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Seagate's hard drive/battery fanny pack is made for VR
In addition to the major software update for the Vive Focus standalone VR headset yesterday, HTC also unveiled the Seagate VR Power Drive which, as the name suggests, is a hybrid of a power bank and a portable hard drive. This isn't an entirely new idea, of course, but it's the first of such kind designed with VR usage in mind. Specifically, this device packs 5,000 mAh of battery juice -- almost doubling that of the Vive Focus -- plus 1TB of storage space (but no speed specs yet), and it has a detachable belt clip which can be locked at every 90 degrees.
Samsung's first portable SSD packs fast storage for relatively little cash
You don't exactly have a ton of options when it comes to portable solid-state drives. You can get fast performance or high capacity at a halfway affordable price, but rarely both. Samsung thinks it can strike that tricky balance with its first-ever external option, the Portable SSD T1. The USB 3.0 storage is based on the same speedy-yet-cheap V-NAND chips as the 850 EVO drive you might buy for your gaming PC, letting it hold a large chunk of your files without devastating your wallet or slowing down -- it reads and writes at 450 MB/s, or just about desktop-level speeds. The line starts off modestly with a 250GB drive that costs $180, but you can opt for 500GB ($300) or 1TB ($600) if you have a lot of games or movies to carry around. That's still expensive compared to spinning hard disks, but it's a relative steal for the performance. Look for the T1 to hit US stores around mid-January.
LaCie's popular portable drive adds more convenience and durability
Who hasn't misplaced an accessory cable at one time or another? We've all been there. Well, to combat that issue with its popular orange-draped Rugged portable drive, LaCie has built it right in. A Thunderbolt cable is now attached to the mobile storage unit, wrapping around the edge of the device for safekeeping. What's more, there's a cap that protects the jack and an additional USB 3.0 port with IP54-rated dust and water protection. This means that not only are the drives capable of taking a fall of up to two meters (just over 6.5 feet), but it can also keep debris and moisture out whilst in the field.
ASUS' new external Blu-ray drive does 7.1 audio at a fair price
While ASUS continues to impress us with a slew of PCs and mobile devices at Computex, let's not forget that it still makes some nice peripherals. One thing that surprised us at the ASUS booth was a pretty external Blu-ray drive aimed at audio buffs. Dubbed the Blu-ray Prime, this USB 3.0 device claims to be the "world's only optical drive with 7.1-channel audio output," courtesy of the integrated ASUS Xonar sound card, which packs a Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC and a C-Media CM6631A audio processor, plus optical output. It also features a 600-ohm headphone amplifier and a clean 114dB signal-to-noise ratio. Expect the Blu-ray Prime to hit various markets for about $199 in Q4, after the DVD version is released in Q3 for half the price. Photos by Zach Honig.
WD unveils a truly portable Thunderbolt drive for performance junkies
There are already a few portable hard drives that take advantage of Thunderbolt's brisk performance, but they have to plug into a wall outlet -- not very convenient when you're in the field. Western Digital is fixing that discrepancy today by unveiling the My Passport Pro, the first dual-drive Thunderbolt storage that takes its power solely from Intel's high-speed port. The drive isn't the fastest we've seen at about 233 MB/s, but it's still quick on its toes; it can copy that giant video project to your MacBook Pro in roughly half the time it would take on USB 3.0. If you're the sort who would rather not go hunting for power sockets while editing outside of the office, you can grab the My Passport Pro right now for $300 with 2TB of capacity, or $430 in 4TB form.
LaCie Blade Runner drive now available, offers stand-out storage for $300
LaCie teased us at CES with the prospect of a rare high-concept hard drive design in the Blade Runner, but it left out the rather important matter of when we could buy the Philippe Starck-designed storage. As we've discovered, we didn't have to wait long -- the Blade Runner has just become available. Plunk down $300 and you'll get a 4TB, USB 3.0-based external drive that melds a blob-like disk shell with aluminum blades that both cool the main body and create a (minor) conversation piece. Just be sure to hurry if you're looking for a dash of art with your extra drive space, as it's doubtful that the Blade Runner's 9,999-unit production run will last.
