Seagate FreeAgent + Xbox + Zune = VOD!

Do you own a xbox and a zune? Get yourself a zune pass and a high speed external hard disk, and you’ll have HD video on demand, right here in India! The new xbox experience fall update has brought in zune integratrion, with a single marketplace for both. What this means is that if you have a zune pass (15$/m), you can use the same to download unlimited audio/video content (HD TV shows from NBC, Fox, MTV, Bravo, Comedy Central, etc and movies too!) from the marketplace, onto your zune and/or xbox. Better yet, you can keep the downloaded content as long as you’re subscribed!

I started using this service sometime back, using a 5 year old Seagate 40gb external drive for storing downloaded content. The drive has usb connectivity, and connects to both the xbox and my PC. I take backups of cds/dvds onto the same disk so that I can choose to watch any movie without looking for it in my dvd collection. Works great, but I’m running short of space already. So last week I decided to start looking for a replacement for my external drive, with the following specs:

• Large capacity (1+ Tb)
• Fast connectivity to PC for transferring HD content (Internal hard disk transfers normally happen in a jiffy compared to over usb – know why? You probably have sata1 [1.5 gbps] or sata2 [3 gbps])
• Portable/Sleek
• Preferably Seagate (My 40gb drive still rocks even after 5 years and umpteen shocks)

Heres the list of external drives I came across, and the pros and cons of each. All of these are environment friendly, support encryption (useful in case you intend to store personal data), and come with a 5 year warranty.

FreeAgent Go

Pros: Great on portability, really sleek and light weight (12.5mm x 80mm x 130mm, 0.18 kg)

Cons: Largest capacity of 500 Gb. Only one connectivity option – usb 2.0 (480 mbps).

CNET Rating:

FreeAgent Desk

Pros: Upto 1.5 Tb!

Cons: Only one connectivity option  - usb 2.0. Weight of 1Kg.

CNET Rating: 

FreeAgent Xtreme

Pros: Upto 1.5Tb; Firewire, Usb 2.0, eSata (3Gbps), connectivity; 7400 rpm (mentioned as it makes sense with eSata)

Cons: 1.39 Kg

 

With the Xtreme, you could download HD xbox/zune/multimedia content directly to your drive from the PC over eSata @ 3Gbps, and watch the same on your xbox/cd player when its connected over usb! I only wish the XTreme were a 1Tb SSD.. that would make it consume less power and more shock resistant.

So here’s my conclusion: If you’re looking to store images/backup data to carry while you’re on the move, the Seagate Desk and Go are great options (Go is better for the purpose, considering its dimensions and weight). If you’re planning to store huge (multimedia) files like HD video, and want connectivity options to support future devices, the Seagate Xtreme is a winner – unlike conventional external drives, it provides eSata which offers extremely fast transfers – which matters when you’re dealing with huge files (Benchmark results - 1, 2).

When I bought the Seagate 40gb external drive 5 years back, I thought it would provide more than enough storage space for all my needs. I had a PC with a 8 gig hard disk back then. I currently have a PC with 160 gig hard disk, besides the external drive, and even after taking a million backups on DVDs I find myself running out of storage space.

Forget the zune and xbox, digital storage which was earlier being used only inside computers to store essential data, is now being associated with CD/DVD players, PMPs, cameras and even mobile phones. The focus has shifted to portability and connectivity of a storage solution. And with HD video and other multimedia standards, and easy availability of content, we now have to deal with storing huge files which occupy a lot of space, and take ages to transfer over conventional usb. So what’re you waiting for, go get yourself a Seagate FreeAgent drive!

Or try this option instead.

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