Review: Hard disc for the hip and happening

We've all owned and used external hard drives — to back up data, to store surplus data and to transport data — and they've suited us just fine in what can now be dubbed the "PC era".

Given the prevalence of smartphones and tablets, and the "post-PC era" it has brought us into, these hard discs may fall a little short, as they cannot be connected to these devices directly.

Imagine a hard disc full of pictures, music or movies that even if you want to, you cannot view on your tablet or your smartphone.

Seagate's GoFlex Satellite is looking to remedy that problem by letting you connect your tablet and smartphone to the drive wirelessly. It's a little chubbier than most external hard drives in the market nowadays (0.8 inches thick), but it still is very portable. Dressed in almost all black, the drive features two status lights at the top — one for power and the other for the wireless connection — and can be operated with a single power button on the side of the device.

Transferring files to this 500GB drive is a painless affair. It has an accompanying USB 3.0 connector (which can be replaced with optional connectors for other interfaces) that makes transferring files quicker. Simply copy and paste your files as you would do with any other hard drive and you're good to go.

While you're doing this, you can get the GoFlex app from the iTunes app store or the Android market for your device. This app is required to connect to the drive and access the files in it. It sounds fairly straightforward, and is even more so in its execution. The app sorts data by videos, photos, music, documents, and provides a folder-based view. Pick a category and all relevant files are listed, which you can start up with one more tap. With videos and music, the playback is quick, with no instances of the files buffering. Even scrobbling through the entire file took no longer than one or two seconds to resume.

The GoFlex is by no means a selfish device and can connect to three devices simultaneously. This means you can have three simultaneous data streams — movies and music, documents and images.

The GoFlex Satellite has a battery life of up to five hours, which is decent as you can get two movies and a little more out of it. It's priced at Dh799, undoubtedly more expensive than regular portable hard drives, but then again, connectivity comes at a price.

            Bhavishya Kanjhan is a digital marketing professional and an early adopter of all things digital. Follow his tweets on @bhavishya