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HGST outs Touro Mobile Pro external hard drive and Travelstar 2.5-inch HDD
Here at CES, HGST (Hitachi Storage) has announced two storage options that look to immediately get cozy in your workflow. First, the "industry's first" 1TB 7,200 RPM 2.5-inch Travelstar HDD measures 9.5mm and looks to boost performance over 5,400 RPM models for $100. If an external storage solution is more your style, the Touro Mobile Pro houses one of the aforementioned 1TB hard drives with USB 3.0 connectivity, two-level protection and 3GB of could storage. The Touro will set you back $109 and like the Travelstar, is available now. Need to check the fine print before committing? Consult the full announcement that follows after the break. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
G-Technology updates G-Drive mini and G-Raid mini with 1TB HGST Travelstar hard drives
G-Technology's G-Drive mini and G-Raid mini have been around for a bit, but the storage brand is taking the opportunity at CES to update the duo with Hitachi's (HGST) Travelstar hard drives. Both external storage repositories are set to get the 1TB 7,200 RPM 2.5-inch components that notch the measuring tape 9.5mm. The G-Drive mini is now available for $200 sporting one of the drives, USB 3.0 and Firewire 800 connections. Dual-wielding the Travelstar, the G-Raid mini touts 2TB capacity while remaining Firewire bus powered during USB 3.0 transfers, RAID configurability and is scheduled to arrive in Q1 for $450. A few more details about each model awaits in the full PR below. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Seagate's Central debuts at CES, accesses your digital wares inside your home and out (video)
Seagate's Wireless Plus portable streaming hard drive isn't the only device the company is pulling the wraps off of at CES. The outfit has also announced Central: a robust shared storage / consumer NAS solution for your home that allows streaming to DLNA compatible devices and Samsung Smart TVs as well as computers and mobile devices. The same Seagate Media app that sorts your files on-the-go is at work here on iOS, Android and Kindle Fire to push content to your living display or view while you're on the road -- and to multiple users, too. Central also allows for automatic and continuous backup of connected computers with 2TB, 3TB and 4TB options that range in price from $189 to $259. If you're looking snag one for your casa, you'll have to wait until March. But don't fret, a closer look and a quick demo reside on the other side of the break. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
LaCie announces the 5big Thunderbolt series: up to 20TB capacity starting at $1,199
If LaCie's 2big Thunderbolt isn't quite large enough to handle your storage needs, a solution is on the way. At CES, the outfit has revealed the robust 5big Thunderbolt series that can handle five hot-swappable drives (as the moniker suggests) while offering up to 20TB capacity with advertised speeds capable of notching 785MB/sec (we witnessed 750MB/sec with our own peepers) -- when appropriately configured. Wielding a handful of said drives affords the device custom RAID configurations allowing RAID 0 on three units while the remaining two reside in RAID 1. Dual Thunderbolt ports make daisy chaining an option -- if your wallet can handle it, of course. If you're concerned about the heat output, the 5big sports a heat-dissipating enclosure alongside a Noctua cooling fan and exhausts to keep things at a manageable temperature. Both 10TB and 20TB configurations will be available with a beginning price tag of $1,199 from LaCie and other retailers at a yet-to-be-announced date. Small businesses may want to take a gander at the 5big NAS Pro which also sorts five bays with up to 200MB/sec speeds, a dual-core 2.13GHz Intel Atom processor, 4GB RAM and a single Wuala interface for both local and cloud storage. For now, the full PR rests past the break and a closer look awaits in the galleries.
