Unless you go SSD, you don’t usually buy a mobile hard drive for performance – you buy them for the compact form factor and, well, the storage. But what if you want some performance to go with that portable form factor and sub-1 Terabyte combo? Well, here’s your answer: Seagate just announced the GoFlex Turbo, a mobile hard drive built for better-than-usual speed, thanks to a USB 3.0 port and a 2.5-inch 7,299rpm drive.
In a world where everyone wants to pack all their data wherever they go, mobile drives are a must-have. They can store a lot of data, they’re relatively affordable, you can buy them everywhere, and, more importantly, they’re compact enough to take anywhere. But what if your bag won’t fit, say, a regular 14.5mm-thick drive? Yeah, it’s a stretch, but Seagate did come out with a drive that’s slimmer. Measuring only 9mm thick (it’s as thick as a #2 pencil, Seagate points out), the GoFlex Slim Performance Drive isn’t just slim, it’s pretty fast too. At least fast enough for Seagate to label it as the ‘world’s slimmest high-performance drive.’
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.
Seagate’s new GoFlex line isn’t necessarily a direct replacement for Seagate’s popular FreeAgent family of external drives, but they’re certainly an upgrade. Not by way of speed or capacity (at least not specifically), but with their flexibility. Hence the “Flex” in the name. So what’s new? The complete line of drives that make up the GoFlex family feature interchangeable interface cables that’ll let you switch cables to match your ports. So whether you need a drive with a USB 2.0, USB 3.0, FireWire 800 or eSATA connection, or running Windows or Mac (or both), all you need is a GoFlex drive and the right cable adapter.
