Tablets, smartphones — even Netbooks — have little space to spare for large on-board storage — which is why external storage drives have become an essential accessory to computing today. But let’s face it, even the sleekest hard drives add a bit of clutter on the desk and if you misplace the special USB connector, you’ve had it.
Which is why Seagate pioneered wireless drives over a year ago — they launched the world’s first terabyte portable storage drive with its own Wi-Fi network and the ability to share content with up to eight hand-held devices like phones and tablets.
Now, just last week, the storage giant brought the latest version of its device, Seagate Wireless Plus, to India, adding some useful software utilities and integrating it neatly with cloud services like DropBox and Google Drive. I tried out the 2 terabyte version for a few days and it seems to love people like me, who read those yellow-jacketed Dummies Guides. Everything is quick and simple.
The palm-sized drive seems no bigger or heavier (at 256 gm) than Seagate’s portable wired drives of the same capacity — yet it packs in a wireless router of the 802.11n standard which means it can transfer data at 150 MBPS tops. You can connect the drive the old-fashioned way — with the USB 3.0 cable provided.
You switch on the wireless network with a button and you can immediately locate the drive as “Seagate Wireless” in any phone or tablet you may be using — as long as it runs on Apple’s iOS, Android or Windows 8 RT. It also works with the Amazon Kindle Fire e-book reader.However, I did find that the app does not work with older desktop versions of Windows like Win 7 or Vista.
I’m guessing wireless is the way to go for all portable hard drive makers, though not many have come to India yet. So if you want to unshackle your music and films from the bondage of USB, the Seagate Wireless Plus let’s you do it at Rs 18,500 for 2T and Rs 14,500 for 1T versions. You may be able to knock off a couple of thousand rupees online — but remember to check specs: only the latest version of Seagate’s wireless drive offers the Media App, which is the icing on this ‘2T frutti’ cake!
