If you felt like your Western Digital My Book hard drive went too far -- or didn't go too far enough -- in looking like an actual tome, Sarotech is here to turn it up a notch. When you absolutely, positively must have a drive that looks like a fake book, you can do no better than the Wizplat W-31 (yes, really). The SATA-drive-sporting, USB 2.0 device features an internal power supply, ample vents for keeping your drive cool, and a slick, sexy exterior that says, "Hey, I'm a book." All this luxury can be yours for the low, price of ₩121,000 (about $120) for a 320GB version, up to ₩315,000 ($312) for the 1TB model. Too bad this only appears to be available in Korea right now.

[Via Everything USB]

Not sure if we missed the memo, but apparently May 7th is the unofficial day of camouflaged technology. Shortly after Mobiado revealed a rugged Camo handset for the well-to-do hunters of the world, along comes Iomega with a jungle-ready portable HDD. The $149.95 eGo Camo Drive is entirely USB powered and packs a respectable 250GB of internal storage space, a black Iomega Power Grip band, a woodland camouflage pattern and DropGuard technology to prevent disastrous consequences should you drop your drive from less than 60 inches. We always knew those gamesmen never sat in a tree stand all day without a little entertainment to keep 'em sane.

Hitachi went and sucked more desktop performance out of a 2.5-inch, durable laptop drive once again. Their new 2.5-inch Travelstar 7K320 spins at 7200RPM with a 320GB storage capacity. It also boasts 12ms seek times and optional Bulk Data Encryption, which scrambles and unscrambles data as its written just in case you lose your little precious on the road. This drive is shipping now unless you want the enhanced availability version -- meant for media servers and 24/7 uptime -- which should ship this fall. And let's be honest: until solid-state drives hit that elusive price / storage sweet spot, drives like this may just be your best bet in compact computing.

If you're already taken care of on the HD media streamer front, Mvix is hoping you'll look its way for a more portable solution. The pocket-friendly MV-2500U checks in at just 5- x 3- x 0.8-inches and makes room for a 2.5-inch internal hard drive. The simple, LCD-less exterior means that you'll need to access the interface on-screen after plugging in the (component, we presume) cables to your HDTV, after which you'll be able to watch video files encoded in MPEG1/2/4, DVD (VOB, IFO), DivX, XviD, BivX or VCD (DAT) for both PAL and NTSC systems. You'll also find support for AC3, MP2, MP3, WMA, OGG and M3U audio formats, and even JPEG photos can be shown in beautiful 720p / 1080i. Unfortunately, this wee piece will run you a stiff $149 before you even go hard drive shopping, but Mvix will happily add an 80GB, 160GB or 250GB HDD in there if you've got the coin.

Because history has proven that hard drives must get smaller and more capacious, Verbatim went and released the 500GB 2.5-inch SmartDisk HDD. Despite claims from others, Verbatim says this marks the first available 9.5mm Z-height 2.5-inch hard disk. The drive is made up of three 166GB platters striped with Perpendicular Magnetic Recording at 5400RPM. With enclosure, it weighs in at less than 6 ounces and measures 3.38-inches by 5.38-inches by 0.63-inches in both USB and USB / FireWire combo versions. Expect it this summer for under $300.

Move over Samsung -- that 256GB SSD you've been touting is now half as cool as it used to be. According to reports stemming from a Japanese seminar which saw Toshiba's Shozo Saito take the stage, the firm is hoping to flesh out its line of solid state discs within the next few years. More specifically, it's looking to offer drives with as much as 512GB of room, and Mr. Saito himself expects a full quarter of laptops sold in 2011 to come equipped with an SSD. Figure out a way to get those stratospheric prices down, and we doubt it'll take that long.

