Seagate recently claimed a world first by launching the 3TB FreeAgent GoFlex Desk, an external drive that packs a unique 3-Terabyte drive. That’s pretty much it for this one—basically a massive 3TBs’ worth of storage in a single frame that shouldn’t take up any more desktop space than any average external drive would. The package comes a USB 2.0 interface as its standard, but like the rest of the GoFlex line, it can be fitted with other faster interface standards like USB 3.0, eSATA or FireWire 800 after you pick up the right adapter kit.
The huge drive does come with a restriction though: you’re going to need to run a 64-bit operating system like Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Windows 7/Vista 64-bit, or certain Linux versions to detect the full 3TB space, since maximum single-drive storage detection on a 32-bit OS is capped at 2.1 Terabytes. If you’re still stuck on Windows XP, you won’t even get to see past 1TB. So yeah, probably time to upgrade that dinosaur.
The 3TB drive is available now for $250, and comes with software for automated backup and encryption software.
Tags: External Hard Drives, FreeAgent, GoFlex, Seagate, Storage
