Seagate STBA1000200 1TB GoFlex Edition for Mac FireWire800/USB 2.0 2.5 Inch Portable Hard Drive - Silver

Flexibility comes at a price
The Seagate GoFlex system is an interesting one. This is the STBA1000200; inside the box you will find a small 1Tb hard drive in a nice travel resistant case. Unlike other devices the GoFlex comes with two adaptor cables that connect into the drives rather than using a USB or a firewire cable. These hava SATA connectors that plug into the disk and the traditional wires that connect to your computer.

In the Mac edition here you get two connectors; a USB2 and Firewire 800 adaptor; you can buy newer connectors separately a reasonably priced USB3 or the very expensive Thunderbolt adaptor. This means you can buy a disk today that is as fast as your computer can manage; and so long as Seagate keep releasing new cables upgrade it with your computer later; for now with USB3 and Thunderbolt; all the latest leads are supported. Having...

Seagate STBA1000200 1TB GoFlex Edition for Mac FireWire800/USB 2.0 2.5 Inch Portable Hard Drive - Silver

Perfect storage for Video Editors
I use a mac to edit videos, and it's very easy for the hard drive to get eaten up by data, particularly HD content. Experts advise against using the same drive for operating system and video files, but a USB connection is too slow to make video editing worthwhile. This drive, with its Firewire800 is perfect for this requirement. Plug and Play, and Final Cut finds it automatically.

This has become a lifesaver as I can now store all my projects on this drive, and let the mac do what it does best.

Seagate STBA1000200 1TB GoFlex Edition for Mac FireWire800/USB 2.0 2.5 Inch Portable Hard Drive - Silver

cool piece of kit
The 1 TB hard disk comes in a good-looking brushed silver case, with a weighty feel in the palm of your hand which gives a comforting feel of quality. The main disk comes with 2 connectors, one for USB and one firewire so it should be compatible with practically any computer. It was recognised immediately by my Mac, but although windows loaded the device driver and it was registered as a USB device it did not appear in explorer. This could probably be fixed with a little effort.

In all a very useful storage addition to your system. The best feature is that it's powered by the USB or firewire interface, so you don't have to lug around an adapter and find a power outlet to use it; slip it in your pocket and away you go.

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