CES: Seagate puts storage on steroids

Seagate is raising the bar in the storage wars with the first 4TB portable hard drive, as well as real storage options for tablets, launched today at CES 2014 in Las Vegas.

Seagate Technology is launching Backup Plus FAST, a lightning-fast 4TB portable hard drive, at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today.

The drive is the first to deliver up to twice the capacity and speed of existing external portable hard drives. Its speed, portable form factor and high capacity make it a good option for field photographers, filmmakers and others who must quickly move large files to backup.

‚”As storage becomes an increasingly integral part of everything we do, the established ideas about it must change,‚” said Scott Horn, VP marketing. ‚”People around the world are in urgent need of space to store their most cherished memories, information and data, so we at Seagate are on a mission to provide people with the space they need for all of their lifelong experiences.

‚”To keep pace with changing needs and demands, we have to remove limits around design, function, form and features. The announcements we’re making here today demonstrate how Seagate and LaCie are leading that charge.‚”

Backup Plus FAST and all new Backup Plus drives include an updated version of Seagate’s Dashboard software that includes a mobile backup app to protect content on smart phones and tablets. The free Seagate Mobile Backup app backs up pictures and videos to a drive or a cloud service: files can be sent via a WiFi connection within a network, or through Dropbox, Google Drive or other cloud service while on the road.

500GB of Storage for Tablets

Seagate is also partnering with Lenovo, the world’s largest PC maker, to deliver Yoga2, a new, affordable laptop hybrid tablet to be powered by Seagate’s 5mm Laptop Ultrathin HDD.

Both companies will demonstrate the Yoga2 Ultrabook at the show. Seagate will also demo its 5mm Ultra Mobile HDD in the latest generation of Haier Computer’s 13-inch 500GB Tablet/PC‚Äî the Sailing P13A.

The company also disclosed that Haier Computer has selected Seagate hard disk drives (HDD) to be the standard in all of its PC products.

LaCie Fuel Expands iPad Storage to 1TB

LaCie will demonstrate Fuel, its new go-anywhere wireless hard drive that adds 1TB of untethered external storage capacity to the iPad, iPhone, Mac, and other compatible mobile devices. Users can store huge amounts of data with Fuel up to 500 movies, 160,000 songs or 190,000 photos – and they can share them with up to five devices at a time. The drive’s compatibility with AirPlay lets users easily stream movies onto the big screen via Apple TV or stream music to compatible speakers in a form factor that reflects the extreme design heritage of the LaCie brand.

LaCie will also unveil the Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2, the fastest portable storage solution on the market. One of the first storage solutions enabled by Thunderbolt 2, it delivers speeds up to ten times faster than any mobile USB 3.0 hard drive.

Designed by Neil Poulton, the drive is ideal for videographers, providing the performance and capacity required for demanding workflow, and allowing streaming and editing of 4K or 3D video while in the field. The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt 2 will be available for purchase in the first quarter of 2014 through LaCie.com.

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