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Wednesday September 16, 2009
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 Seagate launched a new FreeAgent DockStar Network Adapter on Wednesday, a device that connects to the company's FreeAgent drives and adds both NAS and online backup functionality.
The $99.99 DockStar network adapter will be complemented by an expanded lineup of FreeAgent drives, now available in 750-Gbyte, 880-GB, and 1-terabyte capacities. Seagate did not release pricing for the new drives, which currently ship at capacity points from 250 to 640 Gbytes.
EDIT 9:06 AM PDT: The new 750-Gbyte hard drive is priced at $199.99, while the 880-GB and 1-TB drives are $209.99 and $249.99, respectively, according to a Seagate spokeswoman.
On the surface, the FreeAgent Network Adapter seems similar to the Hitachi SimpleNet NAS adapter the company announced this past summer. However, Seagate's offering is also combined with technology from PogoPlug, which backs up the data into the cloud. The first year of the backup solution is free; after that, however, PogoPlug will charge $29.99 per year for unlimited sharing and remote access.
From an illustration the company provided, it appears that the
FreeAgent DockStar actually serves as a dock for the FreeAgent drives
as per the device's name, which locks the adapter into the FreeAgent
line. (Seagate has done this with other products, such as the FreeAgent
Go and FreeAgent Theater Media Player.) However, the adapter also
includes three other USB ports, which are vendor-neutral.
Users can share folders or files just by emailing a friend; the host user can also specify whether that friend has write as well as read access, according to a blog post by Jon van Bronkhorst, Seagate's executive director of product marketing for Seagate's retail group.
"The digital content and Web 2.0 era have fundamentally changed the way
we live our lives. The majority of today's consumers are actively
personalizing their digital experiences, sampling and downloading niche
content and video with increasing frequency," said Terry Cunningham,
senior vice president, Seagate Branded Solutions, in a statement. "The FreeAgent
DockStar delivers more than just a networking solution - it creates a
personalized, shared experience that is controlled by the individual."
One catch: the device is Windows only, but supports Windows 7, Vista, and XP.
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