be utilized with the GoFlex Home adapter if one chooses to use it as a network drive.
With the pre-loaded back up software, the GoFlex Desk external drive provides automatic, continuous back with encryption for all your files. The included USB 3.0 adapter also works with USB 2.0 ports making it easy to connect to your Windows or Mac computer. The adapter also features an illuminated gauge to display available space on the drive.
