A few weeks ago, I got my hands on a GoFlex Satellite portable hard drive. Not only is it a portable hard drive, which is always useful, but it uses WiFi magic – I mean, technology – to let you access it via your smartphone, laptop, or tablet.

So what is it?

This hard drive has a seven-hour battery life and lets you:

• Take more than 300 HD movies on-the-go
• Stream media over WiFi to eight devices at the same time
• Automatically sync media and documents from your PC or Mac computer
• Easily access and stream your media using the free app or your device’s web browser

System requirements

• iPad, smartphone, tablet, or computer with a web browser and Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11 b/g/n)
• PC or Mac computer running Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, Windows® XP, or Mac OS® 10.5.8 or later operating system for loading media on to Seagate Satellite mobile wireless storage device via USB
• SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port (required for USB 3.0 transfer speeds) or USB 2.0 port

Set Up

Set up was pretty simple. I plugged it into my computer and my Mac started doing its thing. Be careful though, Mac users, not to click “ok” as soon as the first box pops up, because that box says “reformat hard drive?” and you actually don’t want to do that unless you simply want to use this to store junk or back up your computer.

Getting it onto your device is less simple, as you will have to download a free app, install it, and then search your WiFi for the correct setting. You can then download the items from the hard drive. Once you get it set up, the rest is a piece of cake!

The device came with a USB cord to transfer the data to and from the computer as well as a wall charger and car charger.

Movie Streaming

Although I was able to get movies to play on the new iPad, I was unable to get it to play on iPhone 4 or a Sprint Galaxy S. So if you want to watch movies on your phone, check the system requirements and make sure you’re up to speed before purchasing.

As for playing movies on the tablet, if you have the latest iPad, you will be fine. Seagate claims it should work with the original iPad, but I was not able to make that happen.

Score

B-

All in all, this is a great external hard drive and being able to access the information on the go without needing a computer is extremely useful.

Anyone with children will appreciate a device that lets you stream three different movies to three different devices (I am assuming you don’t have eight kids, which is presumptive of me), ensuring everyone is entertained for long car rides or boring trips to the dentist.

Seagate provided a unit free-of-charge for this review.