Ask Engadget: best external Blu-Ray drive?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Dominic, who's moving into the world of drive-less laptops but can't let go of his Blu-Ray discs. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "Hi guys, I'm about to purchase a laptop without a disc drive and I'd like to get a portable Blu-Ray drive to go with it. Do any of you know of any USB bus-powered units that are small(ish) and cool-looking? Thanks!" Well, if you're looking for a truly stylish piece of hardware, then we suggest taking a look at ASUS' art-deco inspired offerings, but beyond that? Let's turn it over to you, the friendly Engadget community -- come share your knowledge.
Pogoplug Series 4 expands your cloud storage, makes it easier to hibernate
Pogoplug has already moved to the cloud. Now, it's coming back down to Earth. Today, the company unveiled its latest "cloud expansion device," known as the Pogoplug Series 4, pictured above. As the fourth incarnation of Pogoplug's original device, this box effectively allows users to host their own unlimited storage, for those moments when 5GB (or even 10GB) of cloud space just won't cut it. With Series 4, you'll be able to hook up your HDD through one of four different connection ports, including two USB 3.0 inputs, one USB 2.0 port and an SD card slot. The model also features plug-and-play support for Seagate GoFlex external drives, or any other USM-compliant products. It's available now for $100, so head past the break for more details in the full PR.
Toshiba outs 'new' Canvio 3.0 portable HDDs, extends USB 3.0 to its Basics range
Monday morning is hardly the time for philosophical questions, but here's one anyway: should manufacturers refresh product lines if they're not adding anything new? Toshiba's Canvio 3.0 external HDDs announced today have pretty much identical specs to the Canvio 3.0 Plus drives already available on Amazon: capacities from 500GB to 1TB, prices from $90 to $140 and the inclusion some cloud backup software worth around $40. The pocket-sized drives come in a range of colors and it's hypothetically possible that they'll look better than their predecessors, but we can't be sure until we get product photos instead of the plain render you see on the right. Meanwhile, things get relatively more interesting when we come to the Canvio Basics range, which make a few sacrifices to come in $10 cheaper and which at least now come with USB 3.0. Enough with the nihilism already.
Intel refutes Apple exclusivity for Thunderbolt I/O, LaCie and Promise detail first Thunderbolt peripherals
We can think of a pretty good reason why Apple might have a head-start when it comes to Thunderbolt-capable machines, but Apple doesn't actually have a timed exclusive on the technology, at least according to Intel PR. The company told us that while it's currently targeting an early 2012 launch for Thunderbolt with other OEMs -- whereas the new MacBook Pro has Thunderbolt right now -- there's nothing stopping other manufacturers from launching machines with the 10Gbps interconnect a good bit earlier if they so desire. In related news, the first Thunderbolt peripherals have just been formally announced -- the Promise Pegasus RAID array we saw spitting out 800MB / sec video streams, and the LaCie Little Big Disk. The former will come in four-bay and six-bay variants, topping out at 12TB of magnetic storage when it arrives in Q2, and the latter will boast a pair of Intel 510 Series SSDs -- which, by the way, have yet to be formally announced -- in RAID 0 for 500GB of storage in total. PR after the break. %Gallery-117530%
Sanho announces new HyperDrive line-up, still enough storage for your Frank Zappa discography
Surely you remember Sanho's HyperDrive lineup -- ya know, the only portable HDD that plays nicely with the iPad? Well, if you don't dig the $249 entry level price, you're in luck. The company just announced a bunch of new HDDs for you to take with you and your iPad on that road trip you've had planned for years. As we saw at CES, the new drives no longer sport the QVGA color display or the CF and SD card slots -- instead, the black case has two mini USB ports and a power socket. The HyperDrive doesn't come with the traditional AC adapter but instead a USB-to-DC cable and the user-replaceable battery will allow up to 40GB of transfers on a single charge. And if you're wondering why there's two USB ports, we really couldn't tell you. Perhaps if you choose the right port while connected to your PC and enter the Konami code, unicorns and fairy dust will pop out of your screen -- wishful thinking, we know. The HyperDrives ship in March (pre-ordering is available now) with prices starting at $99 for a bring-your-own-drive housing, 1TB for $349 and various sizes in-between. So, if your photo/video library is worth accessing at all times, well, props to you. Press release is after the break.
