November 20th, 2009

New Pogoplug brings hard drives online with additional USB ports, bright colors

Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 12:31 pm

Categories: Hard Drives and Storage, NAS device, Networking

Tags: USB Port, USB 2.0, Hard Drive, USB, Pogoplug, Andrew Nusca

The original Pogoplug was a $99 solution that turned any USB external hard drive or memory stick into a makeshift online server.

On Friday, Cloud Engines introduced its new Pogoplug, adding more sync capabilities, additional USB ports and a splash of color for $129.

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November 17th, 2009

Hitachi debuts 2TB SimpleDrive; SimpleTech Pro, Duo Pro drives

Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 6:18 am

Categories: Hard Drives and Storage, Hitachi

Tags: USB 2.0, Hitachi Ltd., SimpleTech Inc., FireWire, Storage, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Andrew Nusca

Hitachi on Monday announced a new line of external storage drives with two terabytes of capacity: the SimpleDrive, SimpleTech Pro and SimpleTech Duo Pro external hard drives.

The USB 2.0-powered SimpleDrive, which is compatible with PC and Mac, offers 2TB of storage for $249.99. (It’s also available in 500GB and 1TB capacities.)

The SimpleTech Pro drive offers USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and eSATA connectivity and is available in a 2TB capacity for $299.99.

Finally, the SimpleTech Duo Pro (pictured, above) drive has a pair of drives inside and supports RAID 0/1. The drive can be had in 2TB capacity for $299.99 and 4TB capacity for $499.99. Connectivity for the Duo Pro includes eSATA and USB 2.0.

An internal hard drive kit with a single Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 7K2000 HDD sells for $249.99.

November 11th, 2009

Blockbuster initiating rentals via SD cards at store kiosks

Posted by Rachel King @ 7:48 am

Categories: Hard Drives and Storage, Home Theater, Netflix, Portable Media

Tags: SD Card, Blockbuster Inc., Memory, Flash Memory, Digital Rights Management (DRM), Semiconductors, Hardware, Components, Security, Rachel King

Blockbuster isn’t going down without a fight. Their newest attempt to get customers in their stores and away from Netflix.com is a new rental system in which film lovers can rent movies via SD cards at a kiosk machine. Sounds like we still have to leave the house for that one. Read the rest of this entry »

November 5th, 2009

Brinell's Purestorage external hard drives are elegant, but pricey

Posted by Rachel King @ 9:35 am

Categories: Hard Drives and Storage, Portable Media

Tags: External Hard Drive, Hard Drive, Brinell, Rachel King

Brinell has tried its best to combine elegance and performance with their suave-looking new line of Purestorage portable hard drives.

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October 26th, 2009

PureSilicon's new Renegade R2 SSD lineup handles extreme heat, cold, shock

Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 7:33 am

Categories: Hard Drives and Storage

Tags: Capacity, Solid State Disk, PureSilicon, Serial ATA, Storage, Hardware, Andrew Nusca

PureSilicon announced this week the addition of a 256GB capacity model to its new, rugged Renegade R2 solid state drive family.

The SSD meets MIL-STD-810F standards, meaning it can tolerate extreme temperatures, shock and vibration, and can operate in temperatures that range from -40°C to +85°C.

It also offers 255MB/sec sequential read rates and 180MB/sec sequential write rates.

The 9.5-millimeter thick, 2.5-inch SSD rounds out a new lineup that offers 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities.

More stats, after the jump:

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October 15th, 2009

Star Trek limited edition flash drive stores new movie

Posted by Jennifer Bergen @ 5:30 am

Categories: Enterprise, Hard Drives and Storage, Offbeat news, Portable Media, Uncategorized

Tags: Movie, USB Flash Drive, Star Trek, Jennifer Bergen

Attention Trekkies: Whether or not you liked J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek movie (who am I kidding, didn’t we all like it?), you’ll probably be buying it to add to your collection. You can be one of the lucky bunch to grab a limited edition version of the movie placed safely inside a 4GB Starfleet Insignia flash drive.

Each drive is individually numbered, so you know it’s one of a kind. Of course, you can’t go around lending the drive to all of your friends — the drive is  loaded with DRM, but you can still share it with five different machines, and burn it to a DVD.

The movie itself only takes up about 1GB of space, so you have 3GB more to save all those Photoshop photos of your head on all of your favorite characters’ bodies.

The drive is available for pre-order at Play.com for $29 (US). [Via OhGizmo]

UPDATE: Apparently this only ships within the UK. Sorry to those of you in the U.S. who got really excited (I’m right there with you). We’ll keep an eye out for a U.S. version.

October 8th, 2009

Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 offers up to 4TB of efficiency, simplicity

Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 1:05 pm

Categories: Iomega, NAS device, Networking

Tags: Iomega Corp., Device, Small Business, Linux, IPSec, Network-Attached Storage (NAS), Data Management, Storage, Virtualization, Operating Systems

Iomega on Thursday announced a refresh of its popular double-drive desktop NAS device, the StorCenter ix2-200.

Intended for home or small business users, the StorCenter ix2-200 is new thanks to a faster processor, a two-bay drive and the new “quick transfer button.”

