Storage
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Hitachi rolls out Travelstar 5K160 160GB 2.5-in perpendicular drive
It's about time. Hitachi may be the granddaddy of perpendicular media (if not, they're certainly the technology's biggest booster), but the company has been a little slow to shrink its high-capacity drives down to 2.5 inches. But the company is now prepared to follow such competitors as Seagate and Toshiba, with its own 160GB, 2.5-inch drive. The 5400RPM Travelstar 5K160 drive is expected to sell for $270 to OEMs and $300 to consumers. Hitachi plans a 1.8-inch version by the end of the year; they're playing catchup there as well, since Toshiba's 1.8-incher is already on the market.
Maxtor's Shared Storage Plus NAS device reviewed
Reg Hardware seems to agree with our own astute pundit Ross Rubin that Maxtor's Shared Storage Plus Network Attached Storage device is a winner as a solid backup solution while doing double-duty as a capacious media server. Testing the 500GB version of the SSP, El Reg found the device easy to setup and share among several users, with software that provides a simple way to set up incremental backups, network printing, or media streaming to compatible uPnP devices. There do seem to be a few downsides here, most notably the irritating fan whine and skimpy one year warranty, and less importantly, the fact that it tags the icons of folders selected for backup with a little tick mark. If tick marks and fan noise don't bother you, though, the $465-as-tested SSP sounds like a pretty good way to backup data for small offices and homes with multiple computers, while giving you a little extra functionality to boot
Breakthrough in ferroelectric materials could enable million-GB thumbdrives
While we have to agree with certain Engadget readers who feel that 640KB of RAM is plenty for most computing tasks, those darn scientists just keep looking for ways to stuff more and more data into smaller spaces. The latest breakthrough on the storage tip comes courtesy of researchers from Drexel and Penn, who have found a way to stabilize the simple physical property of ferroelectricity at the nano scale, making possible such obviously unnecessary densities as 12,800,000GB per cubic centimeter. Ferroelectric materials are usable as memory because they possess the ability to switch electric charges in so-called dipole moments, but before Drexel's Dr. Jonathan Spanier and colleagues decided to embed the materials in water, it had previously been impossible to screen those dipole moments at scales small enough to be useful. Don't expect to be able to buy a zillion gig, water-filled iPod anytime soon, though, as the research team still faces significant hurdles in actually assembling the nanowires that would make up such a drive with the proper density as well as developing a method of efficiently reading and writing data.
Eye-Fi embeds WiFi into your SD flash
Until now SD WiFi has come in the form of those oversized (well, relatively) cards too long to actually fit in your device except those specifically designed to take one, like Kodak's Easy Share One, or Treo 650 / 700. Well, according to Eye-Fi, we can all scratch that problem off the list. By building their wireless into the flash of an SD card they can save on precious space, and also get a GB of memory in there too. Of course this won't exactly help all those digital cameras out there that don't even come close to supporting such a thing, but sometimes this kind of gear has to precede the hardware support in order to prove its own demand.[Via TechCrunch]
Seagate's 750GB Pushbutton Back-up Hard Drive
We'd heard it, it leaked, it got reviewed, then announced, now it's time to get your 750GB perp drives on people. Seagate's new 750GB Pushbutton Back-up Hard Drive isn't by an means out of the ordinary -- it's an external drive with USB 2.0 and FireWire, the only difference is it's 750GB in a single drive, not two drive in RAID 0. For what you're getting the $559 doesn't even really seem that out of control, and you'll have your chance to get one starting next month, according to Seagate. We're not going to ask what the hell kind of data you've got that requires you to go buy a 750GB drive (or a couple of 'em for an array, as it were), but copious storage early adopters, we tip our hats to you.
Bella Catapult enables camcorder-to-iPod recording
Camcorder accessory manufacturer Bella has just announced a new device that will let you toss those MiniDV cassettes straight out of your bag and replace them with your iPod or nearly any other USB 2.0-compliant storage system. The Catapult, as it's known, is a paperback-sized digital encoder that plugs into any standard or HD camcorder with a FireWire port and processes the video as you're recording, eliminating the need to convert your footage later on. Besides saving time and offering access to higher storage capacities, the Catapult also enables your cam with a number of features not available out of the box, such as time-lapse recording, remote trigger capabilities, and both pre- and post-recording ability. Pre-recording is an especially attractive option, as it seems to buffer whatever your CCD is capturing for a preset timeframe, allowing you to essentially "turn back the clock" and preserve events that already happened once you hit the record button. Bella tells us to expect their new product sometime during the second half of the year, for some amount of money less than $300.[Via T3]
Iomega launches StorCenter 1TB wireless NAS
We've seen terabyte NAS boxes before. And we've seen wireless ones too. But Iomega may be one of the first companies to combine the two into a simple plug-and-play solution, with the company's 1TB StorCenter Wireless Network Storage device. The box includes gigabit Ethernet, two USB ports, 802.11g wireless networking, and four 250GB, 7200 RPM drives that can be set up in RAID 0, RAID 1 or RAID 5 configurations. The NAS has a suggested retail price of $899. Iomega has also launched a 500GB wired NAS, the StorCenter External Hard Drive, with a price of $499.