LaCie teams up with Philippe Starck on the Blade Runner limited edition hard drive
Philippe Starck, the design mind behind various Parrot wares, has teamed up with LaCie once more for a quite dapper external storage device. The duo has just announced the Blade Runner here at CES: a 4TB USB 3.0 hard drive wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum and sporting a LED power button in the shape of Mr. Starck's logo. That's not all. Only 9,999 of these bad boys will be produced so you'll need to have your affairs in order ahead of time if the gadget strikes your design sensibilities. The drive will also include 10GB of Wuala secure cloud storage to lend a hand with the archival process. No word on when the Blade Runner will arrive, but when it does, you can expect to nab it online from LaCie and other retailers after parting with the requisite $299. For a closer look at the goods, hit the galleries below to take a gander at the press shots and our brief hands-on. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
Mushkin shipping 'world's first' 480GB mSATA SSD in January for $500
Today, component maker Mushkin announced plans to ship the "world's first" 480GB mSATA solid-state drive. Priced at a respectable $500, the made-in-the-USA Atlas SSD is expected to ship beginning in early January, and features a SandForce SF-2281 controller with an unthrottled IOPS, a SATA III (6Gb/s) interface and a three-year warranty. At a little over $1 per gigabyte, ultrabook power users looking to push their storage capacity beyond its current 256GB boundary may want to keep an eye out for this burly option in the coming weeks. For more details, check out the press release after the break.
Western Digital ships 4TB WD Black hard drive, melds speed with space for $339
The 4TB hard drives that we've seen gradually filter into the marketplace have come with a few snags for desktop users; they're usually either external drives we'd never boot from or pokey internal models not meant for anything speed-intensive. Western Digital doesn't want us settling. It's shipping a 4TB version of its WD Black desktop drive that holds nothing back for the sake of the extra storage, spinning at a healthy 7,200RPM while packing 64MB of cache, dual processing and a two-stage actuator that together keep the drive working at full burn. At $339, the SATA 6Gbps drive undoubtedly carries a premium in trying to be the best of all worlds; it may be worth the expense for performance-minded types who've been out of options (and capacity) for awhile.
Seagate Backup Plus brings USB 3.0 speed, sociability to new Macbooks
When Seagate launched its PC/Mac Backup Plus offering that could safeguard not only your folders but your Facebook or Twitter content, too, it seemed like a nice idea. But conspicuously missing from the Mac side of that equation was a USB 3.0 port to hustle transfers along at a much less pedestrian 5 Gbps -- likely because until recently, no Macs directly supported it. Now, Seagate has launched a USB 3.0 version of the device for those shiny new Macbook Pro Retina and Air models that pack it, while offering the option to upgrade to Thunderbolt or FireWire 800 "as the need presents itself." Prices go from $110 for the 500GB model up to $180 for the 3TB version -- check the PR after the break to see the entire range.
Ask Engadget: What's the best way to store my media collection?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Michael, who is suffering from a storage crunch. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "I'm a bargain-basement kinda guy, and I've picked up lots of DVDs cheaply during the sale season(s). I was planning to rip my collection with Handbrake so I could watch them on my iPad, but my 1TB HDD is already close to being maxed out! Is there a better solution out there than just buying a 2TB HDD now, waiting a year and buying a 3TB HDD when the prices come down? Is there a cheap RAID-style system that plays nicely with my iTunes? Please help!" You can pick up a standalone 3TB external HDD for between $150 and $200, Or you could take the leap and set up an iTunes home server, perhaps using the cheapest Synology DiskStation, which is $200 plus the cost of the drives. That way you can get a 4TB iTunes server for just under $400. You could also snag a Drobo that'll give you the same storage options with significantly increased expandability, up to 16TB in the future. That said, perhaps our friendly readers know a way to tame this man's ever growing media collection, so if you've already set up your own system, why not share your knowledge in the comments below?
Hard drive recall emails going out to owners of 1TB iMacs
Apple's extension of the iMac 1TB Seagate hard drive replacement program was mentioned last Sunday, and late this week customers began receiving email reminders to schedule a drive replacement. If you're an iMac owner but not certain your machine is covered, you can easily check your serial number via the online validation tool. While the Apple service program covers replacing your potentially problematic drive, it does not include backup or restoration of your OS, applications or data: that is on you. Please take our advice and spare yourself much pain and misery -- back up your drive now. Time Machine is great, but when it comes to backup our firm recommendation is to have a bootable clone of your drive as well. This is particularly useful when you're pulling your digital life back together post-HD replacement. Steve's Mac 101 review of backup options will get you on the right track. (Note that one of our favorite cloning options, Carbon Copy Cloner, was previously free but is now a paid option alongside SuperDuper! and others.) "But I back up to the cloud," you say, "isn't that good enough?" In this case, not so much. Recovering your entire set of files and apps from your remote service could be expensive and take quite a while. Fortunately, several of the Mac-savvy cloud backup services (CrashPlan and Dolly Drive in particular) have options to do a local backup as a supplement to the cloud safety net. If you've already had your drive replaced under Apple's program, let us know how it went.
