Seagate ''Ships'' First 3 TB External HDD

It's the world's first external drive with a 3 TB storage capacity.

Seagate said on Tuesday that the world's first 3 TB external hard drive is now available for purchase. Part of the company's FreeAgent GoFlex Desk line of drives, the new addition is USB 2.0 compatible by default, however Seagate offers an adapter--sold separately--that lets users connect the drive to USB 3.0 and FireWire 800 ports.

"Consumer capacity demands are quickly out-pacing the needs of business as people continue to collect high-definition videos, photos and music," said Dave Mosley, Seagate executive vice president of Sales, Marketing and Product Line Management. "Seagate has a tradition of designing products that break into new storage frontiers to meet customer requirements and the 3 TB GoFlex Desk external drive is no exception, delivering the highest-capacity storage solution available today."

According to Seagate, the new external drive is interchangeable between PCs and Macs thanks to a NTFS driver for Mac OS X. This means consumers can move files between the two platforms without the need for formatting. The huge storage capabilities could even allow both PC and Mac users to digitally stash away "up to 120 HD movies, 1,500 video games, thousands of photos or countless hours of digital music."

But there's a catch: the new 3 TB GoFlex Desk external drive doesn't come cheap, selling for $249.99 through select retailers.