Interestingly, the device offers an idle drive spin-down feature to save energy.

For small businesses, what’s important is:

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October 6th, 2009

Western Digital adds e-Ink display to My Book Elite, Studio portable HDDs

Posted by Andrew Nusca @ 7:41 am

Categories: Hard Drives and Storage, Portable Media, Western Digital

Tags: Hard Drive, Western Digital Corp., FireWire, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Andrew Nusca

Western Digital on Tuesday announced the addition of an e-Ink display to its My Book Elite and My Book Studio portable hard drives.

That means you’ll know the drive label and usage stats with a glance at the drive itself.

Both offerings sport WD SmartWare and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. The drives are available in capacities from 500GB to 2TB.

The My Book Studio (formatted for Mac; includes FireWire 800) retails from $149.99 to $299.99.

The My Book Elite (NTFS; USB 2.0) retails from $169.99 to $279.99.

Western Digital also unveiled its new My Passport Elite, the smallest such drive the company’s ever produced. It features a USB dock, illuminated capacity gauge, secure “drive lock” indicator and 256-bit hardware-based encryption.

It’s available in capacities up to 640GB storage, and maxes out at a retail price of $169.99. It’s available in metallic red, metallic blue and metallic charcoal finishes.

September 30th, 2009

SanDisk announces new 16GB memory card in time for Sony PSP Go release

Posted by Jennifer Bergen @ 8:24 am

Categories: Gaming, Hard Drives and Storage, Nintendo, Portable Media, Sony Playstation, Uncategorized

Tags: Sony Corp., Card, Memory Card, SanDisk Corp., Sony PlayStation Portable, PSP Go, M2, Flash Memory, Games, Personal Technology

SanDisk announced a few new products today intended to increase the storage capacity of handheld gaming systems. For the first product I’ll talk about, SanDisk’s timing couldn’t be better. The Sony PSP Go will be available tomorrow, October 1, and SanDisk has just the thing for new PSP Go users. For those of you who own a previous PSP system, and don’t plan on buying the Go because we’re still in a recession, read on to see how you can have a “poor man’s” version.

The PSP Go comes with 16GB of built-in internal flash memory. As of today, SanDisk is selling the new 16GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card, which is compatible with the new Go, making it possible to double the amount of space in your new gaming device. Having 32GB of memory on such a small and lightweight device means that you can literally have a library of material at your fingertips wherever you go, including games, music, and videos.

Tim Sutton, SanDisk’s worldwide product marketing manager, says that from SanDisk’s point of view, the memory side of the market, he sees an accelerated shift in terms of moving to digital content on the gaming side. We’ve already seen how popular smartphones have become, especially the iPhone, and people are using these devices more and more to download games, videos, etc., at the drop of a hat.

The PSP Go is the first all-wireless gaming device, so you need room to store all of your favorite files, like movies, music, TV, and of course, games. As Sutton mentioned, with the rise of portable devices, there is more material to be downloaded directly to those products, which means the need for more memory.

The M2 cards also comes in 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB capacities. Since the PSP Go is so light and compact, the memory card has to reflect the small size, which the M2 does. The tiny card is the same size as the one that fits into Sony Ericsson phones, and fits right into the Go’s M2 slot.

The 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB M2 have an MSRP of $27.99, $44.99, $74.99, and $142.99, respectively, although some sellers may lower those prices.

But for those of you with PSP 3000 and PSP 2000 models, you can also use the new M2. It comes with an adapter which encases the tiny M2 card, and then fits into your older PSP system. You can transfer your own DRM-free files from your older model to the new PSP Go using the M2 adapter.

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September 24th, 2009

Gadget Gal's daily deals: Sony BRAVIA HDTV, 1TB Western Digital HDD, Magnavox HDTV

Posted by Jennifer Bergen @ 7:50 am

Categories: Gadget Gal's Daily Deals, HDTV, Hard Drives and Storage, Home Theater, Monitors and displays, Sony, Toybox Highlights, Western Digital

Tags:

A 40-inch Sony BRAVIA LCD HDTV, a 1TB Western Digital external hard drive, and a refurbished Magnavox 32-inch LCD TV. Here are your daily deals for Thursday, September 24, straight from the Gadget Gal:

1. While supplies last, Sony Style is taking off $300 from the Sony KDL-40W5100 40-inch BRAVIA LCD HDTV with BRAVIA Internet Video. The TV has a list price of $1,599.99, but you can get it from now until October 3 for $1,299.99. It has full HD 1080p resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 100,000:1 dynamic contrast raio, and seven HD inputs. Thanks to our trusty prices page, we also found the KDL-40W5100 for $999 at DealCost.com, and for $1,004.68 at Amazon.

[read the review] [find the deal at Sony Style] [find the deal for even less]

2. Get the Western Digital MyBook 1TB USB 2.0, eSATA, and FireWire 400 External Hard Drive for $109.99 after $40 in instant savings at Dell Business. The drive is equipped with a 16 MB cache. This deal expires October 1.

[compare it to other 1TB external HDDs] [find the deal]

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