If you'll recall, Hitachi GST snapped up Fabrik in February, and with that acquisition came the latter company's highly-regarded SimpleTech line. Today, Hitachi is introducing its first consumer products since the pickup, and while you'll notice a hint of 'Simple' in the titles, the branding is all Hitachi. First up is the water-resistant and shock-proof SimpleTOUGH portable USB drive (250/320/500GB for $99.99/$119.99/$149.99), which can survive a 3-meter fall and boasts a twistable USB cable that's permanently affixed to the enclosure.

Next, there's the SimpleDRIVE Mini, which is a stylish, colorful portable HDD that is now shipping in red wine (250GB; $89.99), blue dusk (320GB; $109.99) and carbon fiber black (500GB; $139.99). Finally, there's Hitachi's alternative to the Pogoplug: the SimpleNET USB/NAS adapter. Put simply, this $79 device enables up to two USB HDDs to be placed on a network, though Hitachi makes clear that this is a convenience device, not a performance device. The 10/100 Ethernet jack is evidence of that, but hey, if you need a quick-and-dirty way to get your hard drive (regardless of format, by the way) on the web, this will certainly do it. Full release is after the break.

The Ministation Metro, coming in a variety of tastefully named colors, such as Black Crystal, represents a continuation of Buffalo's recent efforts to beautify its portable hard drive offerings. The drive's design is highlighted by a handily integrated USB cable that sits flush with the Metro's externals when not in use. It's also noteworthy that this latest entry in Buffalo's Ministation series looks remarkably similar (i.e. identical) to the recently announced HD-PXU2 in Japan. We can only surmise that the company believes the term Metro carries more positive connotations with Western consumers than the otherwise catchy jumble of letters and digits. Capacity choices range all the way up to 500GB, and the new drives are expected to reach American and British shores in August, with a US price somewhere in the vicinity of $200 for the most capacious models.

[Via Pocket-lint]

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Seagate's giving its FreeAgent Go drives a fresh new 640GB capacity ceiling, and while it's not the first external to cross that 500GB threshold, it's certainly on the thinner end of the totem pole, physically. Nothing revolutionary here otherwise, it's still the standard USB-connected with up to 480Mbps transfer with multiple color options. Also distinctly the norm? Not a bit of info on pricing or availability, but if Seagate's posting promotional materials on its main site, we suspect it's not too far off.

[Via Slashgear]

What a difference a year makes, right? Right around 12 months after Western Digital outed its 2TB My Book Studio Edition II, the company has come forward with a new edition that houses twice the storage. The dual-drive device includes a pair of those minty fresh 2TB HDDs arranged in a RAID 0 configuration, and WD promises that it'll play nice with both Macs and PCs. As for connectivity, you'll get eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0, and the handy capacity gauge does exactly what it says. It's up for order right now for $649.99.

Unfortunately for mankind, we can't say we've kept a running tally of dimensions for portable hard drives. Thus, it's hard for us to actually prove or refute A-DATA's claims that its NH92 is indeed the slimmest portable HDD this world has ever seen. Still, with a case that's just 12 millimeters thick and 5.36 ounces, we'd wager that this one won't be weighing you down. The all-aluminum chassis contains a single 2.5-inch drive ranging from 250GB to 500GB in size, comes in the delightful array of colors you see pictured above and sports heretofore undisclosed prices.

Oh, Brando -- how you make our hearts flutter. One day, you're pumping out new kit fit only for our Crapgadget roundup; the next, you're delivering gems such as this. The 5-bay HDD Paper Storage Box with Cover covertly hides up to five of your precious 3.5-inch hard drives, and it likely provides more security for your personal information than a fireproof lock box. 'Cause really, what data thief is going to shuffle through a cardboard container looking for valuable platters?

Coming to you live from left field, it's this week's edition of Ask Engadget. Once your done reading and replying (in comments below, naturally) to the question here, feel free to send us your own to ask at engadget dawt com.

"I am looking for a portable hard drive with memory card slots so that I can save my photos onto it, straight from the memory card. It needs to function without the use of a computer. I have seen a few of these, but nothing name brand, and I was looking for some recommendations. A color screen to view photos would be nice, but not necessary. It doesn't need to be very large, 100GB should be more than enough."

You're right Seth, most of these things do indeed come from relative unknowns. That said, we're sure a few of our readers have taken the plunge, so hopefully you'll find out who likes and dislikes the one they chose. Right, folks?

It's funny, really. Years back, we figured this SATA HDD dock was a one-off device that would get swept under the rug as quickly as it reached prominence. And yet, here we are in May of 2009 looking at the latest iteration of a product that won't ever stop reinventing itself. Brando's Dual SATA HDD Multi-Function Dock with One Touch Backup (yeah, seriously) doubles up on elder models by holding two 2.5- or 3.5-inch hard drives, and it also accepts a litany of flash cards. Lastly, this adds an eSATA connector to the traditional USB 2.0 socket for a bit more flexibility, but we still can't justify the $89 price if you already own a predecessor (or three).

Not that we haven't seen this game played before, but this demonstration is definitely the best we've seen amongst the tech book puns. Put as simply as possible, one talented modder has wrapped his Western Digital My Book NAS drive in beautiful leather and stacked it fittingly on his bookshelf. Aside from that glowing ring, you probably couldn't tell which of the above was filled with paper and which was filled with, um, really important tax documents. Check the read link for loads more shots and plenty of inspiration.

[Via technabob]

RunCore's always offered fast SSDs, but we're not so sure its new 2.5-inch ProCore IV drives offer the right mix of price, performance, and storage for the target market -- sure, they're fast, with up to 240MBps reads and 185MBps writes, but they're also expensive, starting at $179 for 32GB and quickly ramping up to $599 for 128GB and a whopping $999 for 256GB. That's a lot of scratch for the average laptop customer, and while the speed gains may be obvious, we're not so sure the storage tradeoff seems worth it. That said, RunCore's made it pretty easy to swap one of these puppies in: each drive includes a USB enclosure and cloning software that'll have you up and running at high speed in a jiff. Yeah, we're on the fence -- check out a video demo after the break and tell us if you think it's worth it.

Read - RunCore Pro IV press release
Read - jkkmobile tests

Seagate's new Replica drive aims to be for PC users what Time Machine is for Macs (in fact, there's no Mac software included), and seems to do a pretty good job of it. You merely plug the drive into your computer, accept a license agreement, and you're off to the races with hassle-free incremental backups of your system. The drive is available in Single PC and Multi-PC models, with the former sporting 250GB of capacity, and the latter doing 500GB and adding in a vertical dock -- but to actually backup multiple PCs you'll have to move the drive around sneakernet style. ComputerShopper found the drive pretty slow, and while you can drag and drop files off of the drive, it doesn't actually allow you to toss specific files on and use the drive as way to move your projects around town. Still, it's simple, and the $200 starting price isn't criminal.

Read - ComputerShopper review
Read - Official Replica site