Seagate Offers The World's Largest Single Drive
For quite a while, the world was stuck at 2 terabytes. That was the maximum capacity of hard drives, which of course offer you the space to store your growing collection of music, video, and images. Most people probably can’t fill a drive that large, even if they tried hard, but for plenty of folks- researchers, graphic designers, photographers and other creative professionals- that limitation was a bit frustrating. Recently, Seagate released the first 3TB drive, in a convenient external form, as part of their GoFlex Desk line (model STAC3000100 to be precise).
We’ve tested out drives in the portable segment of the line before, and this model isn’t much different. That’s a great thing- the same compatibility with the ecosystem of adapters means that you can easily move up in capacities. Extra adapters are also pretty cheap, and this way you can have exactly the interface you want or need- USB 2.0, USB 3.0, or Firewire 800. The drive can be setup either vertically or horizontally, and works with PCs, Macs, and Linux.
We got a chance to try out all of the available adapters, and are happy to report that this is the best option for those in need of both capacity and speed- they simply attach to the drive, replacing the base. While it won’t break any speed records, using USB 3.0, we still were able to transfer data at incredible rates. That’s a necessary thing when dealing with up to three terabytes- after formatting, the drive reports 2.72 terabytes. The black matte look isn’t eye-catching, but fits well next to any box, and though the lack of on/off switch is a bit odd, we didn’t end up missing it. The stand isn’t as stable as we might have liked, but the unit was quiet and stayed fairly cool even over longer transfers. And, as usual, some decent backup software is included- Memeo in this case- which offers easy-to-use and set-and-forget backup options that can easily keep your files safe.
At $200 or so, it’s also a bargain, and available widely online.