Logitec LBD-A2FU2/WM: the first Blu-ray Disc drive for Macs
Ok Macheads, now you can get your Blu-ray on too with Logitec’s (no, not that Logitech) announced LBD-A2FU2/WM Blu-ray Disc drive. From the machine translation of the press release, it would appear that this is just a rebadged Panasonic burner (pictured) which brings the love for some 13 BD, DVD, and CD media formats. Logitec will deliver what they say will be an industry first Mac BD drive as an external unit connected by either USB or Firewire and bundled with Roxio Toast 7 Titanium. It's so new that they couldn't even muster-up a photo! Uh, yeah. Like its Panny cuz, expect these to drop for around $850 but a bit later in mid-July with more OEM'd Mac drives sure to follow.[Via Akihabara News]
IODATA launches BRD-UM2 & BRD-AM2B Blu-ray drives
Looks like Panny's not the only company showing off their Blu-ray offerings in Japan today. IODATA's got two of their own: the internal BRD-UM2, and external USB BRD-AM2B, which will go for ¥110,250 and ¥121,800, respectively (that's $942 US and $1,041 US, also respectively). Looks like these will also burn dual-layer BD-R and BD-RE media, as well as your usual DVD±RW and CD-RW, and will even beat Panasonic's offering to market by a solid 9 days with a June 1st release date. So keep an eye out with your favorite gadget importer and keep that credit card clean.[Via Impress]
Panasonic LF-MB121JD Blu-ray drive ships June 10th for $850
In what would appear to be a global release, though it's unclear from the machine translation, Panasonic just announced that they will be shipping their LF-MB121JD Blu-ray Disc drive for PCs (not to be confused with their DMP-BD10 player expected in September) in OEM, regular, and slimline slot-loading form factors, starting 10 June with support for 13 BD / DVD / CD formats. The drive delivers on both 25GB and dual-layer 50GB Blu-ray discs allowing you to write at 2x (72Mbps) speeds to both BD-R / RE formats via a suite of bundled software. It also features 8x write speeds to both DVD±R and DVD RW, 4x to DVD±R DL, 6x to DVD-RW, 5x to DVD-RAM, 24x to CD-R and 16x to CD-RW. Pretty much the same unit (and may well be) as the BenQ BW1000, but superior to both the Samsung SH-B022 (which can read but not write to DVD and CD formats) and the Pioneer BDR-101A which, oddly, the last time we looked, didn't support CDs at all. Panasonic also announced their 25GB and 50GB 2x discs which will hit the shelves starting April 28 just in time to prime the pump a bit.[Via Newlaunches]
Hitachi Maxell 1TB SVOD optical disc cart
Good morning, kids. Are you ready for the optical disc format of the day? It's Hitachi Maxell's 1TB stacked volumetric optical disc (SVOD) array, comprised of rather thin DVD-size discswith DVD-size capacities: 9.4GB total storage each on two 92µm thick data layers. Yeah, we know, we promised a terabyte; well, watch and learn. These polycarbonate discs may be too thin to be manufactured from typical plastics, but they can be stacked in an optical array 100 tall, and 6.5 x 13.3 x 16.1cm (2.5 x 5.2 x 6.3-inches) in size. Even though Hitachi Maxell wants to make the terabyte carts relatively cheap at ¥40,000 (about $340 US) and claims there are consumer applications, don't toss that HD DVD player just yet. It's pretty easy to realize why optical arrays are really of only limited utility for the end-user; if these should ever be popularized, we'd imagine it would serve first as data archival medium for businesses before you'd ever outfit your rig with, like, the high def optical disc system, dude.[Thanks, Andrew]
Plextor PX-SP "shock-proof" external drives
We're always a little suspicious when a company releases a line of products labeled with terms like "ruggedized" or "shock-proof," especially when those items are packed into tiny packages. So, we're a little wary of Plextor's claims that the company's new PX-SP USB hard drives, which weigh in at less than 8 ounces, are shock-proof. However, according to the company, the drives -- which are available in capacities of 80GB and 120GB -- are protected by a "silicon jacket bumper," which allow users to carry them "anytime, anywhere." We'll reserve judgment for now, though we're eager to hear how these survive some real world "anytime, anywhere" tests involving drops, falls and the wheels of large military vehicles.
