Seagate touts fastest desktop drive and slimmest 2TB backup drive
Seagate's new Backup Plus Ultra Slim is the company's thinnest mobile backup hard drive to date, offering either 1TB or 2TB of capacity in a 9.6mm (3/8-in) thick aluminum case.
The Backup Plus Ultra Slim comes with 200GB of free Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage for two years and Lyve compatibility, which lets users backup, share and access files anywhere on a mobile device or a PC.
The new mobile hard drive takes advantage of Seagate's shingled magnetic recording technology, which overlaps data tracks like shingles on a roof to increase density.
"This will definitely be the thinnest 1TB and 2TB drive on the market," a Seagate spokesman said.
Seagate did not announce pricing for the Backup Plus Ultra Slim, saying that information would be available in March when the drive ships.
Seagate's LaCie subsidiary also announced the 1TB Chromé desktop drive, which is based on solid-state drive (SSD) technology, and features USB 3.1 Gen 2 technology (up to 10Gbps throughput), and USB-C connectivity. The drive is also compatible with standard USB 3.0 (Type-A) ports, thanks to the included adapter cable.
LaCie said the new Chromé is the fastest USB storage product on the market, with up to 940MB/s throughput.
The Chromé drive features a pair of 500GB M.2 SATA SSDs configured in RAID 0, which is purely for increased performance and provides no fault tolerance or redundancy.
With it's leading performance, LaCie claims the Chromé can store two hours of 4K GoPro footage in a little over one minute.
The Chromé drive, fashioned by industrial designer Neil Poulton, comes in an angular chromed zinc enclosure polished to a mirror finish. The drive enclosure docks via aneodymium magnet to a round pedestal. The drive can then be detached for transport.
The LaCie Chromé features a two-year limited warranty that can also be extended and upgraded. The Chromé is expected to be available as early as this quarter (but likely in the March time frame) at a retail price of $1,100, LaCie said.
LaCie also announced two new drives based on designs from Porsche. Both are targeted at Apple hardware with its brushed aluminum finishes and rounded edges.
The Porshe Design Mobile Drive comes in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities. Unlike the Chromé, the Porshe Mobile Drive offers USB 3.1/Type C connector technology and has a USB 3.0 adapter for backward compatibility.
The LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive will available in March with a starting price of $110.
LaCie's new Porsche Design Desktop Drive comes in 4TB, 5TB and 8TB capacities and uses a single 3.5-in hard disk drive. It can charge a compatible laptop's battery when the drive's power supply is connected to the wall outlet. Via a single USB-C cable, users can power their notebook and access their drive at the same time.
The Porsche Design Desktop Drive comes with a two-year limited warranty and will have a retail price starting at $210.