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portable hard drive posts

Buffalo adds Ministation Metro to its external HDD lineup

by Vladislav Savov, posted Jun 26th 2009 at 4:04AM

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]

Samsung Mini S2 portable HDD graced with colors that perfectly match your tacky beach gear

by Ross Miller, posted Jun 21st 2009 at 2:41PM

Sammy's done it again. The company, known to have a penchant for pink products, has unveiled two new eye-catching colors for its Mini S2 portable HDD series. Joining the already available Snow White are Ocean Blue and Sweet Pink, pictured -- and yep, if you look closely enough, that's a sea of hearts lining the case on the right. All other options appear to be the same as when Samsung first unveiled the 2.5-inch drive, with capacity options ranging from 160GB all the way up to 500GB, and it's current status is "coming soon" in Korea, with options to import likely to follow shortly after. Catering / pandering to the female audience? You betcha, and if this pic's not proof enough, hit up the break for an image that's decidedly more in line with the device's initial inspiration / concept art.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

Continue reading Samsung Mini S2 portable HDD graced with colors that perfectly match your tacky beach gear

A-DATA's NH92 is "world's slimmest" portable HDD

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 8th 2009 at 9:16AM

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.

Ask Engadget: Best portable photo backup / storage device?

by Darren Murph, posted May 22nd 2009 at 1:32AM

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?

Iomega's eGo USB hard drives get larger, more colorful

by Donald Melanson, posted May 18th 2009 at 11:59AM

Iomega's eGo line of USB hard drives has seen quite a few iterations over the past few years, but it looks like the company has found room for improvement yet again, with its latest models getting a bump in capacity and a handful of new color options. Now topping out at 500GB, the drives and pack all the same ruggedness and drop-protection as before along with four new color options, although some colors are limited to certain capacities. What's more, Iomega has also announced a new 500GB BlackBelt eGo drive set for release in June, which adds a PowerGrip belt for some extra protection, plus Iomega's Drop Guard Xtreme, which promises to protect the drive from drops up to seven feet. If that''s more than you need though, you can simply pick up the basic eGo drive right now for between $85 and $135.

Engadget's recession antidote: win a 500GB Toshiba USB 2.0 portable HDD!

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 24th 2009 at 12:00PM

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff or companies stop sending things. Today we've got an 500GB Toshiba USB 2.0 portable hard drive, complete with a swank black / white motif and a nearly unlimited amount of room for, um, whatever the heck you want. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff!

Huge thanks to Toshiba for providing the gear!

The rules:

Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) 500GB Toshiba USB 2.0 portable HDD, model number HDDR500E03X. Approximate retail value is $139.99.
If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
Entries can be submitted until Friday, April 24th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Full rules can be found here.

Engadget's recession antidote: win a 120GB Samsung S1 Mini HDD!

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 15th 2009 at 12:00PM

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff or companies stop sending things. Today we've got a 120GB Samsung S1 Mini portable hard drive (USB 2.0) ready to carry all sorts of love letters, Third Eye Blind jams and old skateboarding vids from high school. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff!

Major thanks to Samsung for providing the gear!

The rules:

Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)
If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) 120GB Samsung S1 Mini portable HDD, model number HXSU012BA. Approximate retail value is $137.99.
If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
Entries can be submitted until Wednesday, April 15th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!
Full rules can be found here.

LaCie's Rugged XL: 1TB of ready-for-anything storage

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 14th 2009 at 3:46PM

Clearly LaCie's going for that "timeless" look, 'cause the Rugged XL looks precisely like the original Rugged that launched over three years ago. The drive, which was unsurprisingly designed by Neil Poulton, touts a durable aluminum casing with external and internal shock absorbers, USB 2.0 and eSATA connectors along with a software suit to handle your backups. Packed within is a single 1TB drive, and externally, there's a "warm orange LED strip" to either keep you informed of drive status or just look stupendously fashionable, one. It's up for grabs today (or it should be soon, anyway) for $159.99, and no, the orange exterior cannot be swapped for a non-DOT-approved hue.

