• 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,

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

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

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

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

With the new Xbox 360 Experience update a few weeks away, it appears Microsoft is gearing up an upgrade for those of you with an Xbox 360 console with no hard drive or a 20GB hard drive. Shops like GameStop have begun advertising a new Xbox 360 60GB LIVE Starter Pack for an MSRP of $99.99. Shipping on November 4th, the starter pack comes with a 60GB hard drive, headset, 3 month LIVE Gold Subscription, and an Ethernet cable.

[Check it out via ExtremeTech]

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 60GB LIVE Starter Pack, 60GB Hard Drive

• Transfer rates of up to 3.0 Gb/s
• Free fall sensor option
• Low energy consumption of 0.0016 watts per GB in
• 5400 RPM
• Micro SATA connector
• 8MB cache buffer
• Average seek time of 15 ms

Toshiba will start volume shipment of these new drives in December.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Toshiba 1.8 inch 250GB MKxx29GSG

Toshiba this week introduced a new 400GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive. The 400GB drive joins a product lineup that already has 160GB, 250GB, and 320GB storage capacities and features the same glossy finish and contemporary graphics found in the other drives. A new Electric Blue and Black design joins the existing designs which consist of Carbon Grey, Hot Rod Red, and Gecko Green. Other features and specs include:

• Measures 0.65 x 3.19 x 5 inches and weighs 6 oz
• USB 2.0
• Compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, OS X 10.3.9 or later
• Features NTI Shadow software for backup solution

You can purchase the drive now for $179.99 after a $20 instant rebate.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Toshiba, 400GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

Notebook hard drives are certainly catching up to desktop hard drives as Western Digital announced that they’ve begun shipping 500GB WD Scorpio Blue 2.5 inch hard drives. The WD Scorpio Blue drives utilize 250GB per platter technology and will also be available in 400GB capacities. Other specs include:

• 3 Gb/s transfer rate
• WhisperDrive technology makes this drive one of the quietest 5400 RPM 2.5 inch drives out there
• ShockGuard technology
• IntelliSeek technology calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration

The new WD Scorpio Blue 500GB drive (model WD5000BEVT) and 400GB drive (model WD4000BEVT) will be available for $219.99 and $189.99 respectively.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Western Digital, Scorpio Blue 500GB, WD5000BEVT, WD4000BEVT

So what’s up with the “Tera Era” statement? Well Hitachi sees “digital information” being “created, captured, and duplicated around the world” at an “unrelenting pace.” (yeah it’s called bittorrent! I kid…. sorta) Soo.. with multimedia content ever increasing, and computers ever more prevalent in our societies, one would figure that we all need just a bit more disk space. (yeah no duh..) Ah but no one else has come up with a good slogan for this time period so why not dub it the Tera Era. There ya go.

OK.. back to the matter at hand, we’ve got ourselves a couple of new drives from Hitachi. First up, there’s the Deskstar 7K1000.B which features:

• 7200 RPM rotational speed
• Three-disk design
• Improves idle power consumption up to 43 percent over 1TB predecessor
• Optional Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) provides protection against data loss and piracy
• Utilizes AES encryption
• SATA 3Gb/s interface
• Also available in 160GB, 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, 640GB, and 750GB capacities
• Idle power for 1TB drive is 5.2 W

For business critical applications, there’s the Deskstar E7K1000 which features:

• 32MB buffer
• five year warranty
• 1.2 million hour Mean Time Before Failure
• Rotational Vibration Safeguard (RVS) technology
• Same low power characteristics as 7K1000.B
• SATA 3Gb/s interface
• Also available in 500GB, and 750GB capacities

The new drives will be available this month.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Hitachi, Desktar 7K1000.B, E7K1000, Hard drives, Tera Era

Notebook users aren’t the only ones blessed with new Samsung storage products. Enterprise users will be happy to hear that Samsung has announced mass production of their new Spinpoint F1 RAID class 3.5 inch SATA hard drives with  1TB of storage capacities. According to Samsung, the new F1R  hard drives are ideal for enterprise storage and surveillance application needs and come with a whopping seven year limited warranty.