Maxtor shows new storage products
We're still trying to cut through the jargon in Maxtor's latest press release (which may be the first we've seen that actually manages to fit "Web 2.0" and "tipping point" into a single sentence), but once you manage to pare it down, it turns out the company is announcing one new product, teasing about another, and providing some more info about a deal we checked out earlier. The new product is the Maxtor Shared Storage II, a NAS for home and office users, offering RAID storage, gigabit Ethernet and up to 1TB of space. The teased product is the One Touch III Mini Edition (pictured), a one-inch thick drive that can hold up to 100GB of data and which will, according to Maxtor, include "an industry first." Details, including that "first," will be available later this month. Oh, and the deal? As we previously noted, Maxtor's working with Fabrik on something called "Project Fusion," which sounds like an online backup service that will take advantage of Maxtor's One Touch interface to make it easier to store and share files on a hosted server. Pricing is expected to range from a free service to one costing about $50 a year, depending on storage and feature needs. We're looking forward to it; we need something that will, in Maxtor's words, help us "truly harness [our] content."
Fujitsu plans to boost drive capacity with advanced lubricants
It may not have the same "wow" factor as advances such as holographic storage or perpendicular recording (and probably doesn't have a funky flash video showing off its features), but Fujitsu has plans to increase hard drive capacity using advanced lubricants. The idea seems fairly simple: if you can reduce the space between the read/write head and the platter, you can squeeze more data into a smaller space. The problem is, there's only so close the head can get to the drive without causing damage. However, as Fujitsu sees it, new lubricants could eliminate such concerns, allowing the head to float a mere 2 nanometers above the drive, compared with 10 nm as is typical with current drives. While Fujitsu is being coy about specifics, the company boasts that the technology could allow hard drives with a capacity of 1 terabit per square inch by 2010. That would double the density offered by InPhase's holographic drives, which currently hold a record at a half-terabit per inch. So, as long as Fujitsu's lubrication solution doesn't involve, say, submerging your PC's innards in a tank of vegetable oil, we're ready for it.
Nintendo Revolution to have SD slot and USB for external drives
If, like us, you were curious as to how Nintendo's expectedly hard drive-free Revolution was going to be able to compete with Sony's and Microsoft's drive-toting next-gen consoles, let your fears be allayed. In a recent CNN Money interview with Iwata-san, the N-man divulged that the Rev would come with an SD slot (which we'd heard) to complement its 512MB internal flash memory (for, you know, downloading games n' stuff), but that it'd also have USB ports for external storage solutions, like flash drives and hard drives. That's not going to be a huge boon if the Rev isn't going to have crazy media features like the 360 has and the PS3 is expected to, but it's still nice to know we're not gonna be left in the lurch on the storage thing.[Via Joystiq and PSFK]
Be the first on your block with an HD-DVD drive
If you're really ready for next generation DVDs, this guy on the CDFreaks message boards is selling NEC HD-DVD HR-1100A readers for your desktop PC. Not sure why you'd want one since we don't know when you'll actually have HD-DVDs to play on it and probably no software to play them with, but you would still be first. We've seen commercial Blu-ray players from Japan pop up on eBay before, but this may be the first opportunity to have HD-DVD technology all to yourself, and for only $120.Since you won't be playing HD-DVDs anytime soon, enjoy your stunning 32x CD/8x DVD playback speeds and wonder what might be ... someday. As soon as HD-DVD drives are available from somewhere other than some-guy-on-a-forum, we'll let you know.[via digg]
Samsung debuts new 32GB Flash drive
Back in September, Samsung Electronics introduced the first 16GB NAND Flash-based memory device. Today, at the Samsung Mobile Solution Forum in Taipei, the South Korean-based manufacturer demonstrated a 32GB notebook version of the solid state disk.These mini marvels require only 5% of the power needed for today's hard disk drives, and are projected to hit storage capacities of 100GB by next year. They also read data three times faster than hard disks, which will make them appealing to desktop and console gamers, as well as road warriors.
Apple making waves in storage
When you think Apple most people think iPods not enterprise level storage solutions, but that may all be changing (well, in the enterprise at least). It is no secret that Apple's XServe RAID is one of the best values on the market and that has allowed Apple to rise from the 12th spot in the storage market to the 10th spot in a year (based on $185 million in sales).Some more interesting bits: Apple has shipped 76 petabytes of storage roughly 40% of XServe RAIDS are in non-Mac environments
HVD to offer mega-storage in 2006
Instead of asking "HD-DVD or Blu-Ray?" next year, we might be asking "Holographic Video Disc or other inferior products?" We're not even done with the current format war and the troops are already gearing up for the next one. Actually, from the sounds of the new HVD, I may bypass the high-def DVD silliness completely.We mentioned 200GB HVDs last month, but already Maxell has come forth with plans for 300 GB of digital capacity. It's still not enough for a whole season of "24" in high-def, but we're getting closer!