Apple extends 1TB Seagate HDD replacement program to cover additional iMacs
Last year, faulty 1TB Seagate drives living in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs purchased between May and July of 2011 were at the heart of Apple's HDD replacement program. Now, Cupertino has extended the initiative to encompass rigs sold between October 2009 and July 2011. Customers with an affected iMac are eligible to receive a free drive until April 12, 2013 or for three years after their desktop's original purchase date. Curious if your machine contains an afflicted hard drive? Simply visit the source link below and plug in your computer's serial number to find out. If you do need a replacement, an Apple Store or authorized service center will be happy to help -- just remember to back up your drive before parting with it.
Apple extends Seagate drive replacement program for iMacs
As noted by MacRumors, Apple's extended service program for iMacs with 1TB Seagate internal hard drives was updated late last week to include iMacs manufactured as far back as October 2009. The program, launched in the summer of 2011, originally covered only machines made during a narrow window of that year. Drives can be replaced at the Apple Store, by an Apple Authorized Service Provider or by Apple Technical Support. Apple has also extended the duration of this program more than once, and now will cover iMac hard drive replacements with affected drives for three years after the original retail purchase date or until April 12, 2013, whichever ends up providing longer coverage for the computer. You can check if your machine might be affected by entering your serial number on the program page. Of course, you'll need to back up your data prior to replacement, and you may need your OS installer discs depending on how you plan to restore your machine. Seagate's had past problems with drive reliability, including a firmware flaw that resulted in data loss.
Western Digital bumps My Book Thunderbolt Duo to 8TB, consoles regular My Book buyers with 4TB
Many of us may have liked the prospect of Western Digital's My Book Thunderbolt Duo, but there's no doubt some of us who discovered that even 6TB just wouldn't cut it. If that digital pack rat mentality describes you, the solution is here: the company has taken advantage of larger 4TB hard disks to stuff a total 8TB of storage into the Duo's enclosure. The extra capacity hikes the price to $850, although the company notes that it's including the often expensive Thunderbolt cable to avoid any surprise trips to the store. Those without the ports or budget for the Duo can still reap some of the benefits through an updated, 4TB version of the regular My Book that hums along on USB 3.0 at a more reasonable $250 price. Either of the new drives should be lurking in stores if you're hurting for space as we write this.
TDK breaks the Hard Drive density limit, could go on to develop super-sized storage
While the old-fashioned hard drive isn't as fast or slender as an SSD, it can still lord its greater capacities and cheaper price over its upstart rival. TDK thinks it's extended the mediums lead in that area by tweaking the magnetic heads and recording medium of the hardware -- increasing the areal density of a unit to 1.5 TB per square inch. It means that we could see 1TB platters arriving in 2.5-inch laptop drives and 2TB platters in desktop modules, meaning even your commuting machine can store all of your heftiest data with ease.
Hard drive shipments recover from floods in Thailand, expected to reach record high
Last year's floods in Thailand caused hard drive shortages after wreaking havoc on a number of electronics manufacturers, but new stats from IHS iSuppli indicate that the HDD market for PCs has fully recovered and is poised to hit an all time high. The firm expects 524 million units for internal use in PCs to ship this year, besting the previous record by 4.3 percent. What's giving the recovery an added boost? According to the analytics group, the extra demand comes courtesy of Windows 8 and Ultrabooks. Unfortunately for deal hounds, the company noted in a report earlier this year that prices aren't expected to dip below the pre-flood range until 2014. If IHS iSuppli projections hold true, total annual hard drive shipments could reach 575.1 million by 2016.