Features of the new Spinpoint F1R drives include:

• Uses only three platters (334 GB per platter)
• 7200RPM speed
• MTBF of 1.2 million hours
• 16 or 32 MB cache
• SATA 3.0 Gbps interface
• 175 MB/s maximum media transfer rate
• NCQ for random I/O performance
• Optimized electronics and power saving modes reduce power consumption and reduce heat dissipation
• Rotational Vibration Controller for vibration tolerance
• System-on-Chip (SOC) controller

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Samsung, Spinpoint F1 RAID, F1R, SATA HDD

Features of the Spinpoint M6 include:

• 500GB of space made of three 167GB platters
• fits industry standard 9.5 mm height
• 5400 RPM
• 8MB cache
• 3 Gbps SATA interface
• Free-Fall sensor available as an optional feature
• Flying-on-Demand head technology for recording stability over changing temperature ranges

Features of the Spinpoint MP2 include:

• 250GB of space made of two 125GB platters
• 7200RPM
• SATA II 3.0 Gbps interface
• Native Command Queuing functions
• SilentSeek and NoiseGuard technologies
• Optional Free Fall Sensor
• 16MB buffer
• Available from 80GB to 250GB capacities

Both hard drive models are shipping now with the M6 priced at $299 and the MP2 at $199.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Samsung Spinpoint MP2, Spinpoint M6, laptop hard drive

Solid State Drives are certainly the wave of the future but they’re currently too expensive when it comes to price per gigabyte. Looking to address the performance/cost factor, Apacer has introduced what they’re calling combo SSD drives. These 2.5 inch drives feature the use of both multi-level cell (MLC) and single-level-cell (SLC) NAND flash chips. The 2.5 inch combo SSD supports up to 96 GB of storage capacity comprised of 32GB in SLC NAND flash and the rest using MLC flash. Apacer will also adjust the combination according to a customer’s needs.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Apacer, Combo SSD

Here’s an interesting computer peripheral – it’s the new Addonics Dual CF-SATA HDD adapter which takes two compact flash cards and turns them into a single drive usable as a direct 2.5 inch SATA drive replacement in a computer. The two compact flash cards can be configured as RAID 1, RAID 0, or as one large compact flash drive. You can then insert the Dual CF-SATA HDD adapter into a computer using a mounting bracket. The adapter can be installed using the SATA interface or via a USB interface. The best part – the CF cards look like any other drive to the OS – no drivers are needed for this to work. This sounds like a great way to utilize inexpensive CF cards as a power efficient 2.5 inch hard drive replacement. The Dual CF-SATA HDD adapter can be purchased on the Addonics Online Store for $79.99.

[Check it out]

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Toshiba introduced a new line of 1.8 inch SATA Hard Drives yesterday available in two capacities – an 80 GB drive (model MK8017GSG) and a 160GB drive (model MK1617GSG). The new drives target the mobile market and feature the following specifications:

• Interface speed of 1.5Gbps
• 5400 RPM
• More environmental efficient than current models
• Improves maximum internal data transfer rate by approximately 17 percent
• High vibration and shock resistance
• Average seek time of 15 ms
• Measures 54 x 78.5 x  8.0 mm
• Operating shock resistance of 500G, 2msec
• Non-operating shock resistance of 1500G, 1msec

The new drives will enter mass production in August.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Toshiba, 1.8 inch SATA Hard Drive

Western Digital launched a new line of WD Caviar Black 7200 RPM 3.5 inch SATA hard drives on Tuesdays. These drives are designed for high performance desktops, workstations, and multi-drive systems and come in two capacities – 750GB and 1TB.

Features of the WD Caviar Black 7200 RPM drives include:

• Dual processor
• 32 MB cache
• StableTrac – The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations.
• NoTouch ramp load technology – The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.

The Caviar Black joins the Caviar Blue and Caviar Green drive product lines. The Blue Drives are WD’s standard hard drives that balance performance and reliability while the Green Drives utilize WD’s GreenPower technology for cool, quiet, power-efficient performance.

The new Caviar Black drives will be available next week with the 750GB model going for $199 and the 1TB model going for $249.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Western Digital, Caviar Black, 750GB, 1TB