Seagate Innov8: USB 3.1-Powered External Desktop HDD

Seagate Technology plc launches Innov8, an USB-powered desktop HDD.

Innov8 features innovation from the inside out with its industry-leading 8TB capacity, trend-setting Ignition Boost Technology and expressive design.

Convenience and capacity
There is still an abundance of consumer electronics that require an external power supply, placing a premium on power outlets. With advancements in USB 3.1 technology, major manufacturers like Apple are beginning to rely on one connection-type for everything. Today, with the introduction of company’s Ignition Boost Technology, Innov8 is the world’s first 8TB desktop HDD that does not need to be plugged into a power outlet. Similar to a standard car requiring a battery kick to start the engine, Ignition Boost together with USB 3.1 enables Innov8 to thrive off bus power. No dedicated power source or adapter required.

What’s more, Innov8 features leading capacity with firm’s 8TB HDD. Now users simply plug in the reversible USB-C cable and have access to a lifetime of data – including more than two million songs, four million photos and eight hundred HD Movies.

Art imitates engineering
Innov8, a recipient of this year’s Red Dot design award, follows Seagate Seven-a 2015 Red Dot design award winner – by embodying the durability and physique of the HDD inside. Innov8’s, well-balanced aluminum enclosure and design, means users can horizontally or vertically place it on the desktop as they prefer. The industrial design excellence of Innov8-as with company Seven – was done in partnership with Huge-Design, Inc., a firm recognized by some of the industry’s most influential consumer electronics brands GoPro, HP, and Nike.

“Creating an extreme design that visually celebrates Seagate’s world-class engineering capabilities was a key objective of this engagement,” said Bill Webb, Huge-Design. “Innov8 builds on Seven’s success to once again convey the functional beauty of an internal HDD, but with enough capacity to help ensure seemingly endless space to store the memories we all love. The drive represents a bold yet practical solution for today’s consumer, looking to preserve a wealth of memories in the most compelling way possible.“

Software suite
Innov8 includes firm’ Dashboard software, which offers users either one-click on-demand or customizable, scheduled backups for their devices. Further, the Innov8 includes 200GB of Microsoft Corp.‘ OneDrive cloud storage and Lyve Minds, Inc.‘ software compatibility, so users can backup, access and share their favorite files from any device or location.

Innov8 HDD will be available in April for $349 (US MSRP) through company’ webstore, Amazon and other resellers.

Comments

There is already a lot of external HDDs based on 2.5-inch disk drives, and since a long time, as USB interface was able to power these devices without power supply.

To our knowledge this Seagate Innov8 is the first 3.5-inch external drive directly powered by USB. It uses the new possibility of USB 3.1. Now only one cable is necessary to connect this unit, an USB cable between the computer and the external storage unit. The power outlet disappears.

Furthermore, the HDD maker began to offer this solution already with a 8TB high-capacity rotating device.

USB 3.1 was released in July 2013, USB Type-C specification 1.0 was finalized in August 2014 and defines a new small reversible-plug connector for USB devices.

It was not easy for Seagate to design such a drive (5,900rpm, 1.5kg) requiring a lot of power. The USB interface offers 15 watts, enough for the device calling for 9 watts when running, but not enough when the drive is starting as it uses up to 24 watts.

Here comes the Seagate patented Ignition Boost technology. An internal battery gives enough power to start the HDD.

In a blog, the company wrote about the technology: "Consumers won't have to hunt for a wall outlet to power their Innov8 drive. On top of the power from a USB-C computer, an internal battery gives the drive a boost during its spin-up phase. Once the drive is up and running, the speedy new USB 3.1 bus technology works to keep Innov8 humming along-and keep the drive's battery charged."

"Early on, when the drive is still cool, the battery supplies supplemental power to the HDD," said Phil Yin, principal hardware technologist. "But once the drive has warmed up, its power requirement is reduced and the host system is able to recharge the battery."

We will see in the future if all the other manufacturers of external drives (Western Digital, Toshiba, Buffalo, etc.) will jump on this new opportunity of using a single, reversible USB-C cable for powering their units.

Of course, you need a computer with USB-C interface to use Innov8. There are already some notebooks, especially from Apple or Dell.

The problem with Innov8 is that you lose the compatibility between USB 3.1 and the former versions (1.X, 2.0, 3.0) unable to power the drive. We can regret that Seagate does not offer also on its external HDD a power supply to be used for these previous interfaces.

The price of $349 is high. For example the WD 8TB My Book Desktop External Hard Drive costs $250 with USB 3.0 at Amazon. Today, it's also possible to find low-priced USB 3.1 enclosure - with AC adapter - to insert a 3.5-inch SATA drives.