hard disk
Latest
ioSafe announces Solo, the external, submersible, fire-proof HDD enclosure
The last time we heard from ioSafe they were taking 2.5-inch HDDs, wrapping them in armor, then stuffing them into 3.5-inch enclosures -- adding fire and water protection in a standard form factor. Now they've given up on the internal route and have gone for something a little larger and more durable, fitting Western Digital or Seagate disks into hardened external USB 2.0 cases capable of being submersed in ten feet of water for three days or surviving a raging inferno for 30 minutes. $199 gets you a 500GB model, but, since you'd probably have a hard time upgrading the drive in there without a jackhammer, we'd recommend going straight for the $349 1.5TB model -- early adopters get a tidy $50 off!Update: Jason commented to let us know they also use Seagate drives.
Xmas tree made entirely of SCSI drives, offers lower CPU load than IDE alternatives
Ever found yourself with 70 decommissioned SCSI hard drives and an awful, awful lot of free time on your hands? If so, and you're bursting with holiday spirit, perhaps you'll choose to do the same as an apparent sys admin who goes by the name of Trigger. He took those drives from RAID arrays destined for the scrap heap and, rather than perform the DoD wipe that would have otherwise been required, chose to build this lovely -- if somewhat askew (see below) -- "tree" from the bevy of mirrored platters within. In fact the geeky holiday decor was made entirely from the bits and pieces within the drives, the lone exception being a nut purchased for $.39, making it a far more affordable project than yesterday's OLED tree. It's impressive to behold, but given the amount of personal data within, we think it's probably more likely to spread lawsuits than cheer this season.
Toshiba's 500GB laptop drive is ready for the Christmas ball
Oh hey, welcome to 500GB laptop drive announcement party Toshiba. Shame you had to come dressed in the same 9.5-mm slab, 2.5-inch 3Gbps SATA interface, 1.4 watt idle power draw, 5,400rpm spin, and 25dB hum as everyone else in the room. Pretty, but still embarrassing. No full-disk, hardware encryption but at least you can take comfort at besting some (but not all) of your competition by actually shipping your drive in December.[Via Impress]
A hard drive hack for turntablists
Whether you're a budding mix-master banned from touching your mom's old LPs, or a full-fledged master of the cross-fade looking to get some bodies movin', you need a turntable of some sort. Sure, a couple Benjamins will get you into a decent setup, or you could also make do with a webcam and a flat surface, but, if you're looking for something with a smooth feel on the cheap, the solution is the hard drive sitting in your closet that's too small even for backup duty. A group of students at universities in the UK, Austria, and New Zealand all worked together to come up with a homebrew digital DJ interface, and the above HDD-cum-turntable sits at the center. The weight of the disk plus the quality of its bearings won the crew over, and with "a few op amps, resistors and a programmable microcontroller of some kind" you too can be mixing in no time. Full instructions are at the read link, and check out the video below for a little platter-scratchin', oscilloscope-watchin', "wicky wicky" action.[Via Hack A Day]
Fujitsu to hand over hard drive division, self-respect to Western Digital
It's prom night, and Fujitsu wants to give it all up to Western Digital. And we're talking everything: if the sordid deal goes through, by the end of the year Fujitsu will have sold its entire hard disk division to WD, giving the maker of the exquisitely named Caviar almost thirty percent of the market, second only to Seagate's thirty-five percent. So look out, Seagate! But who will the real winners be? That's right: the consumer. Because the rampant monopolization of every aspect of the computer industry can only be a good thing. Just ask those fat cats in Washington.
Toshiba's record breaking 1.8-inch 250GB SATA disk for your next ultra-slim laptop
Ok, it's not by much, but world's biggest is world's biggest especially notable when it comes in a package this small. Toshiba just busted up its own record for 1.8-inch drive capacity with this new 250GB MKxx29GSG series disk spinning at 5,400rpm -- the previous 240GB 1.8-incher announced a few weeks ago is stuck with a slower PATA interface more suitable to portable audio players. That makes this 8.0-mm thick, 3Gbps SATA hard drive ideal for ultra-slim, ultra-portable laptops requiring snappy (and cheap compared to an equivalent capacity SSD) data access by your applications. At least it will be when it begins mass production in November.[Via Impress]
DIY MacBook upgrade
Yeah, so that black MacBook you bought a couple of years ago with an 80 GB hard drive isn't lookin' so hot now, is it? You know things are bad when you have to delete your pr0n videos to make room for incoming email. You'd like to swap out the hard drive, but your tech skills are sucky. What do you do?Go to Instructables! They're always doing something fun over there, like showing how to install Tiger on a PC. There's also a recent post (surprise!) about how to upgrade your measly MacBook hard drive and preserve your existing data. Afterwards, you'll be doin' the happy dance, too!Advance note to commenters: yeah, we know this isn't exactly rocket science, but for those who might be a little squeamish about actually yanking the hard drive out of their MacBooks, these step-by-step instructions should put their minds at ease.