[Via CNET]

LaCie's bright orange Rugged Hard Disk hasn't changed much externally since it surfaced over two years ago, but what used to buy you 160GB will now land you a full half-terabyte with dough left over for several In-N-Out runs. The latest Rugged drive packs Hitachi's 500GB Travelstar 5K500 and still maintains the scratch-resistant aluminum shell and shock-resistant rubber bumper. As for ports, you'll find a USB 2.0-only edition or a more versatile iteration that includes USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 sockets. Either flavor comes bundled with the company's Setup Assistant and backup software, and if you're tired of waiting for 1TB in your pocket, you can make do with this one for just $299.99 / $399.99 depending on your choice of interface(s).

Seagate claims it's the first company to hit the magical "one billion drives shipped" mark, and doesn't plan on slowing down any time soon. The company was founded in 1979, with its first drive offering up 5MB of storage for a whopping $1,500. We've certainly come a long way in 29 years, and Seagate expects to ship its next billion drives in less than five years. Of course, with all this "cloud computing" talk we'd think drive sales have to slow down at some point, but there's certainly no sign of our GB appetites abating just yet. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to download this 7GB MMO demo to a secondary hard drive.

OWC's Mercury On-The-Go family of pocket-lovin' hard drives has been around for quite some time, but the group is getting an all new leader courtesy of the recently announced 500GB edition. Packing a half-terabyte of space on a 5,400RPM, 8MB of cache drive, the unit even includes FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 to ensure compatibility with pretty much whatever rig you're dealing with. You'll also find a copy of Prosoft DataBackup III for OS X and NovaStor NovaBackup for Windows bundled in, but you won't be getting any closer to this bus-powered unit than the photo above without laying down $359.99 to call one your own.

Just because Maxell left the disc manufacturing to other rivals doesn't mean that it's bowing out of the external HDD market. Announced this week, the firm has introduced its all new iVDR, which "connects directly through a bi-directional USB or eSATA adapter to a shoulder-mounted camcorder capable of delivering 10-bit, 4:2:2 master-quality video and native full HD video." In layman's terms, this here drive caters to those logging clips in the rough, and its innate ability to resist drops of up to 4-feet makes it the ideal candidate for even the clumsiest shooter. Unfortunately, mum's the word on price, but we are told that a 160GB version (with a 540Mbps transfer rate) is set to land in Q2, while a slightly more capacious 250GB edition is hitting shelves in Q3.

[Via BIOS, thanks Christian]

It's not the first time we've seen a generic product repackaged and re-targeted specifically for use with game consoles, and it certainly won't be the last, but Iomega is apparently hoping that won't stop you from giving its new Media Xporter USB hard drive some consideration, which is says goes along just perfectly with your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. That, of course, means it's a standard 2.5-inch USB hard drive, which amazingly "natively supports PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 compatible formats such as MP3, MPEG-4 and JPEG." Somewhat helpfully, you'll also get some software with the drive to convert video into console-compatible formats, and the drive thankfully doesn't require an external power adapter so you can keep the clutter down a bit. If that's enough to put it above your run of the mill USB drive, you can snag one now in a 160GB model only for $120.

In typical LaCie fashion, it's latest external hard drive isn't even mentioned on the outfit's own website, but nevertheless, it most definitely exists. The tried and true Neil Poulton HDD has been refreshed with two new ports to coexist alongside the USB 2.0 socket: FireWire 400 and eSATA. Outside of the two new holes flanking the rear, the drive looks essentially the same, and is available on the streets as we speak for $139.99 (500GB), $187.99 (750GB) or $276.99 (1TB).

[Via CNET]

Update: LaCie mounted these up on its website, after all. Thanks, bjrcboy!

Sure, you've been able to score a four-platter 1TB hard drive for over a year now, but the cooler, quieter, economical and speedy two-platter hard drive has always been a bit of a sweet spot for storage, and Western Digital has finally hit that mark with its new WD Caviar SE16 640GB SATA drive. The 3.5-inch disks hold two 320GB platters, boast 3GB-per-second transfer rates, and are available now for $140.

[Via Gearlog]