Hitachi adds TravelStar 5K750 and 7K750 mobile HDDs to its offer

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has now introduced its latest TravelStar series mobile hard drives, the 5K750 and 7K750 models which come in 500GB, 640GB and 750GB capacities, and feature the Advanced Format (sector size is 4096 bytes).

The 5K750 and 7K750 2.5-inch HDDs work at 5400 and 7200 RPM (rotations per minute), respectively, are 9.5mm thick, boast two platters, and have a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, 8/16MB of buffer memory,Thermal Fly-height Control (TFC) for better soft error rate and improved reliability, and the TrueTrack Technology for tracking accuracy in high shock or vibration environments.

Panasonic new Viera R2 series comes with Skype and up to 500GB of HDD

Panasonic just announced this morning their new Veria R2 HD TVs in Japan. Available in either PDP (Plasma) in 50, 46 and 42” with 500GB of HDD or in LCD featuring Panasonic New IPSα technology and in 37” Full HD or 32” (HD Ready) with 500GB of HDD as well as in 19” (HD Ready) and with 250GB of HDD. Our 6 New TVs are thanks to their internal HDDs capable to record your favorite SD or HD TV program without the need for you to invest in any kind of DVR, as well as let you place VoIP Calls via Skype, access to VOD contents including but not only limited to YouTube.

Imation presents its Defender H100 & H200 secure external HDDs

Oakdale’s own Imation Corp. has went a little security-crazy lately but in a good way as this has resulted in the introduction of the Defender line of data-protecting storage solutions, which includes the Defender H100 and H200 external hard drives.

Currently awaiting FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standards) 14-2, Level 3 validation, the two HDDs make use of a tamper-resistant metal enclosure, have a USB 2.0 interface, on-board AES 256bit (hardware) encryption, and come in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB capacities. The H100 features password authentication, while the H200 includes both password and biometric fingerprint support.

The Defender H100 and H200 are backed by a five-year warranty.

Transcend unveils the StoreJet 25D2 portable HDD

Transcend’s StoreJet offer is getting bigger still as the company has now announced a new 2.5-inch portable hard drive, the USB 2.0-supporting StoreJet 25D2 aka, the ‘slower’ brother of the recently-released 25D3 USB 3.0 HDD.

Measuring 129.9 x 82.07 x 17.3 mm, the StoreJet 25D2 features a gloss piano finish, a shock-dampening system that incorporates internal suspension technology, anti-slip rubber feet, and a power-saving sleep mode that activates after ten minutes of inactivity, enabling energy-savings of up to 30%.

Transcend’s drive has its spinners going at 5400 RPM (rotations per minute), packs 8MB of buffer, is bundled with a faux-suede travel pouch and the StoreJet Elite software that offers backup, Internet tools and 256-bit AES encryption, and is paired up with a three-year warranty. The 250GB, 320GB, 500GB and 640GB StoreJet 25D2 models are now listed with prices tags of 55 Euro, 59.65 Euro, 74.26 Euro and 85.52 Euro, respectively.

Sharp to introduce two new entry level HDD and BD Recorder

Featuring only 1 Digital TV tuner, the Sharp Blu-Ray Aquos BD-HDS53 (320GB) and BD-HDS55 (500GB) new Video recorders aims to offer a fully features product at an affordable price ranging at 80,000 Yen for the first model up to 90,000 Yen for the second one.
Compatible with Japanese SKYPerfectTV and other Digital TV programs, our 2 new Video recorders used MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and are DTCP-IP and DLNA compatible.

Western Digital delivers 9.5mm thick 750GB notebook HDD

Eight months after releasing a 12.5mm thick 750GB Scorpio Blue 2.5-inch hard drive, Western Digital has finally come up with a same-capacity model that has a standard height of 9.5mm. The standard-slim 750GB drive features two 375GB platters, a working speed of 5400 RPM, 8MB of cache, a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, the Advanced Format technology (4096-byte sectors), as well as functions that increase reliability and reduce operating noise (ShockGuard and WhisperDrive).

