If you have a lot of smart devices and computers, chances are you’re used to having portable storage to share files across your devices sometimes even requiring a card reader or transferring via Bluetooth to get your files to your tablet and smartphones… and those files could be a small text document or a whole bunch of selcas you took earlier today and don’t want to store them permanently on your phone.
That’s a lot of files to manage, right? How about those TV series and movies you got crammed in that portable hard drive of yours you can’t get to start watching because you’re too lazy to hook it up to your TV? More problems. The quick and painless solution would be a centralized storage, similar to how companies manage their data with storage all placed in one spot. The same can be done at home and today we have Seagate’s solution to such a conundrum: the Seagate Central network-attached storage.
The Seagate Central is a network-attached storage which hooks up to your home network and allows you to share and manage your files to a single location. If you live in a tech-savvy household or ever wanted to watch your HD videos from your phone without powering-up your PC, then you better read on and see what the Seagate Central can do.
Connect Seagateรยฎ Central to your Wi-Fi router to organize and back up all your content on one device that you can access from anywhere.
- Automatically back up multiple PC and Macรยฎ computers
- Wirelessly stream your centralized media library to gaming consoles, media players and smart TVs
- Access content on-the-go with a Web browser or the free app for tablets and smartphones
- Enjoy a unique Samsungรยฎ Smart TV app featuring enhanced media navigation
Closer Look
[one_half][singlepic id=15018 w=450 h=450 float=center][/one_half] [one_half_last][singlepic id=15019 w=450 h=450 float=center][/one_half_last]Seagate packages the Seagate Central in a white box with the word “Central” adorning the front of the package. Nothing particularly worth of interest here but its worth pointing out that most Seagate’s packaged products use this style of packaging so note the product name and where to spot when checking them out in shelves.
[one_half][singlepic id=15016 w=450 h=450 float=center][/one_half] [one_half_last][singlepic id=15017 w=450 h=450 float=center][/one_half_last]The Seagate Central is a low-profile device. Nothing really stands out when you look at it but it isn’t ugly either. It has a simple appearance that manages to not catch too much attention yet not look out of place either, making it easily blend in with your home-theatre or networking setup. The entire case is made of plastic with rubber feet keeping in place. A mesh canopy provides ventilation without exposing the internals. The mesh itself feels like a speaker’s mesh and makes the Seagate Central look like one also.
[singlepic id=15021 w=900 h=450 float=center]The entire Seagate Central is uniformly designed, at all angles. The rear ports is the only break-up in form you’ll see in this product. The ports are minimal with ports for the power adapter, LAN cable and USB cable in the back. The USB slot is for storage expansion should you need more. Just plug in your additional external drive.
[singlepic id=15022 w=900 h=450 float=center]Seagate Media App
[singlepic id=15023 w=450 h=900 float=center]The Seagate Media app (available for iOS and Android) is a free application for your smartphones and tablets that lets Seagate Central users access and manage their files via their devices. The app feels smooth and well-done, and allows simple drag-and-drop operation for file management. The overall experience of the app is very good as its seamless and very easy to navigate but we do wish for a few improvements like improved file sorting, thumbnail generation, etc.
Seagate Central Control Panel
Installing the Seagate Central to the network is a quick and easy process, just hook it up to the network and you’re set. But first you have to set up your device first. You can download Seagate’s Discovery tool to easily spot the device in your network and login. You will be prompted to create an account in the management screen and an associated folder. From there you can now access your files from anywhere via the Internet (purchase includes licenses for up to 5 users) without having to set-up port forwarding and the likes.
User Experience & Conclusion
We’ve already mentioned how quick and easy it was to set-up the Seagate Central and we really can’t say anything that we didn’t like in the setup process. We will admit, the 4TB sample we had was a chore to fill-up but kidding aside everything was smooth and easy as it should be.
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While we normally benchmark file copy performance on NAS, we decided to skip the science for now and focus on the overall usability in this review. If you really need a figure to go on, transferring 2GB video files averaged around 30-40MB/s transfer rate via TeraCopy on an N900 wifi connection.
The Seagate Central manages to pack many functions into its simple frame serving as a media repository as well as a backup solution. With integrated cloud access, it also serves as an on-the-go solution for file sharing without needing 3rd party providers which is important for those concerned about file security. Social media backup extends the backup capabilities of the Seagate Central allow your Facebook account to be backed up to the device should anything happen to your account, a great option for home-business operators maintaining a social media account.
Ultimately, the Seagate Central is a media hub which enables users to stream content anywhere within the network. This eliminates the need for sharing via multiple PCs or external hard drives and leverages storage capacities up to 4TB to provide maximum flexibility when storing data.
The Seagate Central addresses many problems that modern households face today and that is centralizing content. Some solutions would opt for a more advanced solution but in most scenarios, the consumer NAS is more than enough to provide the file-sharing needs of highly connected households.
If you love watching videos from your tablet and smartphone, access data across multiple devices in and outside your network, need a backup solution or anything in between, the Seagate Central is your set-it-and-forget-it solution. Stop lugging around that external hard drive all over the place, you’ll break it.
The Seagate Central comes in 2TB, 3TB and 4TB capacities and is backed by a 2-year warranty.รย We give theรย Seagate Centralรย ourรย B2G Silver Awardรย and Editor’s Choiceรย Award.
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