Different times, different tastes. Julius Caesar said: "Let me have men about me that are fat!" He had a suspicion towards thin men—like Cassius, who, pretty soon, was to pull out his dagger.
I have on my desk, a chunky external hard drive that has served me well for six years: Seagate's FreeAgent XTreme sits upright on its own stand, 30 mm thick and weighs almost 800 gms.
Now it seems, Twiggy is the new inspiration for storage products: I have just laid my hands on the Seagate Seven, the company's latest external hard drive, which is 7 mm thick and just has a millimetre of protective steel on either side to pack in a 5 mm hard disk. Even with the braid-shielded USB 3.0 cable, it weighs less than 180 grams and is handier than a 5-inch phone.
This means you can carry it in your pocket or handbag, to back up your cell phone or tablet, or to store your heavy video downloads. The makers have preloaded Seagate's Dashboard software, which makes it easy to perform your copying or backup routines.
The drive comes with a capacity of 500 GB and costs Rs 9,500. Yes, I have done the math and have figured out, like you, that for this price we could easily get a drive of four times this capacity. But Seagate Seven's USP seems to be almost military-grade ruggedness, with gyroscopes that neutralize the shocks and bumps of travel. The makers say you can drop it or drive over it without any risk. I haven't tried to do either, but clearly this is the added value you get for the premium price.