mk1617gsg.jpg.cf.jpg)
Toshiba's 1.8-inch 160GB disk hits 5400RPM for netbooks
Who makes a 160GB, 1.8-inch SATA disk spinning at 5400RPM? Nobody, until today. Toshiba just announced the industry's largest-capacity / fastest 160GB MK1617GSG disk for ultra-portables and netbook-class machines. While others have hit the magical 160GB mark in an 8-mm thick form factor, this is the first 1.8-inch SATA to reach 5400RPM. Oh, and because you're about to ask: no, it's too chubby for an iPod classic (where that speed wouldn't likely be noticed) or ultra-thin laptop like the MacBook Air or Envy 133. Thanks for asking though.
Mac 101: External HDs
More Mac 101, our series of basic tips for new and returning Mac users. Since most Mac models don't offer extra drive bays, external hard disks are the way to go for adding vast storage capacity to your computer. External HDs are great for storing large projects, moving huge amounts of data from place to place, or backing up via Time Machine. Hard disks are a commodity product nowadays: the market is flooded with a cornucopia of options, most of them cheap and easy to install. So which is right for you? The trick is this: find out who makes the actual hard drive inside the external enclosure (that is, inside the nicely-designed plastic or metal box that sits on or under your desk).It's what's inside that counts, and we'll explore after the jump.
LaCie gets minimalist with its latest external hard drives
We've definitely seen some wild designs come out of LaCie's workshops, so the company's latest external drive, billed simply as the LaCie Hard Disk, is something of a departure. The monolith-looking unit was designed by Neil Poulton for the company, and features a smooth surface marred only by a power switch, fan grate, and USB 2.0 and power connections. Not available until January, but LaCie's taking pre-orders now, with sizes ranging from 320GB for $119 to 1TB for $399.
Hitachi breakthrough: 4TB disks by 2011
When Hitachi -- the first disk manufacturer to go perpendicular and subsequently break the 1TB consumer disk drive barrier -- speaks about advances in hard disk technology, you'd be wise to listen. Today they're touting the world's smallest read-head technology for HDDs. The bold claim? 4TB desktop (3.5-inch) and 1TB laptop (2.5-inch) drives within the next 4 years. The new recording heads are more than 2x smaller than existing gear or about 2,000 times smaller than a human hair. Hmmm, Samsung may have to update their SSD vs. HDD graph after this, eh?
Seagate makes plans for an SSD future
In a move which we all hope will be a sign of things to come, Seagate -- prominent mechanical drive-maker -- has voiced its intentions to enter the SSD game in the near future. According to Bill Watkins, the company's chief executive, the drive manufacturer will be getting into the solid-state market sometime next year, beginning with some form of enterprise solution. "We have solid-state drives on every road map that we have," Watkins said, though Seagate sold off the 40 percent stake it held in SanDisk, a chipmaker which now has almost the same market value as the drive company. Watkins was tight-lipped about exactly what kind of products the company will offer, though he did hint at a "hybrid" which uses both chips and disks to store data. It was only a matter of time till the drive makers started feeling heat from the SSD and flash markets -- hopefully this will help bring prices down to reasonable levels.
Fujitsu unveils the highest capacity 2.5-inch drive yet: 300GB
Fujitsu's been selling well-regarded hard drives in branded external enclosures for a while now, so it's no surprise the company is trumpeting the arrival of 300GB 2.5-inch drives with a new line of pocket drives. The USB-powered 4200rpm drives feature a new 16-point shock absorber and the usual array of security software that'll get wiped out during the first reformat. Expect to see these hit shelves in Q3 for $229, no word on when the bare drive will be available.[Via MobileWhack]
Fujitsu's 250GB slimster for ultra-portable laptops
Slide on over Samsung, you'll need to make room on your "world's biggest" pedestal for Fujitsu's new 250GB, 2.5-inch drive for laptops. The MHY2BH matches Samsung's line-up nearly spec-for-spec: 12-ms average seek, 8MB cache, SATA interface, 5,400rpm, 24dB operational wheeze, and a slightly better 1.9W power draw. Still, neither can match the 300GB capacity of Fujitsu's other 2.5-incher. But Fujitsu's latest, just like Sammy's, measures in at a mere 9.5-mm thick -- a full 3-mm less than the 300GB beast -- making these the highest capacity drives available in the ultra-portable slimsters we all crave. [Via Impress]
Samsung's silent and speedy SpinPoint S166 series of disks
Samsung is offering-up a heap of marketing spin along side their new 3.5-inch SpinPoint S166 series of hard disk drives. This time however, there's real truth to their ballyhoo. The new series of SATA 3.0Gbps drives feature a 7,200rpm spin, 8MB buffer, and manage to damp the noise level down to a mere 24/27.5 decibels at idle/seek. That's damn quiet for traditional desktop storage spinning at that speed. Watch for the drives to ship worldwide in 80GB and 160GB capacities sometime this month.
