For many of us, shelves and drawers overflowing with photos, home videos, CDs, DVDs, documents and so on are a thing of the past. In a new digitized world, such things now find themselves on ever increasing volumes of storage devices. Seagate may have come to our rescue with its new FreeAgent GoFlex ecosystem of storage devices and connectivity options which it claims "will change the way people store, access, enjoy and share their digital content."
The GoFlex ecosystem, heralded by Seagate as the next step in the evolution of its FreeAgent external drives, not only features a selection of USB 2.0 storage options but also a host of different interchangeable plug and play cables and adapters to give users flexibility when upgrading drives to eSATA, USB 3.0 or FireWire 800 connectivity.
Seagate's thinking behind offering such a wide choice of connectivity options comes from needs expressed in a survey by the Yankee Group, which found that how a storage drive connects to a device was a major purchase consideration. With the GoFlex system, Seagate claims that how digital content is accessed is no longer "wholly dependent on the drive."
But the company hasn't stopped there. By pairing a drive with a GoFlex media player, users will be able to view stored multimedia content on a high definition television. Linking a drive with a GoFlex Net media sharing device will enable users to access content from any Internet-connected device, wherever they may find themselves.
Available in numerous swatches, the GoFlex Ultra storage system will come in 14.5mm and 22mm versions and includes a USB 2.0 cable. Prices start from US$99.99 for a 320GB model and go up to US$199.99 for 1TB. For those who may already have a cable, prices start at US$89.99 for 320GB through to US$189.99 for 1TB.
The 7200RPM, 2.5 inch GoFlex Pro kit which offers "premium backup with encryption" and includes a USB 2.0 cable is available in 500GB (US$139.99) and 750GB (US$189.99) formats. The drive-only versions are US$129.99 and US$179.99 respectively.
For deskbound storage, the GoFlex Desk external drive is available in 1TB (US$119.99) and 2TB (US$189.99) flavors.
The media player will cost US$129.99 and the Net media sharing device US$99.99. Various cables and adapters are also available with pricing depending on what's needed. Seagate has also included an NTFS driver for Mac OS X so that the GoFlex system is both Mac and Windows compatible.