Seagate GoFlex Mac & Thin @ CES 2011
by Anand Lal Shimpi on January 10, 2011 2:33 PM EST- Posted in
- Storage
- Seagate
- HDDs
- GoFlex Desk
- CES 2011
I met with Seagate briefly at the show and it gave me an update on additions to its drive lineup. Unfortunately there still are no updates to the Momentus XT. It remains as the only Hybrid HDD in Seagate’s lineup. I’m disappointed as I was hoping to at least see one update to the drive by now. As you may remember from our review the Momentus XT is easily the fastest desktop HDD on the market in real world usage, although it still can’t compete with SSDs.
The GoFlex Desk I reviewed not too long ago is officially coming to the Mac platform and Apple stores with the GoFlex Desk for Mac. There are only two differences between this version and what I reviewed. The first is the color of the chassis, the Mac version is a Mac-like silver vs. the standard black. The second difference is the drive will come formatted with a HFS+ partition, allowing Mac users to use it with Time Machine.
Unfortunately the GoFlex Desk for Mac will sell at a premium compared to the standard GoFlex Desk. Seagate doesn’t appear to have done anything to address the thermal issues I brought up in the 3TB review either.
The GoFlex Desk for Mac will ship with both USB 2.0 and FireWire interfaces.
Seagate GoFlex Thin
Shipping in April of this year Seagate also announced its GoFlex Thin external drive at the show. The GoFlex Thin is a 9mm housing for an internal 7mm 2.5” hard drive. The GoFlex Thin uses a standard GoFlex connector so you can expect a multitude of interface options. The drive will ship with USB 3 by default.
Also in April we’ll see a HFS+ formatted Mac version.
Speaking of the GoFlex connector, Seagate decided to open up the GoFlex connector spec for other manufacturers to use and implement at no cost. Seagate is hoping manufacturers will jump on board and embrace the connector so we can have interoperable, easy plug, external drives and docks. The idea would be to put GoFlex connectors on everything from DVRs to external hard drive docks. Obviously for this to work we’ll need all of the HDD makers on board as well. Seagate claims we’ll see a pledge of support from one other HDD maker, although I suspect it’s not Western Digital.
Special thanks to Venya for helping with the photos for this article
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BigToque - Monday, January 10, 2011 - link
So all Seagate does is format the drive as HFS+ instead of FAT32 or NTFS and jack up the price...I suppose that's easy money for Seagate, but unbelievable that some people don't realize that they can get exactly the same thing for less money.
dananski - Monday, January 10, 2011 - link
Everything gets their price jacked up if it's got 'Mac' written on it. They used to use dirt-cheap lacie external hard disks as the 'Mac external drive' and charge a considerable amount extra. Even more in the high street Apple store.MeanBruce - Monday, January 10, 2011 - link
$219 for the 2TB GoFlex Desk for Mac, $279 for the 3TB, exactly $100 more than the PC version. I got a 1TB GoFlex Desk from Amazon $89.99 free two day shipping, but I guess a Mac user would not be caught dead with only a single TB drive, Seagate does not offer one for Mac. The lack of ventilation on these drives keeps them perfectly silent sitting on your desk, Seagate felt noise level was more important than heat. My 1TB barely gets warm after running for a few hours, so if heat is a concern and you don't really need the larger capacity go for the smaller 1TB, the heat increases with the larger drives!NCM - Monday, January 10, 2011 - link
Wow, dusting off our anti-Apple stereotypes and trotting them out for display are we? How embarrassing.The main problem with this enclosure, as the earlier AT test revealed, is that it's plastic and therefore has poor heat transfer characteristics. The photo of this Mac version is made to look like metal, but I'm assuming it's simply silver-finished plastic? It would be worth a modest premium in metal, but otherwise...not so much.
For a premium fanless external drive in a thermally effective all-metal case I like the G-Tech line. They use excellent Hitachi drives mounted using a robust thermal path to a substantial, finned aluminum case. Somewhat pricey but worthwhile where the installation warrants it.
name99 - Saturday, January 22, 2011 - link
"For a premium fanless external drive in a thermally effective all-metal case I like the G-Tech line. They use excellent Hitachi drives mounted using a robust thermal path to a substantial, finned aluminum case. Somewhat pricey but worthwhile where the installation warrants it."Where by "excellent Hitachi drives" you mean POS Hitachi drives that don't honor standard USB protocols for power savings?
I've used many external drives in my times. Some were designed by morons and didn't power down when the OS tried to power them down --- but only Hitachi drives were SO badly designed that they actually LOST DATA under this scenario.
NCM - Saturday, January 22, 2011 - link
@name99:What does an internal SATA drive mech have to do with "USB protocols?"
Answer: nothing.
JCheng - Monday, January 10, 2011 - link
Well, it's not *exactly* the same if it comes with FireWire out of the box.Hrel - Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - link
It's a-p-p-l-e jacking up the price not Seagate. Why does this site think this comment is spam?name99 - Saturday, January 22, 2011 - link
Because is IS?Please justify this claim that Apple is in anyway involved in this.
Let's start with an explanation of the business/legal logic under which Apple controls Seagate's prices --- exactly how does that occur?
Once you're done with that, perhaps you could let us know of the contract (or at least it's vague nature) that specifies what these higher prices should be, and hwo you came to learn of it.
antoigp - Sunday, February 13, 2011 - link
If consumers don't make their research before purchases,then they are fair game.