Seagate Portable Storage Devices Capture The Action At Stanford Chartered Hong Kong Marathon 2009

Seagate® FreeAgent® Go portable hard drive stores and protects thousands of photos at Hong Kong’s largest sporting event

HONG KONG . - More than 55,000 people participating in this year’s Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon had their winning form captured, saved and available for instant retrieval with the help of portable digital storage solution provided by Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX).

Forty photographers from the Hong Kong Sports Photography Association (HKSPA) were stationed at strategic points on the 42km full marathon, 21km half marathon and 10km courses to capture the action at Hong Kong’s largest sports event. All images were stored and shared using Seagate® FreeAgent® Go portable devices providing a safe backup of all the content taken on the day. Images were supplied to various organisations including the Hong Kong Amateur Athletic Association, local and international media, and the major sponsors. The photos will eventually be made available for public viewing on the HKSPA’s website.

“Sports photography is a highly specialized form of photography and this high-profile event presents an opportunity for professional photographers to demonstrate their skill in capturing the excitement and essence of the race,” said BS Teh, vice president and managing director, Asia Pacific Sales & Marketing, Seagate Technology. “Seagate gives professional sports photographers the ability to save, share and secure their unique digital images, and with up to 500GB capacity, that is enough for over 140,000 photos.”

The FreeAgent Desk drives helped the HKSPA to safely store and backup all the content of thousands of veteran athletes and novices against the backdrop of the stunning Hong Kong skyline.

“We needed to map out a detailed plan covering equipment, manpower, resources and breaks prior to the event especially as there was a large contingent of photographers scattered along the routes,” said Aries Nip, chairman, Hong Kong Sports Photography Association. “Many images are taken to capture just one photo, giving the photo editors as much choice as possible to select the best representative shot. Each photographer took thousands of high quality images and we need a reliable backup and storage solution to store the astonishing number of digital images taken.”

Sports photographers were able to make use of the FreeAgent Go portable storage solution for transferring and copying images often in a very pressured environment so that the press and the relevant organizations were able to select images they wanted quickly.

FreeAgent® | Go Drive
The Seagate FreeAgent Go drive, at a height of only 12.5mm, is the slimmest external drive available today. The FreeAgent Go drive easily fits in a pocket while still including all the advanced shock and vibration protection people have come to expect from Seagate. Another industry first, the new FreeAgent Go drive is the first external hard drive to offer a docking option, providing a practical way to move from the desk to the road, while leaving the hassle of fumbling with cables and locating USB ports to the history books. With up to 500GB of capacity, the FreeAgent Go drive bridges the gap between standard portable solutions and desktop solutions with enough storage to carry entire libraries of movies, pictures and music. No longer does one need to sacrifice capacity for portability, the Seagate FreeAgent Go drive provides the benefits and convenience of both in a truly seamless on-the-go package.

FreeAgent® | Desk Drive
The FreeAgent Desk drive is the FreeAgent family’s 3.5-inch high-capacity convenient desktop storage solution, and provide up to 1.5 Terabytes of storage. It is the perfect desktop companion for basic back up and security for all types of digital files. The sleek and modern design of the drives provides the flexibility to sit horizontally or stand vertically to maximize the workspace. The FreeAgent Desk drive is a brushed aluminum high-capacity solution with a USB 2.0 interface, which provides enough room to hold libraries of images, music and video.

Further information about the photos taken by the Hong Kong Sports Photography Association at the Standard Chartered Marathon 2009 can be found at: www.hkspa.org