Digital Home Thoughts: Segate Debuts GoFlex Home, A Network Storage System

"Seagate today unveiled the newest addition to its GoFlexTM family of hard drives-the GoFlexTM Home network storage system. When this easy-to-use device is connected to a wireless router, an entire household can centrally store, easily access and continuously back up files wirelessly from both Windows® and Mac OS® X operating systems on the home[1] network. The new centralized storage system simplifies the backup process by being compatible with Apple® Time Machine®, as well as including a version of the backup application for both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. With the GoFlex Home storage system, families can also wirelessly stream photos, movies and music to most network connected DLNA devices, such as game consoles or a GoFlexTM TV HD media player, from any room in the house. With just two cable connections and a simple, illustrated, step-by-step installation tool that gets the device up and running in minutes, the GoFlex Home system solves the household storage puzzle in a snap."

I have a Windows Home Server, and for the most part am quite fond of it, but despite Microsoft's best efforts, it's still too complex of a system for the average home user to implement. Seagate is entering the already very crowded NAS space, but they could be on to something here with the GoFlex Home. The price of the 1 TB model is only $159.99 USD, and the price of the 2 TB model is $229.99. I think $160 is quite affordable for network-level backup, and is much cheaper than even the least expensive Windows Home Server. We'll see if we can get our hands on one for review - stay tuned!

The remainder of the press release is after the break.

"Available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, the GoFlex Home storage system provides plenty of room to help safeguard precious digital memories for the whole family and is ideal for use with home laptops, netbooks, or other devices with limited storage. Unlike other single-drive network solutions, its modular design also enables the included drive to be upgraded when needed by simply removing the drive from the base (no tools required) and replacing it with a higher capacity GoFlexTM Desk hard drive. Families can also add more storage to the GoFlex Home system by simply connecting additional drives to the USB port. Additionally, this same USB port can be used to wirelessly share a USB printer with every computer on the network.

"With broadband and home networks reaching higher levels of penetration and operating at higher speeds, consumers are increasingly downloading and streaming content into their home and wanting to access that content from anywhere," said Darcy Clarkson, Seagate vice president of Retail Sales and Marketing. "The GoFlexTM Home system makes it easy for families wanting to quickly and effortlessly backup, enjoy, and share their favorite home movies music or photos from any room in the house. We spent a lot of time focusing on simplicity with this product and believe people will find it very intuitive to set-up and get started. With the GoFlexTM Home system, now home networking is within reach for today's digital households."

A recent report by In-Stat predicts the consumer network storage market will continue to grow between 25 and 50 percent over the next five years. In addition, the number of devices connected to the home network, and the number of devices that are mobile or portable, are creating desire for consumers to move in and out of their home networking environment2 with their content. Using the included remote access and file sharing service on GoFlex Home system called Seagate ShareTM service, families can easily access movies, music or photo files stored on their GoFlex Home system from any internet connected computer in the world. The Seagate Share service also allows families to share photo albums, home movies and documents with friends by simply selecting the files or folders they want to share and typing in an email address. Those friends will receive a notification with a direct link to a customized webpage where they can view the shared files.

"Consumers are showing increased interest in downloading and streaming content from the Internet into the home, connecting devices in the home to social networks, and demanding easy access to content both within the household and beyond the reach of home networks," said Norm Bogen, vice president, Research, Digital Entertainment with In-Stat. "Solutions designed to help access content from multiple devices in the home, distribute it over the home network and stream to other devices and products, will be appealing to active digital media consumers."

The GoFlex Home system also offers a premium service option-the Seagate Share Pro remote access service-that allows families to access content stored on the drive from mobile devices such as an iPhone®, iPadTM or BlackBerry®, integrate photos or files with Facebook® and Flickr®, and keep friends and relatives updated with the latest shared files using Integrated RSS (Really Simple Syndication) notifications.

In addition to delivering quick and easy wireless, file access, streaming and multi-computer backup of digital files, the GoFlex Home network storage system has been designed with the cost and environmentally conscious households in mind. The GoFlex Home system also includes a power saving (idle) mode that automatically runs after 30-minutes of inactivity and a power switch that allows it to be shut off while families are away for extended periods."