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CUPP PunkThis hands-on (video)
It's not the first time we're run into CUPP Computing's unique ability to blend the x86 and ARM platforms into one device -- at least in prototype form -- and just before the start of Computex 2011 here in Taipei we got a chance to experience the company's latest iteration called PunkThis. The product is meant to replace your computer's 2.5-inch SATA hard drive with a board featuring a complete ARM-based system along with a mini-PCIe socket -- the latter capable of accommodating a physically smaller SATA SSD to handle the missing storage for the x86 host. PunkThis is built around a Texas Instruments DM3730 1GHz ARM CPU with 512 MB of RAM and includes a WiFi radio, as well as connectors and cables to interface the board with existing video, audio, and USB facilities on the host computer (no soldering required). The Asus Eee PC netbook we got to play with was running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) but was lacking WiFi support. It ran perfectly alongside Windows 7 which was powered by the existing Atom processor. Switching OS-es is just a hotkey away, and battery life is supposedly doubled when the main x86 CPU is shut down and the only the daughter board is operational. PunkThis also provides two microSD card slots -- one for system storage used by the ARM-based OS (Android in this case), the other for mass storage visible to both environments (shared space). Pricing is supposed to remain below $200 and availability is expected in 8 weeks. That's pretty hardcore, but with a name like PunkThis would you expect anything less? Feast your eyes on our gallery and peek after the break for our hands-on video along with the obligatory PR. %Gallery-124713%
Clickfree C2 Rugged hard drive can fall down, backup
There's just something about the phrase "built to strict U.S. military standards" that makes us want to go positively medieval on a rugged device. Sadly, the aforementioned qualifier doesn't mean that Clickfree's new C2 Rugged Back-up Drive is capable of withstanding, say, a hail of gunfire, but the rubberized disk will continue to work after being dropped from four feet. The peripheral also features the company's Easy Run software, which will start automatically backing up your PC when you're done showing that storage device who's boss. The 500GB C2 is available now through Clickfree's site for $140 -- or $100, if you're one of the lucky 100 first people to buy, so maybe buy two, in case you go a little overboard.
Seagate's GoFlex Satellite portable hard drive streams content over WiFi (review)
Seagate just took the wraps off what's likely the niftiest portable HDD to cross our path in a long, long while. The GoFlex Satellite is part storage device, part wireless media streamer, and it manages to wear both hats with little compromise on either end. For all intents and purposes, this is a standard 500GB GoFlex HDD with a bit of extra girth, an AC input, an 802.11b/g/n WiFi module and a built-in web server. The reason for those extras? A simple depression of the on / off button starts the streamer up, and it's ready for a connection in around 30 to 40 seconds. Once fired up you can stream data to just about anything -- even iOS devices. That's an impressive feat, not quite a "first" moment as Seagate would like you to believe (we'll give that crown to AirStash), but still a rarity. Our unit shipped with a GoFlex USB 3.0 adapter and a car charger, with the latter enabling users to entertain their children on long road trips -- a nice addition, we have to say. Installation is a cinch; just fire up a media sync application that resides on the drive (for OS X users, anyway), and you're ready to drag and drop files as if it's any 'ole HDD. No media management software or anything of the sort, thankfully. The purpose of having your media onboard is to stream videos, photos, documents and music to your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, or any other tablet, phone or laptop with WiFi. You heard right -- while there's only a dedicated app for the iOS family, any WiFi-enabled device with a web browser can tap into this. Care to hear our take on this $200 do-it-all hard drive? Have a look at our review video just after the break. %Gallery-123635%
iMac frees you from the tyranny (and convenience) of servicing your own hard drives (update: not exactly a new problem)
Letting Apple control most facets of your computing experience is just a fact of life for the Mac faithful, but if you want to swap out the hard drive for a bigger or faster one with the most recent iMac refresh, well, you have somewhat limited options. Rather than a 4-wire SATA configuration Apple uses a 7-wire configuration that keeps you from hooking up just any old hard drive, lest a temperature sensor go batty and your system refuse to cooperate. There are ways around it, but your warranty may not apply afterward... Update: We've revised this post to clarify that this isn't exactly a new issue. The same problem existed in previous revisions, but the big issue now is that the separate thermal cable has been integrated into the SATA cable. It's similar to what was done before, just a little harder to get around now. But, you can get around it. Update 2: Hardmac has a detailed analysis of the situation which we'd recommend you check out. It verifies OWC's findings, and recommends you short pins 2 and 7 to basically circumvent the issue. Why does Apple do this? The separate temperature monitor enables OS X to more regularly check the temperature of the system's drives without compromising overall bandwidth provided by SATA. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
LG trots out XE1 and XE2 USB 3.0 drives for the Korean market
If you've been on the hunt for a USB 3.0 drive to pair with your newly minted notebook, the list of options just keeps on growing. LG just released the XE1 and XE2, a pair of 2.5-inch HDDs available in 500GB, 750GB, and 1TB sizes. The only difference: the XE1 has a glossy finish and its sibling, a matte one -- both more conservative-looking than what Samsung's been peddling. If you're in Korea, you'll soon be able to snag one in the size and style of your choice for somewhere between ₩100,000 and ₩160,000 ($92 to $147).
