Seagate (http://www.seagate.com) has unveiled the newest addition to its GoFlex family of hard drives — the GoFlex Home network storage system. When it’s connected to a wireless router, an entire household can centrally store, easily access and continuously back up files wirelessly from Mac and Windows systems on the home network.
The new centralized storage system simplifies the backup process by being compatible with the Apple Time Machine, as well as including a version of the backup application for both Mac OS X and Windows operating systems, says Darcy Clarkson, Seagate vice president of Retail Sales and Marketing. With the GoFlex Home storage system, families can also wirelessly stream photos, movies and music to most network connected DLNA devices, such as game consoles or a GoFlex TV HD media player, from any room in the house.
The GoFlex Home is available in 1TB and 2TB capacities at suggested retail prices of US$S15.99 and $229.99, respectively. Its modular design also enables the included drive to be upgraded when needed by simply removing the drive from the base (no tools required) and replacing it with a higher capacity GoFlex Desk hard drive. Families can also add more storage to the GoFlex Home system by connecting additional drives to the USB port. Additionally, this same USB port can be used to wirelessly share a USB printer with every computer on the network.
The GoFlex Home system also offers a premium service option — the Seagate Share Pro remote access service — that allows families to access content stored on the drive from mobile devices such as an iPhone, iPad or BlackBerry, integrate photos or files with Facebook and Flickr, and keep friends and relatives updated with the latest shared files using Integrated RSS (Really Simple Syndication) notifications.
In addition to delivering wireless, file access, streaming and multi-computer backup of digital files, the GoFlex Home network storage system has been designed with the cost and environmentally conscious households in mind, says Clarkson. The GoFlex Home system also includes a power saving (idle) mode that automatically runs after 30-minutes of inactivity and a power switch that allows it to be shut off while families are away for extended periods.