Seagate unveils first-ever 3TB external drive
updated 08:55 am EDT, Tue June 29, 2010
Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk hits 3TB
Seagate claimed a record in storage today by launching a 3TB FreeAgent GoFlex Desk drive. The first of its kind packs a single, 3TB disk inside and is large enough to need a 64-bit OS to work: it needs either Mac OS X Snow Leopard and either Windows 7 or Vista in their 64-bit versions to see more than the 2.1TB inherent to drives on most 32-bit platforms. Windows XP may not be usable at all.
As a GoFlex drive, it has USB 2.0 support out of the box but can be upgraded to faster transfer speeds using adapters from the company itself, such as FireWire 800 or USB 3.0. Only Windows users get 128-bit AES encryption, but Mac users get an NTFS driver to read and write to a Windows-formatted version of the drive if they choose not to reformat for the Mac's HFS+ file system.
Seagate is selling the drive today for $250. Cables to add new interfaces or support vary from $20 to $50. Internal drives are expected in the future but may wait until more systems can properly boot; using a larger than 2.1TB disk as a boot drive requires EFI firmware that most Windows PCs don't have.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2008
Sheeet....
Don't do it. Seagate care more about size than reliability.