Seagate copies Samsung's notes, re-breaks areal-density barrier with 1TB HDD platters
What better way for Seagate to celebrate its $1.375 billion dollar purchase of Samsung's HDD division than to re-introduce the old firm's breakthrough? Seagate took the Samsung's 1TB platter prototypes and packed them into a real hard drive, bringing the new technology to market for the first time. These new drives will boast an areal-density of 625 gigabits (78.13GB) per square inch, scoring 1TB platters for the outfit's next generation of hard disks. Unfortunately, Seagate won't be cramming four of those 1TB plates into a single hard drive as Samsung originally planned, instead opting to debut the technology in a 3TB external drive under their GoFlex brand. No official specs this time around, but when the turkey was on Samsung's platter, it spun at 5,400 RPM with a 32MB cache and SATA 6Gbps compatibility.
Samsung sells HDD division to Seagate for $1.375 billion
We're firmly of the belief that SSDs are our future and Samsung would seem to agree. The Korean electronics giant has just announced that it's selling its hard disk drive-manufacturing arm to Seagate Technology for a neat $1.375 billion in equal measures of cash and stocks. As a result, Samsung Electronics will own approximately 9.6 percent of Seagate and get to nominate one new member to join Seagate's Board of Directors, while the two companies have further agreed to deepen their strategic relationship with related cross-licensing and supply stipulations. Samsung will provision Seagate's solid state drives with NAND flash memory, whereas Seagate will furnish Samsung's PCs and consumer electronics products with hard disk storage. The deal is expected to complete in full by year's end and you can read all about it in Seagate's press release after the break. [Thanks, Pavel]
Toshiba's Wipe HDDs render data useless when you get online in a strange place
Self-encrypting drives are hardly new, but that doesn't mean researchers aren't still looking for ways to give those IT folks behind the curtain more ways to lock down sensitive intel. Toshiba just launched a line of self-encrypting HDDs that will "invalidate" the data -- essentially, rendering it useless -- when the laptop connects to an unknown host. IT departments can also use Toshiba's so-called Wipe Technology to scrub a machine before tossing it, or encrypt the drives every time someone powers down. The company won't be peddling these directly to consumers, of course, and in fact, Tosh is planning on shopping them around not just for laptops, but multifunction printers and point-of-sale systems, too. They'll come in five sizes, ranging from 160GB to 640GB, and will all run at 7,200RPM. And Tosh says it'll work with OEMs to help them customize the conditions that will trigger a data lockup. It's too soon to say what laptops will pack this technology, though the company is clearly moving quickly -- it'll start showing off samples this month and will ramp up mass production by late June.
G-Technology crashes NAB with portable, Thunderbolt-equipped RAID arrays
The Thunderbolt goodness just keeps on rolling out at NAB. G-Technology just announced it will be adding support for the high-speed connection to its line of RAID devices for those who spend their days chopping up HD video. The first batch of products will hit in either Q3 or Q4 and start with the company's smaller arrays in the four to eight-disc size. A prototype of a four-drive model can be seen in the photo above, which rep Pete Schlatter described to us as "the sweet spot" in terms of portability and storage. Sure, calling an eight drive array "portable" sounds like a stretch, but don't forget: these are designed to be paired with laptops and carried by people editing video on the go -- you know, guys with giant cases of equipment and biceps to match.
