Seagate launches ‘world’s slimmest’ hard drive

GoFlex Slim

Seagate has launched the GoFlex Slim external hard drive, claiming its size means it's the best choice for portable storage.

Measuring only 9mm thick, the 2.5in hard drive with 7200RPM is 38 per cent thinner than the previous generation.

It comes with a USB 3.0 connecter, preparing it for when the technology kicks in, and Seagate claims it allows for Windows and Mac files to be shared without any formatting issues.

Coming in at 79.99 for the 320GB model, the price is pretty hefty compared to other drives of the same size on the market.

However, according to Seagate, it is more about the appearance of the outside than the cost of the inside, with the company marketing it to go with the "mobile lifestyle" of "portable, thin, stylish laptops and netbooks."

"Consumers have a desire to have digital content available at their fingertips. However, in some cases, personal libraries of digital content are exceeding the storage capacity available in notebook PCs," said John Rydning, research director for hard disk drives at IDC.

"USB attached HDD storage that is capacious, affordable, lightweight, and in a slim form factor will be appealing to many of these consumers."

The GoFlex Slim is available immediately.

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.