GoFlex

G-Tech's new G-Connect: iCloud on the go, almost

It seems the iPad's limited internal storage and lack of peripheral ports provide ample opportunities for storage vendors.

About a month ago, Seagate Technology introduced the GoFlex Satellite as the first mobile hard drive that can stream content to the iPad. Today, G-Technology, a subsidiary of Hitachi Storage that focuses on external storage solutions, announced a similar product of its own: the G-Connect wireless storage product.

The G-Connect is similar to the GoFlex Satellite in multiple ways. It's another compact 500GB portable hard drive that has a built-in Wireless-N access point that can stream stored digital content to up to five wireless devices (the Satellite can only stream to three devices).

The G-Connect has one major advantage over the Satellite: it also comes with an Ethernet port for connecting to an existing network, and hence is capable of also offering an Internet connection to the connected clients. Clients can surf the Web and check e-mails while streaming content, such as music, at the same time. This makes the device almost an alternative for the iCloud service recently announced by Apple.… Read more

Kingston's Wi-Drive 'expands' iPad's memory

Hot on the heels of Seagate launching its GoFlex Satellite wireless external storage device for iOS devices, Kingston has trotted out its own flash-based external drive--the Wi-Drive--which offers very similar features.

With mobile devices like the iPad offering limited memory (and no expansion slot), the idea behind these accessories is that you'd store large video files, as well as other content (including photos, documents, and music) on the drive and then wirelessly access that content via a direct Wi-Fi connection (you don't need an actual Internet Wi-Fi connection to stream content; you stream directly to and from … Read more

Seagate GoFlex Satellite: iPad owners' delight

If you ask Steve Jobs what do to if you want to carry your entire digital library on your iPad--a library consisting of hundreds of gigabyte of data--he'd probably lower his voice and tell you how shiny the device is, point out that it's super thin, and remind you that the iPad offers 10 solid hours of battery life. And then you'd likely be so carried away by the magical Smart Cover that you'd forget your original question. You might even feel guilty for asking.

If you ask me, however, I have a more direct answer: … Read more

Crave giveaway: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Slim

First, congrats to Carey from Baton Rouge for winning the Altec Lansing inMotion Air in last week's giveaway. For this week we move into the storage arena, and we've got a really nice, supersvelte external drive courtesy of Seagate: the 320GB FreeAgent GoFlex Slim.

Editor Dong Ngo recently reviewed the GoFlex Slim and gave it four out of five stars (read the full review here). He wrote:

The Seagate GoFlex Slim external hard drive is fast, compact, sturdy, flexible, and relatively affordable. The drive supports USB 3.0 and includes software that enables both Macs and PCs to … Read more

Seagate ships GoFlex Slim portable drive

First announced at CES 2011, the GoFlex Slim portable hard drive is the thinnest portable hard drive in the Seagate GoFlex family.

The company announced today that the drive is now available for purchase.

Equipped with a 2.5-inch, 7,200rpm Momentus Thin internal hard drive, the GoFlex Slim is just 9 millimeters thick, some 40 percent thinner than other GoFlex portable drives such as the GoFlex Pro (500GB). As a matter of fact, the Slim is even thinner than a traditional 2.5-inch SATA internal hard drive, which is 9.5mm.

The drive is preformatted using the NTFS file … Read more

Seagate GoFlex TV to get Pandora, iPhone app

LAS VEGAS--Owners of Seagate's GoFlex TV: I have some exciting news.

Seagate announced today new firmware for the popular network media player to add support for Pandora and a remote control app for the iPhone/iPod Touch.

While the addition of Pandora is great news for music fans, I personally loved the remote control app after briefly playing with it .

Once loaded, the app turns the iPhone's screen into buttons similar to those of the GoFlex TV's original remote control and you can use the phone to control the player via Wi-Fi.

However, unlike the original remote, … Read more

Seagate to launch iPhone app for GoFlex TV media streamer

LAS VEGAS--Some of you who own a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex TV media streamer may have noticed that the company has recently added Pandora to its channel lineup. Now the company says it will release a free iPhone app later this month that allows you to control the box with an iPhone or iPod Touch.

We reviewed the GoFlex TV earlier this ear and gave it pretty high marks. It's got some similar features to the Roku Player, with Netflix streaming capabilities, but, as its name implies, it's designed to play video files from a Seagate GoFlex drive that … Read more

Seagate's GoFlex drive goes superslim

LAS VEGAS--Seagate made a huge splash in the pond of external hard drives during 2010 with the GoFlex family, which includes the GoFlex Desk and the GoFlex Ultra-portable. These new drives don't just look good and offer high capacities; they are also superflexible, allowing for use of virtually any type of connectivity via interchangeable adapters.

The company today announced a new member of this GoFlex family of portable hard drives: the GoFlex Slim, which is arguably the slimmest portable drive that's based on the 2.5-inch internal hard drive. The new drive is just 9 millimeters thin, about … Read more

Seagate revives Zip drive concept with GoFlex storage system

LAS VEGAS--You might not remember it, but the Zip drive was arguably the most popular external storage solution during the second half of the '90s. With the initial storage capacity of 100MB (which later increased to up to 750MB), it was a perfect replacement for the floppy drive.

The Zip drive is similar to a floppy drive, with the slot just slightly larger to accommodate the thicker Zip disks.

With the rapid increase of internal hard drives' capacity, though, the Zip drive couldn't keep up, and its popularity started to wane at the turn of the century. By 2005 … Read more

Seagate GoFlex portable drive gets USB 3.0

Owners of Seagate's FreeAgent GoFlex Pro who've been wishing the portable hard drive came with USB 3.0 rather than merely USB 2.0 just got their wish.

Seagate announced today a new portable drive in its FreeAgent GoFlex family, the 1.5TB GoFlex Ultra-portable. The drive not only comes with USB 3.0 standard but boasts 1.5TB of storage, making it what appears to be the largest single-volume portable external hard drive currently on the market.

Other than the amount of storage, the new drive has the same superflexible design as the GoFlex Pro, meaning it can be used with any type of connection--be it USB, FireWire, or eSATA--merely by swapping out the adapters.

The GoFlex Ultra-portable comes with a USB 3.0 adapter, while the GoFlex Pro comes with a USB 2.0 adapter. These two adapters, like all GoFlex adapters, can be used interchangeably.

Note, however, that while the GoFlex Pro supports USB 3.0 too, you'll need to buy a separate adapter that costs around $40. Notably, the GoFlex Ultra-portable is the first portable external drive in the GoFlex family to support USB 3.0 out of the box.… Read more