Another dockable NAS system from Seagate
News article
Seagate introduces GoFlex Home for household network storage | The Toybox – ZDNet
From the horse’s mouth
Seagate –
My comments
Seagate had previously released a docking hard-disk system under the FreeAgent name, with a USB dock, media-player dock and the DockStar which is a network-attached storage which works with the FreeAgent docking hard disks.
This unit was based around the PogoPlug technology which has an Ethernet-ended network-attached-storage circuit in the same space as a “wall-wart” AC adaptor. It was able to support these functions:
- “cloud-based” file sync
- file backup either with supplied software or operating-system-native software in the form of Apple Time Machine or CIFS
- a DLNA-compliant media server or
- Remote file access from the Internet
Now, Seagate have established a new “FreeAgent” docking hard-disk form factor in the form of the GoFlex, which has some different attributes to the previous standard. Why has this action been taken?
One issue that may be of concern is the desire for Seagate to move from one platform to another but keep a few products going to support those who have the established platform.
Whatever, I would consider this NAS design as being suitable for use with a small network or as a secondary unit for a larger network. One application that I would think of for these units would be as a DLNA media server for a small-business network that has a dedicated server computer running something like Windows Server or a Linux business server build for company data. This unit would, as outlined in “DLNA and UPnP AV in the business”, hold media like pictures or videos to show using DLNA-capable TVs and electronic picture frames as part of the business’s visual merchandising strategy without putting business-critical data at risk.
