Shortly after announcing a USB-C external SSD, Western Digital has announced a USB-C version of its externally-powered spinning metal G-Drives in capacities of up to 10TB. They will also be available in 4TB and 8TB models.
The company says that the drives can also power MacBooks and MacBook Pro models, enabling a single-cable connection, though it doesn’t mention an important caveat …
In an attempt to simplify data backup, Seagate has announced the new Duet 1TB Hard Drive that automatically syncs all of its contents to Amazon’s cloud service. This partnership ensures that data is easily transferrable on-the-go while also taking the guesswork out of backing up your files. Setup is quite simple: plug the hard drive into your Mac or PC, sign into Amazon’s service and apply the included promotional code to claim your year’s worth of cloud storage (a $60 value).
Seagate Duet uses a typical mechanical 1TB hard drive, so you can’t expect lightning speeds here. But the ability to automatically backup your data to Amazon’s cloud with minimal fuss is certainly noteworthy. With news that Apple is potentially leaving the router business, this has the potential to convert some Time Machine users in the long-term if all goes to plan. The Seagate Duet is available for pre-order on Amazon with a December 10th ship date for $99.
Apple has asked developers who attended secretive Apple Watch app development workshops in Cupertino across January and February to hold off on announcing their applications, according to multiple high-profile developers. These people say that Apple has asked developers to not provide in-depth details, revealing screenshots and videos, or launch information about their applications until after the event at the very least. In some cases, Apple has even asked developers to wait until late March or early April to announce their applications…
Until last week, the list of companies making visually stunning external hard drives began and ended with one name: LaCie. Partnered with respected industrial designers including Philippe Starck, LaCie has released more drool-worthy accessories than any other company in the Mac space — and that’s saying something. Numerous design successes led to LaCie’s acquisition by hard drive manufacturer Seagate, and at the 2015 CES, their combination bore fruit: the LaCie brand now has another beautiful hard drive called Mirror ($280), and Seagate debuted a designer hard drive called Seven ($100) — the thinnest 500GB portable drive ever made.
Although they’re cosmetically different and arguably designed to suit different users’ needs, Mirror and Seven have a lot in common, so we’re looking at them together in this review. Read on for photos and our hands-on test results.
Seagate and its LaCie subsidiary have announced five new hard drives just ahead of this week’s 2015 CES, including two new iOS-compatible wireless models and three new Mac-only disks. All except one will be available in January from the company’s web sites.
Seagate Wireless
Seagate Seven
Seagate Personal Cloud
LaCie Mirror
LaCie Rugged RAID
For iOS, the 500GB Seagate Wireless ($130) is an economical and portable, battery-powered hard disk designed to compete with G-Technology’s G-Connect and Western Digital’s My Passport Wireless. Just under 4″ on each side and less than an inch thick, Seagate’s version is designed to look fun, with your choice of green, blue, gray, red, or white matte housings, and uses integrated Wi-Fi to connect with iOS devices and Macs for media playback as well as Android/Windows/Chrome. It runs for nine hours between charges and can connect to 3 devices simultaneously.
Seagate Seven ($100) is a Mac-only alternative that promises to be the world’s thinnest portable hard drive. Made from 100% stainless steel, the enclosure is only 7mm thick and includes a USB 3.0 cable for connecting to a computer, giving up wireless in order to achieve its small size. In a break from traditionally boxy or rounded hard drives, Seven is actually slim enough to let you see the contours of the traditional hard disk mechanism inside. Three additional drives are discussed below…
Choosing holiday gifts for the techies in your life isn’t always easy, so we’ve put together a series of gift guides to give you plenty of ideas. These include category guides, like making music, smart home and in-car, as well as across personal recommendations from the rest of the 9to5Mac team – with more to follow.
For my personal guide, I’ve opted for a mix of the fun and the functional – ranging from action cams and drones to backup drives. Mix-and-match to the personalities of your lucky gift recipients as appropriate … Expand Expanding Close
A large majority of the deals we cover each day come from a variety of ‘Daily Deal’ websites or are so popular that they don’t even last 24 hours. We know you can’t be at your computer every second, so we’re going to roundup the best deals each day to make sure you have a fair shot at the deals you want. Be sure to follow 9to5Toys.com so you never miss a deal...Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook
Today’s Featured deals:
Apple iMac 21.5″ 2.7GHz, 8GB RAM, 1TB Hard Drive (Newest Version) $1,085 (Reg. $1,299)
We’re big fans of the Seagate GoFlex series of hard drives and, as of this evening, Seagate has pushed the size limit to an impressive 4TB on a single physical disk.
Currently the 4TB disk is only available in the form factor to the right for a significant $249 price tag. Obviously, the added density drives will filter down into other form factors including bare drives and RAID arrays in the coming weeks and months.
Seagate’ GoFlex enclosure got a facelift as well but alas, no Thunderbolt action for a few more months according to the press release.
As for the USB Desktop version pictured, we’re looking to get our hands on one for a review as soon as possible. It is available for pre-order now for $229 at Amazon.