Samsung announces their latest environmentally-friendly hard disk drive for the desktop market in the form of the EcoGreen F3EG hard drive. Offering two terabytes of disk space spanning across four 500GB platters, the F3EG utilizes Samsung’s EcoTriangle technology providing eco-friendly components, low-power and low-noise operation technology.

“Green” features of the F3EG include:

• Eliminates halogen compound and brominated flame retardant from the PCBA
• Model produced from eco-friendly materials
• Meets environmental regulations including RoHS
• Utilizes low-noise operation technology SilentSeek and NoiseGuard for quiet operation
• 40 percent lower in power consumption in idle mode and 10 percent lower in reading/writing mode than competing drives
• Zero percent failure rate in unstable voltage environment test

Specs include:

• 3.0 Gbps SATA interface
• Native Command Queuing features
• 16MB/32MB buffer memory

The 3.5 inch F3EG drive is available in 1.5 TB and 2 TB capacities in the U.S. and EU markets with an MSRP of $179.99.

Technorati Tags: Samsung EcoGreen F3EG Hard Drive

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announces several new 2 terabyte storage drives today including the new SimpleDrive USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive. Features of this new drive include:

• Vertical form factor with a “non-invasive footprint”
• Up to 2TB of storage space
• Plug-and-play support
• Anodized aluminum enclosure keeps the drive cool
• Available in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities

The 500GB has an MSRP of $99.99. The 1TB an MSRP of $129.99 and the 2TB an MSRP of $249.99.

In addition to the SimpleDrive USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive, Hitachi also announced 2 terabyte solutions in the form of :

• SimpleTech Pro Drive with four interface options (USB 2.0 FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and eSATA). 500GB available for $119.99, 1TB for $169.99, and $2TB for $299.99
• SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive – two drives in one supporting RAID 0 or RAID 1. Includes eSATA and USB 2.0 interfaces. 1TB goes for $199.99 while the 2TB goes for $499.
• Hitachi Internal Hard Drive Kits – available in both 5400 and 7200 RPM speeds with up to 32MB cache buffer. The 2TB 7200RPM HDD has an MSRP of $249.99.

Technorati Tags: Hitachi, SimpleDrive USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

Verbatim announces today their new InSight Portable Hard Drive lineup which has a unqiue always-on display revealing the current amount of free space as well as a customizable drive name. And when they say it’s always on.. the 32 x 128 pixel really is always on – even if it’s not connected to a computer.

The InSight lineup is available in 320GB and 500GB storage capacities and includes Nero BackItUp Essentials data protection software for backing up your PC/data. Other features include a premium black finish, a measurement of 6 x 3.4 x 0.63 inches, a weight of 6 oz, and a 2.5 inch 5400RPM hard drive with 8MB of cache memory. The drive is USB 2.0 bus powered which means there’s no need for an external brick (AC adapter).

The 320GB InSight drive has a suggested price of $119.99 while the 500GB InSight drive has a suggested price of $149.99.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Verbatim, Verbatim InSight Portable Hard Drive

Looking for small portable hard drives with interface options? You’ll want to check out Verbatim’s new SureFire lineup of portable hard drives. Housed in a durable black aluminum-extruded case, the SureFire hard drive comes with one USB 2.0 port and one FireWire 800 port. Best of all – the drive is bus powered which means no AC adapter is required.

The drives will be available in 250GB, 320GB, and 500GB storage capacities with Verbatim utilizing 2.5 inch 5400RPM hard drives – each with 8MB caches. The drives measure 3.13 x 5 x 0.66 inches and weigh a mere 0.41 pounds.

Expect the 250GB version to be available for $109.99, the 320GB version for $139.99, and the 500GB version for $179.99. Each package comes with the hard drive, FireWire 800-800, FireWire 800-400, USB 2.0, and USB power cables, and a carrying case.

[Check it out at the Apple Store]

Technorati Tags: Verbatim SureFire Portable Hard Drive,

Thanks to the acquisition of SimpleTech by Fabrik earlier this year, three new consumer oriented storage devices are now being introduced by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST). The new products include the SimpleTOUGH portable USB drive, the SimpleDRIVE Mini portable USB drive, and the SimpleNET network storage adapter. Let’s quickly go over each of these three new products – all of which will be under the Hitachi brand name.

Hitachi SimpleTOUGH Portable USB 2.0 Drive:

• Industry’s only water-resistant and shock-resistant external hard drive from a global hard drive manufacturer
• Designed to sustain a 3 meter drop (9.8 feet) and withstand the pressure of a one-ton class commercial truck
• Foldaway USB cable
• Ergonomic sides for easy carrying
• Topside LED for power status
• Comes with Hitachi Travelstar hard drive

Prices for the new SimpleTOUGH are as follows:

• $99 dollars for 250GB
• $119.99 for 320GB
• $149.99 for 500GB

Hitachi SimpleDRIVE Mini Portable USB 2.0 drive:

• Stylish and contemporary USB 2.0 drive available in multiple colors
• Utilizes hard drives from Hitachi
• 2.5 inch portable external hard drive
• Cool underside LEDs for extra glow
• Joggle digital content manager for easy tracking, sharing, publishing of photos, music, and videos
• Hitachi Ultimate Backup online service (2GB free)
• Durable and made for travel
• USB powered

Colors and prices are as follows:

• Red wine in 250GB drive for $89.99
• Blue dusk in 320GB drive for $109.99
• Carbon fiber for a textured black look in 500GB drive for $139.99

Hitachi SimpleNET USB Drive Network Adapter:

• Allows you to share and access existing USB hard drive content over a home or small business network
• Plug USB drive into SimpleNET and then plug SimpleNET into an Ethernet network
• USB drive appears as a drive on the network
• Support for Mac, PC, and Linux users
• Connect up to two USB drives at once (2x USB 2.0 host ports – powered)
• Reset button
• FAT32, NTFS, HFS+, and EXT3 file system support
• Features include iTunes server, FTP access drive, DLNA media svr, SSH server for command line access
• MSRP of $79.99.

