Seagate has announced the Backup Plus line of storage. Available in either desktop or portable versions, the drives and the associated Seagate Dashboard software package are capable of not only backing up local data and media, but also making a local copy of photos and content stored on social media, such as Facebook or Flickr.
The portable 2.5-inch form factor drives are available in red, blue, silver, and black in capacities from 500GB to 1TB. The 3.5- inch desktop drives ship in capacities of 1TB through 4TB. A specific Macintosh version is pre-bundled with NTFS software, allowing for cross-platform reading and writing without reformatting. The Seagate Slim and Seagate Slim for Mac packages are thinner drives than the Backup Plus portable line and also bundled with the Seagate Dashboard allowing for social media one-click backup.
USB 3.0 is the default connection method to the entire Backup Plus line, with backwards-compatibility to USB 2.0. Both drives use Seagate’s Universal Storage Module technology, which allows Firewire 800, eSATA, or Thunderbolt connectivity to be added in the future as needs develop at additional cost, ranging from $29 for the Firewire adapter to $99 for Thunderbolt.
Backup Plus portable drives in the 2.5-inch size range from $120 for the 500GB version through $140 for the 1TB capacity. The Macintosh-specific version with the NTFS driver is the same price, and only available in the silver color.
Backup Plus desktop 3.5-inch drives start at $130 for 1TB, and ranges to $250 for 4TB. The Macintosh-specific version comes in only two capacities — the 2TB version is $190, and the 3TB version is $210.