Hands-on with the OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual mini SSD
When I think of RAID, I usually envision a large box full of whirring drives installed in a rack, not a quiet little box that I can connect to a MacBook. Thanks to Other World Computing, the way I visualize RAID will have to change. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the term RAID, it stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives. In this review, I'll talk about RAID 0, which stores information on two or more drives that are linked together. RAID 0 is usually a much faster storage solution than just a single hard drive. RAID 1, on the other hand, just mirrors data written to one of the drives onto a second drive. It's great for creating a fairly bulletproof storage solution. The Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual mini (referred to as the Pro Dual mini from here on out) is a new product from OWC that is a fast, redundant quad-interface (USB/FW400/FW800/eSATA) dual SSD array (that's two solid state hard drives networked up together). When the Pro Dual mini is connected to a Mac through FireWire, no external AC adapter is required, making this drive an excellent portable RAID solution. The USB interface requires an optional AC adapter, adding both cost ($10) and weight to the equation. For use with eSATA, either a FW800 to 12-volt power cable (included) or the AC adapter is required to power the drive. Physically, the Pro Dual mini fits two 2.5" SATA SSD drives into a tough 5.6 x 6.1 x 1.1 inch aluminum enclosure. The drives are OWC's Mercury Extreme Pro RE SSDs, which are rated at up to 263.6 MB/sec write speeds and 271.5 MB/sec reads. What would you use a small, fast RAID array for? A/V, digital photography, professional music or graphics are the use cases that come to mind. %Gallery-114554%
Hitachi unveils LifeStudio content-aware external hard drives, we go hands-on
If we said Hitachi's got a new line of external hard drives, you'd probably walk away -- but what if they were the smartest bricks of magnetic memory you'd ever seen? That's how Hitachi is billing the new LifeStudio array of drives, which feature not only the standard rotating disks, but also dockable USB keys, software that auto-organizes your media, and several gigabytes of cloud storage. At $80 for a basic 250GB 2.5-inch disk and $220 for the premium 2TB desktop unit, they're not the cheapest external storage on the block, but they claim to do so much more than store that we just had to give them a try. Read our full impressions after the break. %Gallery-97047%
Plextor gets all zen with PlexMedia: a modular, network-attached Blu-ray player
It's not often we come across an external drive that looks like anything but a brick, so we were pleasantly surprised to see Plextor demoing something a little more svelte at Computex. We can tell the PlexMedia network attached media player (bottom) is a looker right off the bat, but it truly becomes useful when you plug in the PX-B120U (top) designed to go with it. The combination is a fully-functional Blu-ray disc player that apparently outputs to a TV, but the smaller box can also detach, slip into your bookbag and become an external Blu-ray drive for your PC. Since there's no specs or pics of the unit's rear, we honestly have no idea how it accomplishes either, but we imagine the info will spontaneously pop into our being if we stare long enough at those azure ripples, and thus complete our meditation. On the off-chance that doesn't work, we've also dispatched a carrier pigeon to Plextor HQ for the answers; in the meanwhile, you can peruse the presser after the break.
iPad Spirit jailbreak + Camera Connection Kit = external HDD support
Looks like that iPad Camera Connection Kit isn't as overpriced as we thought; not only does it have USB headset and keyboard support, but one enterprising user has hooked up an external hard drive using the dongle as well. Max Shay has an exhaustive walkthrough at his personal website, but the gist of the matter is that you'll need a jailbroken iPad, a split-USB cable to give that drive some extra juice, and a terminal of some sort (Max used his MacBook) to trick the iPad into mounting your external storage, after you use SSH to tunnel through. The result is an unwieldy wired assembly we wouldn't be caught dead with in public, but perhaps useful in a pinch -- or as the latest proof of what the iPad could do if only Apple would let it. Video after the break.