Toshiba outs Canvio Slim portable drive: 500GB, $115 and just 9mm thick
It turns out that if you take an Ultrabook-style 7mm hard drive and put it in a sleek enclosure, you end up with a portable HDD that's barely any bigger, thicker or heavier than a smartphone. Toshiba guessed this might happen, and so it came up with a new addition to its Canvio range: the Canvio Slim, which sports 500GB of PC- and Mac-compatible luggage room, uses a single USB 3.0 connection for data and power, and is encased in either "graphite-black" or silver brushed aluminum. Look for it in stores from October priced around $115, including a three-year warranty.
Gemini now finds duplicates in iPhoto and iTunes
Gemini from MacPaw is one of those utilities you don't use every day, but is extremely handy to have around. The OS X software excels at finding duplicate files on internal drives, external drives or network volumes. It scans a folder at lightning speed, while giving you the option to view your duplicate files and choose which ones you want to remove. The latest update to Version 1.3 adds the ability to remove duplicates from your iPhoto and iTunes library. The app is a must-have if you're like me and have thousands of photos and song tracks scattered about your drives. Version 1.3 also now supports Mountain Lion and the Retina MacBook Pro. You can find out more about Gemini on MacPaw's website and read through our review of the utility from earlier this year. For a short time, Gemini is on sale for US$6.99 in the Mac App Store. This is a 30 percent discount of its regular $9.99 price tag.
Western Digital brings wafer thin 5mm hard drives to IDF, we go hands-on (video)
We're a jaded bunch here at Engadget sometimes, and with most of us using SSD-based systems these days it's hard to get too excited about good old spinny disks. Still we're also suckers for impressive technology, so our interest was piqued when Western Digital announced its 5mm thin 2.5-inch hard drives the other day. Luckily, the company saw fit to bring samples of its skinny new WD Black hybrid drive and WD Blue HDD to IDF 2012 and let us handle both briefly. The verdict? These are impossibly thin -- perfect for all those nice Ultrabooks we're expecting to see hit the market in the next few months. Details on performance, availability and pricing are scarce since these drives are intended for OEMs. Take a look at our gallery below, which includes thickness comparisons with WD's upcoming 1TB 7mm thin HDD and a standard-sized loyalty card -- then peek past the break for our hands-on video.%Gallery-165180% Update: yes, the loyalty card was demagnetized in the making of this video, and you now owe us all coffee.
Western Digital builds 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, Ultrabook makers sign on early
Those 7mm-thick hard drives you've seen in some Ultrabooks are already looking a tad on the chunky side. Western Digital has started producing sample versions of a hybrid hard drive (you're not yet looking at it here) that measures just 5mm (0.2in) tall, even as it crams in both flash and a 500GB main disk. If you think the slimmer drive is just the ticket for a best-of-all-worlds laptop that's both fast and capacious, you're not alone: Acer and ASUS have mentioned their collaboration in the same breath, which may be a strong clue as to where future Aspires and Zenbooks are going. The remaining question is when they arrive. Sampling isn't the same as mass production, which could leave us with months to go before the 5mm drive lands in future extra-skinny PCs.
LaCie 2big, 4big Quadra drives hop the USB 3.0 bandwagon, give Macs 12TB of speedy storage
LaCie has been sprucing up its smaller drives to handle a new crop of Macs that support USB 3.0. It's now turn for the big boys to play. Updated versions of the 2big Quadra and 4big Quadra (not yet shown here) use the faster port to reach the potential of their high-capacity RAID arrays, peaking at either 210MB/s for the dual-drive 2big and 245MB/s for its quad-drive cousin. We're not seeing a fundamental shakeup of the design apart from the higher speeds, although that's not necessarily a problem given the FireWire 800 to catch legacy users and hot-swappable bays for future upgrades. Video editors and other storage mavens should just prepare themselves to pony up. The upgraded Quadra models will start at respective $499 (4TB) and $1,099 (8TB) prices when they ship in October, and they're only poised to get more expensive when LaCie sets the costs for the higher-end 6TB and 12TB models.
