Thunderbolt external drives may be fast, but they're not typically sturdy, something OWC aims to change with its new super-durable Envoy Pro SX. On the inside, there's a big chunk of high-speed SSD storage; on the outside, there's a ruggedized case which OWC promises is dust, drop, and water-proofed to IP67.
The recent incident with Western Digital's My Book Live NAS devices getting wiped remotely has emphasized the need for data backups, sometimes even redundant data backups. But what if the backup device itself is the one that gets irreparably broken? That is the potential nightmare that owners of Apple's discontinued AirPort Time Capsule could face soon, no thanks to a design flaw in both the enclosure itself as well as the hard drive used inside it.
Very few things in modern computing probably scare people more than the thought of losing years of data in a blink of an eye. That nightmare, unfortunately, became a reality for thousands of owners of Western Digital's discontinued My Book Live storage last week. Years' worth of files, photos, videos, and everything in between were remotely erased because of some malicious actors that may have been competing with each other. What makes matters worse is that Western Digital itself may have had a hand in actually enabling one of two vulnerabilities that made this remote mass-wipe possible.
Owners of some Western Digital external hard drives should disconnect them from the internet and probably turn them off completely, as reports of remotely wiped data continue. The drive-maker confirmed last week that some owners had seen their network-connected storage accessed unofficially and a complete reset triggered, though details on just how much people should be concerned continue to emerge.
Nothing is scarier than the idea of losing years' worth of data in a blink of an eye, whether through the loss of physical storage or, in this case, the deletion of said data. Owners of Western Digital's old My Book Live storage are unfortunately living that very nightmare as they suddenly discover their external drives wiped clean. It turns out they may have been the victims of a malicious hacker that simply deleted their data, no ransoms asked.
A huge portion of computing in the past years has focused on the "cloud", but there have been new movements recently to bring computing back down to Earth, so to speak. Just as microcomputers marked the decentralization of computing away from mainframes, hybrid and edge computing are now bringing some of the responsibility back to on-premise devices, such as IoT appliances and NAS. To keep up with the trends, Synology is pushing a big version 7.0 update to its DiskStation Manager OS, introducing features that not only adapt to the complex needs of users and businesses but also set up Synology NAS devices to become makeshift Google Photos replacements.
Any user who moves large files to and from a desktop or laptop computer wants the fastest external storage possible. Moving large files can take an extremely long time with slow interfaces and storage solutions. Sabrent has unveiled a new external SSD inside an aluminum housing called the Rocket XTRM-Q (SB-DXMQ-8X2). The solid aluminum enclosure is built for durability and helps dissipate heat.
Cryptocurrencies have not only changed the way some see and exchange money, it has also changed how some companies make and sell computer components. By moving money to the purely digital realm, cryptocurrencies have also shifted the burden of "making" to computer hardware. CPUs and GPUs are the prime targets, but now even SSDs are also fair game. The latter, however, might be on the losing end of the wear and tear battle, forcing SSD makers to make changes to their warranty policies, sometimes in questionable and bewildering ways like what Micron's Crucial consumer SSD brand almost did.
Google was never a fan of removable storage on Android and refused to put microSD card readers in any of its Nexus or Pixel phones. Other Android phone makers, however, preferred to keep users happy, and Samsung used to be one of those. Despite the initial backlash, Samsung has been slowly removing memory expansion options from its flagship phones. That makes this rumor about the Galaxy Z Fold 3's storage options even more significant, especially in light of its rumored price tag.
The amount of new digital data grows by 2.5 million gigabytes every day, according to MIT, adding to the approximately 10 trillion gigabytes of digital data that already exists. All of this data -- movies, music, and more -- are stored in huge data centers that are both costly and increasingly massive. This represents a growing problem as the world becomes increasingly digitized and archival demands grow.
The big Google Photos change is almost upon us, and if you've been enjoying free, unlimited uploads since the cloud storage service launched then you're about to get an unpleasant surprise. Switching to a paid model will help keep Photos around, Google argues, but the good news is that there's a decent chance you could already be paying for an alternative.
Many people these days extol saving your files to the cloud and cloud storage providers have likewise expanded to target enterprise customers with features like encryption, backups, and the like. While that seems to be fine for the majority of professional office work, there are other professional enterprises where cloud storage just doesn't cut it. Creative industries, like those in movie-making and photography, still rely on local data storage and Western Digital's new SanDisk Professional brand is taking aim at that segment with premium-sounding, and possibly premium-priced, storage solutions.