Technorati Tags: Hitachi, SimpelTOUGH portable USB drive, SimpleDRIVE Mini portable USB drive, SimpleNET network storage adapter

You absolutely have to love the look of these external hard drive enclosures from Korean manufacturer Sarotech. The enclosures (known as the Frigo) have a simple look to them with clean lines, curved corners, and a nice white finish. Yet despite the simplistic outward appearance, you get a good deal on the inside including support for USB 2.0 ports, Firewire 400 and 800 interfaces, as well as RAID.

According to TechFresh, there are two variants of the Sarotech enclosures – the RS-2 capable of housing two hard drives, and the RS-4 capable of housing four drives. Expected prices in Korea are as follows – the RS-2 at $310 and the RS-4 at $431.

[Check it out]

Read this in Chinese Simplified and in French

Technorati Tags: Sarotech Frigo external hard drive enclosure

Western Digital has finally come to my rescue. Really folks – they have. I’ve been worried about maxing out my HP MediaSmart EX470 Windows Home Server but thanks to the newly announced WD 2 Terabyte Caviar Green hard drive, I can now upgrade my 1TB SATA HDDs to 2TB SATA HDDs – yes.. double the capacity for music, videos, and photos!

These new 2 terabyte Western Digital Caviar Green hard drives are based on 500GB/platter technology with 32MB caches. Features of the new drive include:

• Reduced power consumption by up to 40 percent compared to standard drives using a combination of WD IntelliSeek, NoTouch, and IntelliPower technology
• Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR) technology
• IntelliPower – fine tunes the balance of spin speed, transfer rate and caching algorithms designed to deliver both power savings and performance
• IntelliSeek – calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise, and vibration
• StableTrac – motor shaft secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read/writes
• Low power spin up
• 3Gb/s SATA interface

Now the down side – these 2 TB Western Digital drives will set you back roughly $300 dollars (MSRP is $299). Considering 1TB drives are around $100 dollars these days, that’s a bit of a premium.. but these are hard drives of course which means prices will come down fast.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Western Digital 2TB Caviar Green SATA Hard Drive

The new Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive is Iomega’s attempt to deliver a cost effective network attached storage device for the home market. The drive connects to your home network and delivers a centralized storage location for all of your digital content across all of your networked devices.

Powering the drive is EMC’s LifeLife Home Software solution which is a custom Linux OS and application suite. After installing the software, users can access files and set permissions using a friendly user interface. Setting up the Home Media Network Hard Drive should be straight-forward and simple. Just plug the drive into the network, power up the drive, and then install the included software. Since the networked drive also acts as a UPnP media server, you can easily share content to DLNA certified networked media players such as the Xbox 360.

Key features of the Home Media Network Hard Drive include:

• Share files between Windows and Apple systems
• Gigabit Ethernet support
• UPnP AV Media Server – compatible with DLNA certified media players
• iTunes Server
• Supports CIFS/SMB, AFP, and HTTP 1.1
• Add additional capacity by connecting external USB hard drives
• Automatic network discovery by Apple Bonjour and Windows Rally devices
• Backup your data using EMC Retrospect HD backup software
• Oxford 810SE chipset with 370MHz CPU and 64MB RAM
• One 7200 RPM SATA HDD
• One USB port
• Built-in Print Server
• Measures 4.92 x 7.83 x 1.57 inches and weighs 2.45 lbs

The Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive will be available this month with the 500GB drive going for $159.99 and the 1TB drive going for $229.99.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Iomega, Home Media Network Hard Drive, NAS, CES 2009

Verbatim announces two new quad interface Desktop Hard Drives today – a 500GB and a 1TB model. Yes, I have to admit that I said the following – “I didn’t know Verbatim made external hard drives”. Apparently they do!

The new models feature USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and eSATA II interfaces – plenty of flexibility especially for individuals needing fast interfaces for jobs such as audio/video work. Other specs to the new drives include:

• Measures 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches and weighs 3.3 lbs
• 3.5 inch 7200 RPM drive
• 32MB cache memory
• Silent cooling fan
• Bus powered drive
• Includes Nero BackItUp2 Essentials software

Both models are available now with the 500GB model going for $179.99 and the 1TB model going for $249.99.

Technorati Tags: Verbatim, Desktop Hard Drives, Quad interface hard drive

Hitachi is out with their second generation 500GB mobile hard drive – the Travelstar 5K500.B. The new 2.5 inch hard drive features advanced data encryption technology along with new green features such as a halogen-free design and reduced read/write power specifications.

The Travelstar 5K500.B features:

• Optional Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) for hard drive level security
• Meets the forthcoming Storage Security specification
• Meets Hitachi’s EcoTrac classification
• Read/Write power specification of 1.4 W
• 5400 RPM Speed
• SATA 3Gb/s interface
• 12 ms seek time
• Available in storage sizes ranging from 120GB to 500GB.

The Travelstar 5K500.B will be available starting in December.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Hitachi Travelstar 5K500.B mobile hard drive