Seagate: Santa's Data Storage of Choice
We’ve long been fans of Seagate for data storage options, going as far back as 2006 with a great little pocket-sized external drive, all the way up through the massive two terabyte NAS. Over the years we’ve talked about many of their different drives, the whole while appreciating the fact that Seagate has always had our back when it comes to data and media storage needs. Now as we progress much too quickly into the holiday season we’d like to take some time to remind you once again of some of the great external hard-drive options from Seagate.
Earlier this year we looked at the FreeAgent Go drives, and today we are going to talk about the FreeAgent Go Pro for Mac and the FreeAgent Go for the PC. The most notable thing about both of these drives is the speed. Both operate at 7200 RPM, the Go Pro for Mac uses a Firewire 800 connection and the both the Mac and PC models use a USB 2.0 as well. These disks spin quietly and stay nice and cool even through the most strenuous data transfers. The Go Pro for Mac is formatted for a Mac computer of course, and is Time Machine ready. We were very impressed with how easy it was to partition the drive, and had no problems using this drive (we had the 500 GB drive) to back up a well-used iMac via Time Machine, as well as store many RAW photos. Part of the drive was also partitioned and used to boot a new OS. The PC version has the same functionality, and also comes in a wide array of colors, which not only looks cool but serves to easily identify a drive when you have multiple drives storing data. We were using the 640 GB PC model, which is compatible with Windows 7, and love that there are so many storage size and color options, ranging from 250 GB all the way up to 2 TB. We recommend the red- Rudolph would certainly appreciate it. There is also the GoDock+ which makes these drives a snap to use, and acts as a powered USB hub. The Go Pro retails for $180 and the FreeAgent Go retails for $160, with the dock costing about $40.
For those in the market for a larger, less-portable drive consider the FreeAgent Desk. We tried out the Mac version, though it also comes in a Windows 7 compatible PC version. The Mac version is formatted and ready to use with Time Machine and uses triple FireWire 800/400 as well as USB 2.0. At this price and size range, it fits a small niche between portable hard drives and true NAS devices- a slightly uncomfortable niche. We loved having that much space, but would have preferred it be network-accessible. Of course, those who edit video or go through a lot of RAW images will enjoy the fairly compact design and massive storage potential. Also available in sizes from 500GB on up, this model only comes in a sleek silver. You can stand it upright, or lie it down flat, and the software works between all of the different Seagate Go drives (and is easy to use). At $250 as tested, it might be better to shell out a bit more for a more capable device like their excellent BlackArmor NAS- but only if you have multiple computers or other needs. Available now, online and in stores, directly from Seagate or at online merchants like Amazon.
