Toshiba puts 320GB into a 1.8″ frame

More data storage into a smaller package (see a recurring theme here?). Toshiba’s come out with their latest and greatest, get ready for new ipods. In order to accommodate your storage needs Toshiba has increased the platter density, improved energy efficiency, and data transfer rates. It spins at 5,400 rpm and has 16MB of cache. It even boasts greater durability than a traditional 2.5″ laptop drive. Look for the new drive secretly hiding in your gadgets next year.

Now There’s a Good reason to buy the WD Elite

Let’s face it, who needs extra connections? Blah. The electronic display on new WD external elite models are reason enough to spend the extra money on these drives. Other than the flashy “elite” name there are some useful options with it. The label helps distinguish which drive contain what data, plus gives you a rough estimate of how space is available. Things that are the same: shape, automatic backup software, hardware based encryption, warranty, and Western Digital’s green technology.

USB 2.0? Come on already. Hello? USB 3.0? Heck even eSATA would be appreciated. If I’m paying a premium for the brand name it should have firewire. FYI Mac users will need to reformat the drive to work optimally with their hardware. FAT32 just doesn’t cut it. A nice aluminum or metal casing would look fantastic, albeit more expensive, would probably do wonders for the failure rate. Plastic is not great when it comes to heat dissipation.

Hmm, I wonder how much a label machine costs? I’m always mixing up my music and porn drives…

Drop Hard Drives Much?

Here’s a product from A-Data Technology for those of you who are clumsy bastards. Drop proof (up to 1.2 meters) and water proof (up to 30 minutes of 1 meter depth), because when you drop your stuff it always hovers around that 1 meter mark, right? Otherwise you are just plain SOL. Hmm, I wonder what happens to the drive when idiots immediately plug in the drive after dunking it into water? Wet cable/connectors, add a bit of USB power and *poof, hard drive gets shorted out. But of course nobody’s that stupid right? I mean who drops their hard drive with precious data into a lake that’s only 1 meter deep then proceeds to plug it in immediately?

However, just in case “a laboratory certification which we do not guarantee that hard drive device, data, and housing would not be damaged with the usage at any condition or environment. Please do not drop, smash or splash on this product on purpose.” (last 2 sentences on the page) So much for independent testing. Guess I won’t buy one then.

Gadgets: Sexy Portable HD by Verbatim

Looking the part is half the battle (the other half is lasers). Nothing short of sexy, Verbatim offers up the Insight, a hot little number dressed in piano black. Comes in 2 flavors: 320gb and 500gb reasonably affordable for those willing to spend $20 for some added style. The little display shows it’s name (volume name I’m guessing) and available free space. A nice feature which does not require it be plugged in.

The good: style, lcd display, includes software, 5 year warranty.
The bad: speed (5400rpm with 8mb cache), price.

Here we go again …

Who’s got the bigger … notebook hard drive? I guess Western Digital has beaten the others to the punch. Enter 1 TB of storage goodness in a 2.5″ platform. Whaaat?! I’m still using a lowly 500GB in my desktop beast an now WD has come out with something even larger for my notebook? Perhaps it IS time to upgrade. I’ve barely filled up half of my 80GB laptop hard drive and along comes something to tempt my wallet. Shame on WD for trying to put me in the poor house with their lineup of storage solutions! I guess the only thing left is to wait for Seagate to come out with their version … and run out and buy it.