Elecom have announced two new solid-state drives, the 8GB and 16GB nanoSSD ESD-IDSAA Series, which are designed to slot directly into a SATA motherboard slot. Measuring 25 x 39 x 6.5 mm, the nanoSSDs can be used as startup drives on a main system or, Elecom suggest, the primary drive on a compact Mini-ITX setup.
If you’re in constant fear that your data will be compromised for one reason or another, you’ll be pleased to hear Apricorn has just outed their Aegis Padlock Secure Hard Drive.
This portable storage system actually has a keypad with which you can enter a PIN number you set. This way, no one else can access your information without that specific PIN you designate.
Other features include a USB 2.0 cable, AES-128 or 256 bit encryption, ten user IDs and a single administrator to assign permissions, and an omnidirectional shock mounting system, allowing the device to stand up to unexpected bumps. You can get the Aegis Padlock Secure Hard Drive now in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB capacities in either 128-bit or 256-bit versions. Pricing is $100, $110 and $140 for the 128-bit models and $120, $130 and $160 for the 256-bit ones.
Verbatim have announced a new external hard-drive, though you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a set of kitchen scales. The InSight USB Portable Hard Drive has an always-on LCD which permanently displays the drive’s name and its capacity; it’s updated every time the InSight is connected or disconnected from the host PC or Mac.
A new year usually brings short-lived resolutions and expensive gym membership, but according to TDK Corporation January 2010 will also see 640GB 2.5-inch and 2.5TB 3.5-inch hard-drives. The company stands a good chance of being right, too, as it manufacturers the read/write heads for several hard-drive makers; their roadmap shows a jump from the current mass-production of 250GB/platter 2.5-inch drive heads to 320GB/platter head production ramping up from this month to December 2009.
Hitachi have propelled themselves to the top of the desktop hard-drive league with the launch of the Deskstar 7K2000, the world’s first 2TB 7,200rpm 3.5-inch HDD. Ousting Western Digital’s slower 5,400rpm version, the new Deskstar offers 32MB cache, a 3Gb/s SATA interface and 10-percent idle power savings over previous models.
RunCore have announced a new range of SSDs, intended to offer PC and Mac users direct drop-in replacements for their existing drives. The company bills the RunCore PRO IV SSD range as offering increased battery runtimes, heat reduction, quieter operation and, not least, increases in speed, and offers capacities ranging from 32GB to 256GB.
We’re used to laptops lagging behind their desktop counterparts when it comes to storage – after all, there’s only so much you can fit into a 2.5-inch drive casing – but Western Digital are delivering a much-needed capacity kick with the WD Scorpio Blue 1TB. Billed as the industry’s first 1TB mobile hard-drive, the Scorpio Blue 1TB - and its 750GB companion - support the 3Gbps SATA interface.
They’re also some of the quietest 2.5-inch drives on the market, according to Western Digital anyway. The company has used its WhisperDrive technology with clever seek-algorithms to reduce unnecessary spinning. They also have ShockGuard and SecurePark, which protect against bumps and jolts, together with ensuring long-term reliability.
It’s not the 320GB SSD tipped yesterday, but Intel have announced that they will be lowering prices for their solid-state drive range, having moved to more cost-effective 34nm NAND flash production. The shift could see SSDs reduced by as much as 60-percent for both PC and laptop OEMs and mainstream consumers.
We’ve covered numerous backup systems here on SlashGear, ranging from simple USB hard-drives through network-attached media boxes and full-on RAID arrays, but bar individual drive failure we’ve never really considered the impact of physical damage. That’s exactly the sort of thing that ioSafe have in mind with their Solo drive, up to 1.5TB of fireproof, waterproof storage. SlashGear have been testing it out.
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