Seagate starts shipping pencil-thin $99 GoFlex Slim hard drive
Remember that 9mm 2.5-inch GoFlex external HDD that Seagate teased us with back at CES? You're looking at it. The company has just gone official with the newly christened GoFlex Slim, a performance-oriented, multifaceted drive that's slimmer than your mother's last smartphone. The final product will boast USB 3.0 support, a 7200RPM drive (ours was 320GB), a three-year warranty and a price tag that's still being determined. By the numbers, you're looking at a pocketable drive weighing 0.356 pounds and measuring 4.91- x 3.07- x 0.354-inches, but due to the GoFlex attachment on the bottom, you'll need the special SuperSpeed USB cable that Seagate includes in order to make contact. In our testing, it managed to transfer files at upwards of 40MB/sec when attached to a USB 3.0 system, which ain't half bad for a drive that's powered via USB and slimmer than a pencil. It'll hit US retailers on August 5th, and at just $99, you know you'll be picking up two just for kicks and giggles. Update: Seagate just pinged us with a clarification; it'll start shipping today! %Gallery-119855%
World Backup Day reminds you to backup your world, today
It's a bit less silly than the National Day of Unplugging, but unless your weekend starts on Thursday, there's nary a snowball's chance in Hades that you're going to skip tonight's network comedy lineup in order to do something that you can clearly put off until tomorrow. But what if, dear readers, your data doesn't make until tomorrow? What if those images from your first date vanish into the ether? What if you spend $4,598 next week in vain as a perplexed computer technician asks you if you'd ever considered backing your critical data up? For those that choose to act on World Backup Day, that future isn't one you'll have to consider, and a host of online backup services are urging you to sign up today in order to protect what's most important to you: your stash of decidedly unbecoming Facebook messages. We'd also suggest investing in a NAS or RAID setup for your home, but throwing everything into a fireproof safe four miles below Arches National Park probably isn't a bad idea, either. You know -- in case your fail-safe fails. Not that we'd ever consider fear mongering...
Toshiba updates STOR.E external HDDs to USB 3.0, sees no lightning and hears no thunder
Allegiances are being drawn and battle plans laid out as the USB 3.0 vs. Thunderbolt war truly begins. Toshiba is, for the moment at least, staying friendly with the USB side, announcing updated versions of its STOR.E external HDDs, both packing Superspeed tech. On the smaller side is the ALU 2S, packing a 2.5-inch HDD internally that has up to 1TB on platters. If you need a little more you can step up to the Steel S, another external unit containing a 3.5-inch HDD with up to 2TB of storage. That one, unfortunately, will require an external power supply, while the littler ALU 2S will get by with only a USB cable. Both feature metal exteriors, increasing their usability as impromptu bludgeons, and both are slated to start shipping before this first quarter is through -- which should mean any time now.
Western Digital's new My Book Studio Edition II has 6TB on offer, but no Thunderbolt or USB 3.0
If you want a lot of the GBs in not a lot of space, 3TB per disk is about as good as you're going to get. Western Digital has slapped two of its triple-terabyte monsters into a dual-disk enclosure and paired it with eSATA and FireWire 800 interfaces to create the My Book Studio Edition II. There's a good 'ol USB 2.0 hole in there as well, but no USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt for those getting hip with the new connections. Time Machine support is baked in as well as your choice of RAID configurations, all at a cost of $549.99. That's a good bit more than you'd spend if you bought a pair of disks and an empty enclosure, but such is the price of convenience. %Gallery-119224%
Seagate Pulsar XT.2 and Pulsar.2 SSDs target enterprise, reliability-obsessed consumers
Seagate has just taken the wraps off a slew of fresh enterprise storage drives, highlighted by a pair of new Pulsar SSDs. The MLC NAND-equipped Pulsar.2 is capable of 6Gbps speeds over SATA, while the 2.5-inch XT.2 uses SLC memory and a 6Gbps SAS connection, and both are unsurprisingly touted as being the fastest and finest guardians you can buy for your company's data. Seagate sees the use of MLC flash on the Pulsar.2 as a major advantage in lowering costs, while its data-protecting and error-correcting firmware is expected to maintain the high levels of data integrity required in this space. No price is actually given to validate Seagate's claims of a breakthrough price / performance combination, but both of its new SSDs should be available in the second quarter of this year. The XT.2 is already shipping out to OEMs, along with its 360MBps read and 300MBps write speeds. There are also new Savvio and Constellation HDDs from the company, but you'll have to read the 1,400-word essay press release after the break to learn more about them.
Ask Engadget: best home backup solution?
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 question is coming to us from Michel, who seems to be having difficulty sleeping without a decent backup solution in his home. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "It's been 6 years since the last Ask Engadget article on best home backup solution. Is there a good update yet? It's for PC, and I need to be able to disconnect the hard drive and plug it in, and navigate the folders like on my main PC. Thanks!" Home backup solutions have come a long way over the years, but having one that also funtions as a conventional external drive cuts down your options somewhat. We're guessing this fellow is looking for something more akin to a Clickfree drive rather than a 5-bay NAS, so if you've got any recommendations in that area, shout 'em out in comments below.
