Seagate: Put 500GB of "enjoyment" in your pocket

I just had a great meeting with officials from Seagate, which this week announced its Fall 2008 lineup of FreeAgent external hard drives. The mobile line of FreeAgent Go devices now reaches up to 500GB of capacity for storing your music, photos, videos and even boring things like PowerPoint presentations.

The FreeAgent Go measures only 12.5 mm, but still includes shock and vibration protection, so if the drive accidentally drops to the floor your data should still be safe. Seagate also announced new colors to the line, offering drives in black, silver, red and blue (surprisingly, the red color choice, a deeper, wine-like red, was the most popular option, according to Seagate). The drive costs $119.99 for 250GB; $149.99 for 320GB and $239.99 for the 500GB model. The 500GB version includes a Y-cable, which requires two open USB slots; the 320- and 250-GB models only need one USB port.

The product line also includes the FreeAgent GoDock (sold separately for $29.99), a docking option that lets you connect to a desktop system at work and then bring the drive with you when you're on the road. A nice addition to the GoDock is the inclusion of a carrying case for the FreeAgent Go, along with a handy spot for the USB cable.

Seagate says its goal with the new devices, as well as its marketing message moving forward, will be about getting consumers to understand that digital content isn't mean to just be stored, but to be enjoyed. The theme of "back up your data or else" mentality, which dominated storage company messages for years, will soon take a back seat to the concept of having a very portable solution so you can take your digital content (photos, music and movies) with you and enjoy them wherever you go (could this mean that Seagate will soon start offering digital music players / video players / photo viewers? Hmmmm).

Desktop models include the new FreeAgent Desk drive (USB only), and the new FreeAgent XTreme drive (USB, FireWire 400 and eSATA ports), which offer up to 1.5TB of storage capacity. The new designs allow the units to sit horizontally or stand vertically on a desktop, and include brushed aluminum cases. The Desk model costs $129.99 for 500GB, $149.99 for 640GB, $229.99 for 1T and $279.99 for 1.5TB (available in October). The Xtreme Drive costs $159.99 for 500GB, $179.99 for 640GB, $259.99 for 1TB and $299.99 for the 1.5TB version (available in October).

The new drives work with Vista and Windows XP, and include Seagate Manager software that provides for automated backups and multi-computer synchronization. File encryption software includes AES-based 256-bit software encryption, and DrivePass software includes password protection for files.

The company also announced external drives for Mac users – the FreeAgent Go for Mac ($159.99 for 250GB; $189.99 for 320GB) and FreeAgent Desk for Mac ($169.99 for 500GB, $269.99 for 1TB; $349.99 for 1.5TB, available in October) can be used on Mac OS X systems out of the box, and include Time Machine support with FireWire 800/400 or USB 2.0 connections.