OWC Mercury On-The-Go Pro takes longer to say than to boot
One of these days, SSDs will hit a price point that doesn't require a second mortgage to buy one. Until then, we can just gawk at things like OWC's latest, which is a portable version of Crucial's still relatively new line of affordable SSDs, built around the familiar Indilinx controller and Samsung NAND flash. Coming in sizes from 64GB ($280) to 256GB ($730), the new Pro devices can transfer data and get their power from either a Firewire or USB port. Alas, that means you'll be limited to 100MBps read rates -- as opposed to the 250MBps you could get from an eSATA connection -- but that's a small sacrifice to make if you care about losing the moving parts in your portable storage. [Via Electronista]
Pioneer's ultraslim DVR-XD09 burner is more jewel case than drive
While ASUS is busy stuffing DVD burners into Eee PCs, Pioneer and others are working hard to make the integrated optical drive a thing of the past. The freshly announced XD09 measures in at 5.24 x 0.58 x 5.24-inches and 8 ounces, or slightly beefier than your average CD case. Pioneer claims that it's the most compact drive design yet. Essentially this means if you can carry your optical media around with you, then you can carry the player for it too. Power comes via the USB 2.0 connection, and all the usual DVD plus, minus, reading, writing, dual-layer mumbo jumbo is retained with top writing speeds of 8x on single-layer and 6x on double-layer media. This inspired minimalism can be yours for $79.99 in August.[Via Hot Hardware]
Toshiba's inaugural 3.5-inch external HDD is exactly what you think it is
Good old Tosh is putting a little more heft on its drives, unveiling what the company cites as its first ever 3.5-inch external hard drive. It spins at 5400RPM, features USB 2.0 and eSATA output, and an aesthetic that's easy on the eyes. Not much else to say about this space saver, but you can be sure it's just the first of many that are in the pipeline. The presser says it's available now, but we've been looking and have yet to find it on Toshiba's retail site or other online retailers like Amazon. When it does show its face, expect it to cost $130 for the 640GB model and $160 for a cool 1TB. [Via Testfreaks; thanks, Nickolas R]
Blu-ray recordable drive for Macs
Is it time to finally put your HD mountain biking documentary on Blu-ray? Apple upgrade vendor MCE Technologies announced availability of a totally Mac-compatible Blu-ray recordable drive for Mac Pro and Power Mac.The $499 (internal) drive is compatible with Mac OS X 10.5.2 and later, requiring no special drivers for burning -- just install it in your Mac Pro or Power Mac bay, pop in blank Blu-ray media, and you're ready to roll. The drive does both single-layer (6X BD-R or 2X BD-RE) and dual-layer (4X BD-R, 2X BD-RE) burning for capacities of 25GB or 50GB respectively. That's up to 50,000 photos, 12,500 music tracks, or 4 hours of HD video.There's a $599 version bundled with Roxio Toast 9 and the Toast BD//HD Plugin, as well as an external drive with FireWire and USB 2.0 ports for $749.To write professional Blu-ray discs that can play on set-top Blu-ray players or Sony PS3, you'll need Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Encore along with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 or Final Cut Pro. Basic Blu-ray movies can be burned with Roxio Toast 9 and the BD/HD Plugin.[via The Mac Observer]
Western Digital pumps out the My Book Studio Edition II
Confused by all the various permutations of Western Digital's My Book line of external drives yet? No? Well, go ahead and add the My Book Studio Edition II to your stack of flashcards, Mr. Smart Face. Just like the previous 2TB My Book products, you're getting two RAID 0 drives in a quad-interface external case, only this time it's the updated My Book Studio design. WD's also gone and upgraded the drives themselves to GreenPower units, which run cooler and use less power, and Mac users will be pleased to know that everything comes HFS+ formatted. Got that? Expect a quiz in the near future. Available now, we're told, at $349 for 1TB and $599 for 2TB.