“WD continues to lead the market with capacity points that enable consumers and business professionals to store large quantities of data and rich media content,” said Jim Morris, WD’s senior vice president and general manager of Storage Products. “Our leading power efficiency, achieved without compromise to performance, is another example of the added features and value that our customers have come to expect from WD.”

The new Scorpio Blue 750GB (model WD7500BPVT) hard drive is backed by a three-year warranty and is shipping bearing a price tag of $149.

Buffalo Ships MiniStation Cobalt USB 3.0 Portable HDDs

Buffalo Technology, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of wired and wireless networking and network and direct attached storage solutions, has announced the MiniStation Cobalt USB 3.0 portable hard drive, the latest generation of SuperSpeed external storage solutions which deliver interface speeds up to 5 Gigabits per second. Designed for mobility and equipped with USB 3.0 technology for extreme transfer rates, MiniStation Cobalt USB 3.0 can quickly store or back up massive amounts of high-resolution graphics, digital audio and video files, photos and other assets, in a compact and lightweight form, perfect for travel.

“Buffalo continues to deliver on the promise of producing high quality, high performance storage solutions that push the technological envelope,” said Ralph Spagnola, vice president of sales at Buffalo Technology. “With the new MiniStation Cobalt USB 3.0, we are continuing a tradition of innovative, high-speed storage solutions that consumers have come to rely on year after year.”

Delivering interface speeds 10 times faster than USB 2.0, the MiniStation Cobalt HD-PEU3 can store and move tons of photo, video, music and data files at speeds previously unavailable to USB portable storage. Additionally, the Cobalt USB 3.0 is backward-compatible with USB 2.0 and it works with PC and Mac®, so you can access your files from nearly any computer.

Included with the Cobalt USB 3.0 is Buffalo Tools, a feature-rich suite of optional PC performance enhancement tools which includes TurboPC, Backup Utility, ECO Manager, RAMDISK and SecureLock. Utilizing your PC’s high speed RAM, TurboPC can increase file transfer rates by up to 25% over competing USB 3.0 portable hard drives. TurboPC also includes TurboCopy which provides additional system adjustments to increase performance substantially. Buffalo’s Backup Utility is an easy-to-use and fully featured backup software for Windows PCs that can be used to back up one or multiple PCs with a single Buffalo external hard drive. ECO Manager is an energy efficiency tool designed to conserve energy and reduce laptop battery consumption by regulating the power usage of your Buffalo external hard drive, cutting power to the drive during extended periods of inactivity. RAMDISK is a simple utility that allows you to create a RAM disk on your Windows PC, providing a small, but extremely fast environment to work on files in. Lastly, SecureLock software provides complete control of the data encryption on your Buffalo external hard drive, providing security through password protection and software data encryption.

Pricing and Availability
The MiniStation Cobalt HD-PEU3 will be available in a variety of capacities up to 640 GB and will begin shipping in April 2010. It is backed by a limited one-year warranty that includes toll-free, US based 24/7 technical support.

Western Digital rolls out the My Passport SE for Mac HDDs

Catering to the portable storage needs of Mac owners everywhere, Western Digital has let loose the new My Passport SE hard drives boasting 750GB and 1TB of Apple-friendly space. WD’s portable drives measure 110 (L) x 83 x 18 (H) mm, weight 190 grams, have a shiny silver enclosure, have a USB 2.0 interface and 256-bit hardware encryption for enhanced data protection, are formatted for Mac use and are compatible with the Time Machine software.

“With over 10 billion songs downloaded from the iTunes store, the enormous capacity of the new My Passport SE for Mac drives makes them the perfect travel-friendly storage device to hold all the rich media content collected by videographers, creative professionals and digital media enthusiasts with large digital media collections,” said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD’s branded products group.

The 750GB and 1TB My Passport SE for Mac HDDs are priced at $179.99 and $199.99, respectively.