Most storage drives aren’t designed with aesthetics in mind. Instead, the vast majority of these drives are draped in dreary black or matte silver plastic. Seagate’s new line of drives (the Backup Plus line), is just the opposite of those lack-luster drives. These drives come in blue, red, and other colors, and they also happen to be very useful drive-wise as well. The Backup Plus line has been created to replace the older GoFlex line, and these drives come with some things worth noting.

A New Dashboard

The biggest noted change from the GoFlex line to the Backup Plus line is Seagate’s actual dashboard. Seagate has found a way to solve a very common problem: how to save and store photos that are currently stored in a Facebook or Flickr account. By using the new Seagate Dashboard, users can simply click on an icon in the dashboard and save any Facebook or Flickr photo to the storage drive. No longer will Seagate users have to worry about losing that cherished Facebook photo or where to store those Flickr photos.

Seagate has also made the new Backup Plus interface very easy to use. Large and colorful icons present users and there’s plenty of introductory material and Help files to get anyone through initial quirks. Seagate also has a great customer service and tech department that is known for its reliability. In short, these are great drives that are modern to the core.

USM Equipped

The Universal Storage Module (USM) is a concept that was created last year. The idea behind this module is that any future type of connection can be used without forcing a user to change a drive completely. For example, users might want to use USB 3.0 right now, but if USB 4.0 comes along at a future date, this won’t be a problem or result in the need to buy a new drive. Seagate’s new line of drives are all equipped with USM meaning that your drive will be good and relevant for years to come.

Availability and Pricing

The new Seagate drives are current available through the Seagate website or through a retailer near you or online. As far as compatibility goes, Seagate does make drives that are specifically compatible with Macs, and the standard Seagate drives are compatible with PC. Size-wise, you have a few different options: 1TB ($139.99), 750 GB ($129), 500 GB ($119.99). If you have a Mac, the pricing and sizes are as follows: 1TB ($139.99) and 500 GB ($119.99). Seagate has also announced that desktop drives will soon be available at 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, and 4TB.

If you’re looking for a new storage drive that’s one of the user-friendliest drives on the market (and you want something that will help you back up those Facebook and Flickr photos), the new Backup Plus line from Seagate will be hard to beat, for now. It’s also hard to ignore the fact that these new drives simply look good, and that’s always an added benefit!