Seagate recently launched two portable drives with very different personalities. Why? One size no longer fits all. But which drive is right for you?
Seagate FreeAgent Go - a great personal drive. It’s the thinnest portable drive in the world, with up to 500 GB and a desktop dock.
I use the FreeAgent Go for my personal data. I can drop the Go into a dock at work and easily use the files on my work PC. I don’t have to mix my personal and work content, but have access to both.
Maxtor BlackArmor – a great business drive. It’s the safest drive in the world, with government-grade 128-bit AES encryption and up to 320 GB.
I use the BlackArmor for backing up my work files. I keep it at home as a simple disaster recovery scheme. There is absolutely no risk of anyone accessing the data without the password, even if it were to fall out of my bag at a hacker’s convention.
Unlike traditional storage solutions that are add-on afterthoughts and don’t always work well together, CentralAxis BE puts the content first. It’s a single central storage solution that makes managing the changing demands for storage simpler and safer as a business grows:
Easy to install and manage with a compact design and anywhere access. Staff can access and share data from anywhere via the web.
One system for the entire company with up to 2 terabytes of space. One system works for all employees across Windows and Mac OSes.
Safety for all a company’s data with automatic backups for up to 20 PCs that save up to ten historical versions of information. Backups are mirrored across two drives for added safety. Plug an external drive into a USB port for rotating backups offsite.
Need more space? Add another CentralAxis BE.
At some point you’ll probably need a more complicated solution. You can put your IT department on that task…once your big enough to hire one.
My first blog post a year ago was about my full drive on my work PC. Since then I’ve expanded to 100 gigabytes. Nothing like my home PC, but work space requirements tend to be lower.
I’m in the midst of changing my backup method from a local desktop backup drive to a BlackArmor portable drive. It allows me to backup my work remotely. It’s got Seagate Secure technology, which means it’s hackproof – no worries about losing sensitive information.
I expect my next laptop to have a Seagate Secure encrypted drive inside as well.
Someday it will be considered stupid – and maybe illegal – to use a hard drive that’s not self-encrypting in a business PC.
Interesting comments in the post on how much cooler it would be if it didn’t need an external power suppy. That’s the trade-off between tinkerable boxes like this and a ready-to-use storage product like Seagate’s BlackArmor. Just like home construction projects, the last 10% of “finish” can really make a difference in portable storage.
It all depends on who you are and what you need.
I could see Addonics’ Portable Dual Drive enclosure as a great starting point for a kick-butt specialized solution from a system builder.
Content comes first, opening up new uses and usefulness
Seagate announced Maxtor CentralAxis today, a really cool New Thing in home storage. Until now, external storage devices have mostly been storage add-ons for a PC. Even the NAS devices out there have focused on providing a “PC drive for the home”. It’s shareable storage, but shackled to the PC model.
CentralAxis puts the content first, rather than the PC. That opens up uses that until now have been reserved for the techies among us:
OS-independent content sharing. Content doesn’t have to decide to be Windows or Mac OS X, and can be used by either one.
File sharing with DLNA-compliant devices like Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 systems. Easily watch videos and view photos on TV screens instead of a PC.
Access content directly via the web. CentralAxis allows this with a simple username and password, without going through a PC or compromising a network firewall.
CentralAxis does all the “home storage” basics as well: 1 TB capacity, centralized backups from PCs on the network, etc. But it’s the new approach to content that makes it a game changer.
iosafe disk drives keep data safe in a fire or flood.
How good of a bank vault is your solution?
It’s a new way to think about what you do for your customers. You are processing and storing your customer’s liquid assets. Your solutions need to reflect that reality, or you may end up having to help them recover from a nasty surprise.
An alternative to “Old School” bank vaults and security guards for data is encryption. Seagate’s Maxtor BlackArmor drives are better than a loaded gun in keep thieves out of your stuff. Without the password, NO ONE can get to your data. Period.
Who’s had data irretrievably lost or stolen? How did you recover?
Maxtor Safety Drill automates the complex PC recovery process
No, I’m not going to get all technical.
I don’t have to, because there’s now an out-of-the-box Bare Metal Restore solution for almost anyone. Seagate’s Maxtor One Touch external drives have a feature called Safety Drill, a system-level recovery capability that does all the messy work for you.
Why should you care? You (or your customer) can now bring a crashed PC back to its original state (image) without getting dirty.
No manual rebuilding of files, directories, or software applications piece by piece.
No wondering if you remembered everything that was on your PC before it died.
This is a big step forward for backup - and recovery in particular. Look even smarter with your customers (or family) without having to take another technical how-to class.
Going by today’s headlines, storage vendors should add a new spec to their data sheets: hackability.
Case in point: yet another theft of reams of customer data, this time in the UK. Tapes left in a car.
Wired Magazine’s Fetish spread features the Maxtor BlackArmor drive from Seagate. This is a new kind of extreme storage device. It’s virtually unhackackable, offering AES encryption encased within the hard drive itself. So if it gets stolen or lost (does it matter which?), you can sleep secure in the fact that someone else may have your drive, but they don’t have your data.
It’s got a high “eye candy” factor, too – so you can be safe AND cool.
Where to look when times are tough? Two words: SMB storage. Why?
SMB tech spending remains strong. VARBusiness’ Robert C. DeMarzo quotes Goldman Sachs: “…SMB spending will not be impacted by economic slowing to the same degree as large corporations…”
Storage continues to expand in all segments driven by the digital explosion we’ve all seen. I’ve posted on this many times because it just keeps coming up as a major, persistent trend.
Take advantage of hungry vendors
So check in with your favorite SMB customers today and find a way to meet a few more! Don’t think that the storage vendors won’t help you, either. For example, here’s a current offer in the States and Canada on Seagate external storage , one of the hottest and easiest sells for SOHO and small business storage.
Help your customers get control while helping yourself!
As always, comments are welcome. Do you see your SMB business remaining strong? What’s driving external storage sales most – backup or application storage?