Gallery: LaCie's Rugged XL: 1TB of ready-for-anything storage

A-DATA launches colorful line of CH91 portable HDDs

by Darren Murph, posted Apr 3rd 2009 at 3:01AM

Do you have any idea how many episodes of Matlock you can fit on 500GB? No really, do you have any idea? To be totally frank, neither do we, but you'll be hard pressed to find a half terabyte of portable storage more nicely colored than this to hold said episodes on. A-DATA has just introduced its CH91 external HDD, which is available in sizes up to 500GB (via a single 2.5-inch drive) and is completely USB powered. The only difficult part here is choosing between sapphire blue, sweet pink and purple white -- oh, and finding a price. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading A-DATA launches colorful line of CH91 portable HDDs

IDrive Portable HDD backs your files up locally and online

by Darren Murph, posted Feb 5th 2009 at 5:08PM

Look, we feel your pain. There's about a gazillion options when it comes to portable hard drives, but the IDrive Portable actually does differentiate itself from the masses in one particularly useful way. Aside from being the "thinnest and lightest portable USB drive in its class," this 0.3 pound unit houses 320GB of space on a 5,400RPM HDD, and it plays nice with Windows / OS X machines. Predictably, it features a one-click backup option for storing precious data outside of your PC, but unlike the other guys, this one also includes the ability to backup online for yet another layer of protection. Of course, that online bit will run you up to $4.95 per month, but we have to say the interface looks pretty swank. Anywho, the device itself is listed as shipping within one to two days for $119.95, and all the nitty-gritty about the services is tucked away in the read link.

[Thanks, Chris]

WD pumps out My Passport for Mac / My Book Mac Edition

by Darren Murph, posted Jan 6th 2009 at 3:44PM

We'll wager you didn't know Macworld was going on today, did you? Pathetic jokes aside, Western Digital has lined up a pair of launches today in San Francisco to coincide with Apple's final Macworld keynote, as we're treated to the My Passport for Mac portable HDD and the My Book Mac Edition. Truthfully, the only real difference between these drives and their vanilla counterparts is the pre-format process; with these, they both come "pre-formatted for Mac," saving you the tiresome task of converting 'em to HFS+ Journaled yourself. Additionally, these USB 2.0 drives are made to work "seamlessly" with Apple's Time Machine backup software, and they'll arrive in capacities including 320GB and 500GB (My Passport) / 1TB (My Book). Both units should be available now for between $129.99 and $179.99.

Buffalo's LinkStation Mini external hard drive goes SSD

by Darren Murph, posted Dec 10th 2008 at 9:23AM

Buffalo has already shown its willingness to cram a pricey SSD into an external enclosure for those who prefer quiet, quick operations over the pure vastness of traditional HDDs, and now it's doing so once more with the SSD-equipped LinkStation Mini. Easily titled LS-WSS240GL/R1, the 240GB device houses a pair of 120GB solid state drives and features DLNA / iTunes server capabilities, an Ethernet port, RAID 0 / 1 compatibility, a USB 2.0 socket and a nifty function to turn it off and on with the PC it's connected to (should you want it to). It's expected to hit Japanese peripheral shops late this month with a ¥111,300 ($1,200) sticker in tow, so you'd better be exceptionally wealthy or really, really through with HDDs before okaying the transaction on this one.

Seagate expands FreeAgent Go line with yet more color options

by Donald Melanson, posted Nov 19th 2008 at 9:46PM

Seagate kicked out a couple of FreeAgent Go hard drives a few months back, but it's now gone all out and let loose an even more colorful batch in the hope of attracting a bit more attention among holiday shoppers -- as usual, Festivus revelers luck out year 'round with the ever-present, aluminum pole-matching silver option. From the looks of it, the drives are still available in the same 250GB, 320GB, and 500GB capacities as before for $120, $150, and $200, respectively, and those that register their drives between November 28th and New Year's day will get a bonus multimedia package including 50 free songs from eMusic and some other goodies. You can also pick up a desktop docking station separately for $30, just don't expect to get it in matching colors.

[Via Electronista]

Western Digital My Passport Studio: now with FireWire 800

by Laura June, posted Oct 30th 2008 at 1:22PM

Western Digital announced a new member of their wannabe-buddies-with-Mac My Passport Studio line today -- it's the exact same drive as the previous Studio model, only this one comes etched with your favorite character from "Friends" on it! Not really: it's got a FireWire 800 port in addition to the old hat FireWire 400 and USB interfaces, perfect for those brand new MacBook Pro owners -- if they have any cash left, that is. The 400GB model is going to run you $229.99, 500GB will be $249.99, and they're available now.

Toshiba pushes out stylish 400GB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive

by Darren Murph, posted Sep 23rd 2008 at 4:43AM

Nothing too special about Tosh's latest USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive -- just a good lookin' 400GB unit that should slide into most average sized cargo pockets on the market today. The 6-ounce drive is available in "Electric Blue and Black" (pictured) as well as Carbon Grey, Hot Rod Red and Gecko Green, and while pricing has yet to be revealed, those looking to size it up can chew on these dimensions: 0.65- x 3.19- x 5.0-inches. Not too shabby, huh?

[Via Electronista]