Seagate announces a 4TB Goflex Desk hard drive

STORAGE VENDOR Seagate has announced a 4TB capacity Goflex Desk external hard drive.

The device is the first to offer 4TB capacity in a single hard drive and is available directly from Seagate with a price tag of $249. The company confirmed that the drive will be on sale from select online retailers this month with the same suggested retail price.

Patrick Connolly, VP and GM of retail products at Seagate said, "Yet another industry first for Seagate, we have reached a new high-capacity in the 3.5-inch hard drive form factor. At Seagate, we are committed to pushing the limits for our customers and will continue to adapt and innovate our products based on customer needs."

The firm says the drive is the first to "break the capacity ceiling". This is true in terms of a single drive external offering 4TB but you can get the same capacity in external units from other vendors that have multiple drives coupled together.

The Goflex Desk drive has USB 3.0 and there will also be a version for the Mac available from Apple stores in the next month, although the normal version is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS X. The Mac version will feature Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 ports.

The Goflex Desk drive has a 'streamlined industrial design', to which the entire Goflex line up will also be updated over the next few weeks. The drive will come pre-loaded with backup and encryption software and will have a USB 2.0 adapter with an illuminated capacity gauge. µ