Samsung HDD manages 1TB per platter, areal-density enthusiasts rejoice
Solid state drives are the geek storage of choice, what with their quiet nature, blazing fast speed, and stunning good looks. However, the limited capacity and sky-high price of SSDs keeps many of us buying traditional disk-based storage solutions -- which is just fine considering Samsung keeps finding ways to fit more bits and bytes on every drive. Last year, Sammy's EcoGreen F4EG squeezed 2TB onto a 3-platter drive (or 667GB per platter), and now the company's primed to release a new series of Spinpoint drives with even greater areal density at a time and price that remains TBD. Whenever they do get here, the new HDDs promise to deliver up to 1TB per platter spinning at 5,400RPM -- meaning 4TB desktop drives and a terabyte of storage (courtesy of two 500GB platters) in standard-sized laptop HDDs. The 3.5-inch version packs a 32MB cache and SATA 6Gbps compatibility, while the 2.5-inch variety has an 8MB cache and a 3 Gb/s SATA interface. Knowing all that, only one question remains: could areal-density enthusiasts be the new pixel-density enthusiasts?
Western Digital drops $4.3 billion to acquire Hitachi GST, enter staring contest with Seagate
Yow. Western Digital -- the company responsible for shipping the planet's first 1TB 2.5-inch hard drive way back in 2009 -- just announced a monstrous deal to acquire one of its primary competitors, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. Both outfits have actually shown quite a few interesting HDD designs in recent months, and it's pretty clear that WD would rather not go at it alone any longer. Granted, these types of deals aren't entirely unheard of -- in fact, Seagate swallowed up Maxtor back in 2005 for a cool $2 billion. Under the deal, which is a mix of $3.5 billion in cash and $750 million in WD common stock, the two will combine in a way that sees the Western Digital brand and headquarters surviving, while Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi GST, will join WD at closing as president. Hard to say what this will mean for consumer pricing and competition, but we're pretty certain the powers that be will be looking it all over for fairness before they hop in the blender during Q3. Full release is after the break.
Seagate ships 7,200RPM 3TB Barracuda XT internal hard drive, we wonder what took so long
We've been hearing about Seagate's plans to offer an unencumbered 3TB hard drive since May of last year, but despite promises of a 2010 launch and the release of similarly large HDDs from companies like Western Digital and Hitachi, we're only now seeing the 3TB Barracuda XT shipping all on its own. We won't claim to have an explanation for the delay, but it's possible that the company's proprietary software -- which breaks the 2.1TB legacy OS barrier and enables this guy to function within Windows XP -- could have something to do with it. It might be tardy to the party, but the new Barracuda can definitely hold its own when stacked against the competition -- it spins at 7,200RPM, touts a 64MB cache, and plays nice with the 6Gbps SATA interface. It ain't the only 3TB fish in the sea, but at $280, it's definitely not dead in the water.
Vail is now Windows Home Server 2011, Drive Extender's officially dead
Microsoft announced months ago that the artist formerly known as Vail -- now officially known as Windows Home Server 2011 -- was dropping Drive Extender functionality. Though we were given hope that the feature might be reinstated, the release candidate of WHS2011 went out to testers today... sans Drive Extender's 'drive pooling for dummies' capability. In its place, Microsoft has included a Move Folder Wizard that alerts you when a new hard drive has been added (for those who were visited by the HDD fairy without their knowledge, no doubt) and walks you through formatting and partitioning your new drive. However, partition size is limited to 2TB for it to work with the server backup feature, so your massive collection of ripped Blu-rays will require a veritable alphabet of drive letters. Not all the news is bad though, as the dev team has enabled Shadow Copy in the OS to allow data time traveling in case you accidentally delete something. If that sounds good to you, hit the source link below and get your download on.
ASUS Lamborghini external HDD sports beautiful curves, bloated price tag
Hot on the heels of ASUS' underwhelming Lamborghini VX6 netbook comes the equally over-hyped Lamborghini external HDD. Underneath that logo you've got either 500GB or 700GB of storage spinning at 5400RPM in the USB 2.0 model and 7200RPM in the USB 3.0 edition. The only sign of luxury in sight, however, is the price tag -- at $120 for the 500GB and $140 for the 700GB, the USB 2.0 versions are nearly twice as pricey as the non-Lambo competition. We've still no idea when the drives will land Stateside or how much the USB 3.0 iteration will cost, but then again, if you have to ask ...
