My 1st Blog: Seagate reveals 9mm 2.5-inch GoFlex external HDD, third-party GoFlex certification process

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Seagate reveals 9mm 2.5-inch GoFlex external HDD, third-party GoFlex certification process

CES is just kicking off in earnest tonight in Vegas, and Seagate's wasting no time in dishing out a smattering of new releases. Up first is the outfit's slimmest external drive yet: the new, ultrathin GoFlex HDD, which holds a 2.5-inch drive within, but measures just 9mm thick -- that's 38 percent slimmer than the existing GoFlex drive. At least initially, it'll only be offered in a 320GB model, and the USB 3.0 port ensures that it'll run laps around your older USB 2.0 model. Mum's the word on pricing, but you can expect it to ship out this spring. Moving on, there's a new raft of GoFlex for Mac external drives, which arrive HFS+ formatted and ready to play nice with Time Machine. Each one ships with FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 adapters, but allow for USB 3.0 or eSATA to be used with Windows PCs. The GoFlex for Mac houses a 2.5-inch HDD and will sell for $199.99 (1TB) / $249.99 (1.5TB), while the limited edition of that very product will only be available in a 1TB ($199.99) version. There's also a GoFlex Pro for Mac, housing a 7200RPM 2.5-inch HDD and costing $149.99 (500GB) or $179.99 (750GB). Wrapping up this collection, there's a GoFlex for Mac drive that'll go for $219.99 (2TB) or $279.99 (2TB).

Lastly, and potentially more importantly, Seagate is finally opening up the GoFlex standard that it has been pushing so vigorously of late. As of now, the only products that support the GoFlex platform -- which allows various connectors to be attached to your existing HDDs -- are Seagate-branded. But today, Seagate's revealing a Certified GoFlex Storage System that'll enable third-party vendors to make wares that are also welcome in the family. Here at CES, the company is planning to showcase a line of prototype concept devices, and while we've yet to see what exactly those are, we are told that the certification also endorses the soon to be established SATA-IO Universal Storage Module (USM) specification. Better still, a number of other companies (Antec, GIEC, Hi-Sense, Ionics and Thermaltake) are planning to showcase GoFlex-approved gear here at the show, including a TV, a laptop, desktop PC, "plug computer," DVR and docking station. Needless to say, the possibilities here are near-endless, and we're definitely looking forward to see just how many odd places a GoFlex adapter ends up.

Update: We just got a look at what the SATA-IO USM modules slots might look built into the likes of a ThermalTake case -- spot them immediately below!

Gallery: Seagate GoFlex CES 2011 hard drive launches