Seagate today announced the availability of its new GoFlex Slim portable hard drive - a 9mm, 2.5" inch external drive designed for laptops and netbooks.

Initially showcased at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics show in January of this year, the new GoFlex Slim performance drive is now available on www.seagate.com, in-store and at select online retailers. A 320GB version of the GoFlex Slim drive can be purchased for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $99.99 USD.

At an ultra-sleek 9mm, the new GoFlex Slim drive is roughly the width of a pencil. Equipped with a 7200RPM drive and a USB3.0 interface to accelerate transfer speeds up to 10x faster than USB2.0, this drive delivers quick access to large files such as HD movies and video games. The GoFlex Slim portable drive also allows for use between Windows and Mac computers, interchangeably, without formatting or performance loss. Additionally, the drive?s included backup software provides automatic and continuous backups and encrypts files and folders.

The GoFlex Slim portable drive will also be available in a version for use specifically with Mac OS X computers. The GoFlex Slim for Mac portable drive will be HFS+ formatted out-of-the-box, making it compatible with Apple Time Machine backup software, while maintaining the ability to work across both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X computers.

The GoFlex Slim for Mac drive will feature a durable, soft?touch, metallic finish, which is also designed to withstand scratches, fingerprints or other marks incurred from travel. A 320GB version of the GoFlex Slim for Mac drive will be made available in May at Apple retail outlets in the U.S. for a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $99.00 USD.