External HDD for Wii?
Here's a tricky one for ya: a French gaming site -- JeuxFrance -- is reporting that a Japanese gaming magazine -- Game Laboratory -- has reported that a reliable source within Nintendo told them that the company is looking at releasing an external hard drive accessory for the Wii. Did you manage to get that? Now, to us it seems logical that Nintendo would want to make such a device -- more storage equals more virtual console games sold, right? -- but as there are at least two foreign languages involved here, it would be an understatement to say that this is a stretched rumor. Maybe we should just listen to our Joystiq pals and note that it could simply be a case of an April Fools joke escaping a little earlier than it should have; oh, the limitations of print.[Via digg]
Fujitsu's MHW2 BJ series of disks: the "world's fastest, biggest, and quietest"
God loves the little children and super fast storage devices. That's why she gave us Uncle Al and the new MHW2 BJ series of 2.5-inch hard disk drives from Fujitsu. The new 2.5-inch, SATA 3.0Gbps HDDs max-out at 160GB, a world's biggest to spin at 7,200rpm. Sure, that pales in comparison to Fujitsu's own 300 gigger, but that chubster trundles along at just 4200rpm. These new 2.5-inchers operate at just 25 decibels when idle but suck a biggie 2.3W when throwing around data at up to 300Mbps. So what's it going to be, lickity quick bits or battery friendly capacity? You have until the end of the May to decide 'cause that's when these new speedsters will appear as an option in your high-performance laptops. [Via Impress]
Rumor: PSP redesign coming before March 07
People love talking about a redesign of the PSP. Heck, PSP Fanboy ran a contest to see fans make up their own crazy contraptions. Well, a very believable scan of PlayStation Magazine seem to suggest that Sony's working hard on one, and it's coming very soon: March 2007, two years after the US release of the handheld. The article states that Sony's taking a page from Apple (very much like Nintendo), and will provide the same core functionality, while providing a new aesthetic and non-game affecting additions. The biggest changes appear to come in size and memory: the theoretical system will have 8GB of hard disk space, be smaller, and have a retooled UMD drive, all at the same price as the current model. EyeToy will also be integrated into the system, and function as the upcoming external version for current PSP owners.A redesign has worked wonders for the DS, and Sony's portable can certainly benefit from the same image boost that Nintendo received when retooling their handheld. Sony just has to remember one thing: ensure that a redesign doesn't interfere with current PSP owners from playing future games. Also remember, until Sony confirms otherwise, we're taking this story as a rumor.Read - Page 1 of magazine scanRead - Page 2 of magazine scan[Via QJ]
$40 XBL Vision camera & UNO bundle detailed by MS source along with prices & dates for other 360 accessories
Our friendly anonymous source at Microsoft has provided us with a few more details concerning the 360 accessories announced back at E3.Perhaps the most important involves the bundling of the Xbox Live Vision camera with a wired headset, the popular Live Arcade title UNO, and a month of Live Gold service for $39.99 when it releases in the States on September 19, 2006.Granted, this is still an unofficial report (based on a leak of "official" info), so understand that you're probably not gonna get much confirmation from MS until they're good and ready to give it. If you'd like information on what other peripherals are coming out "Holiday 2006" (so sometime in the 4th quarter) and at what price, read on for more.
Cheaper PS3 loses HDMI, slots, Wi-Fi, 40GB
As you can see above, there are a few things different between the two PS3 SKUs planned. (Hint: the obvious alterations concern high-def output and wireless connectivity -- though Bluetooth controllers should work just fine with both, with or without any chrome case highlighting.)So what's HDMI, built-in multimedia card-reader slots, wireless internet connectivity, and an extra 40 gigabytes' hard disk space worth to you? $100? Now that Sony's gone with the 2-SKU approach with its next-gen hardware (a la the Xbox 360's premium and "Core" systems), we can expect some tough consumer choices after six months -- with console shortages possibly for another six months after that -- as $100 separates the base $499 and premium $599 versions of Sony's "Clear Black" hope.HDMI is important to those who want to take full advantage of Blu-ray high def and have the new screens to use it; MemoryStick, SD, and CompactFlash slots would be nice for the PS3 memory-card users and those will run multimedia on the system; Wi-Fi's the only way to avoid stringing ethernet cables for online access; and 360 owners might appreciate the full 60GB available to potential buyers of the premium PS3 model. Neither model comes with a second HDMI port; thankfully, one should hopefully be all most users need. The details are laid out in a feature-comparison table at the end of Sony's official PS3 hardware press release, available in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Word formats. Determine what's most important to your PS3 ambitions there.[Image pieced together from the PlayStation.com forums; thanks, Guru]
