Toshiba has expanded its line of small hard drives with several 1.8-inch offerings featuring capacities up to 320GB. The MKxx33GSG series is available in 160GB, 250GB, and 320GB sizes, each based on dual-platter configuration. The drives feature a 16MB cache buffer, 5,400RPM spindle speed and transfer rates of up to 830Mb/s.
Toshiba has debuted a new line of hard drives, the MK5056GSY series, that expands the company's notebook offerings to included a 7200RPM model with 500GB capacity. The drives are claimed to transfer data at 1,255Mb/s, a 23 percent improvement over the earlier versions.
OWC has launched new 750GB notebook drive products. The new capacity drives arrive in bus-powered On-The-Go Pro models, with three connectivity options. The top-of-the-line triple interface offers FireWire 800/400 and USB 2.0 connections, while a dual-interface FireWire 400/USB 2.0 and a USB 2.0-only version are available for reduced pricing.
Apple service provider MyService has launched a 750GB MacBook Pro hard disk upgrade. The company is providing round-trip shipping, installation of the drive, and full data transfer. In particular the new drive is a 5400rpm Scorpio Blue model from Western Digital. Its height slightly exceeds the standard 9.5mm for 2.5-inch drives, but still fits in the computers accepted by MyService.
Hitachi has expanded its Travelstar line of 2.5-inch hard drives with the 7K500 series, available in capacities up to 500GB. The new drives represents the company's highest capacity notebook storage without sacrificing the 7200RPM speed and 16MB cache. Media transfer rates have been increased to 1245Mb/s, approximately 16 percent faster than the 7K320-series drives.
Apricorn has released its Aegis Padlock Secure Hard Drive, a portable storage system. The drive features a keypad that is used to input custom PIN numbers, protecting the device's content from being accessed by intruders. Users also have a choice between an AES-128 or 256 bit encryption to keep data safe. The device utilizes a USB 2.0 cable and is cross-platform compatible.
Apple on Wednesday released Hard Drive Firmware Update 2.0, which addresses issues with 7200-rpm, 500GB MacBook Pro drives. Users were reporting that their computer would freeze for several seconds, before beeping and clicking. These are reportedly signs of overworked reading mechanisms. Apple released a statement last week saying it was working towards a solution to the problem.
Samsung has introduced its latest solid state drive (SSD), the 256GB FlashSSD, geared for gamers. The component is claimed to offer a five-fold improvement in data loading time compared to traditional hard drives, while running with lower power consumption.
Apricorn has released the PCIe and the PCI-X Drive Arrays which support up to four 2.5-inch SATA hard drives or solid state drives. The PCI Drive Arrays can handle up to 4TB per slot, with support for servers, high speed data collection, animation, CAD/EDA simulation, video editing, and other storage systems. Both Drive Arrays embed all four SATA HDDs or SSDs onto a single card.
Hitachi GST is now shipping its first 2TB, 7,200 RPM desktop hard drive. The fourth-generation Deskstar 7K2000 uses the company's proprietary five-platter design with relaxed bit density and perpendicular magnetic recording technology. The company is also refreshing its K1000.C Deskstar line, with capacities ranging from 160GB to 1TB.
Prosoft Engineering has released v2.2 of its flagship application, Drive Genius. The software is used to optimize hard drives to make them run faster and work more efficiently overall. The latest version supports Mac OS Snow Leopard and works with non-HFS volumes where possible. The update newly displays defragment, scan, and volume shift progress bars and provides information about any bad blocks found during scans.
Deals from DealNN today include a variety of items from MacBooks to digital cameras. Most notable is a price drop on the 13.3-inch unibody MacBook from MacMall.com, it is now priced at $924.99 after mail-in-rebate. The unibody MacBook features a 2.0GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive as well as a glass multi-touch trackpad, built-in iSight webcam and microphone.
LSI has released a Mac OS X driver for its 3ware 9690SA and 9650SE series RAID controller cards. The controllers enable Mac server users in directly attached storage environments to optimize reading and writing performance while streaming digital video, digital audio, and film. The device's StreamFusion firmware utilizes an Advanced Content Streaming feature to divide total bandwidth equally among various streams, allowing the devices to sustain multiple streams with large amounts of data. The controller's firmware also includes an Intelligent Read Prefetch feature that enables data to be retrieved from media and stored on the controller in advance of the data being requested by the host.
LaCie has released its LaCinema Rugged HD multimedia hard drive. The product is used to store and play high definition movies, music and photographs on any high definition television in 1080p resolution. The device is compatible with any HDMI supported display and utilizes graphic menus and setting features with a remote control for navigation. The LaCinema Rugged HD requires a USB 2.0 cable to connect to the computer where the device uses bus-powered multimedia loading.
Apple's online store is currently offering a selection of refurbished Mac mini's at discounted prices. Starting at $419 is the 1.83GHz Mac mini with 1GB of RAM and 80GB hard drive. Next up is the 2.0GHz model with 1GB of RAM and 120GB hard drive for $469. Lastly is the 2.0GHz model with 2GB of memory and 320GB hard drive for $699. Other refurbished Mac models include the 2.0GHz unibody MacBook with 2GB of RAM and 160GB hard drive for $949. The 1.6GHz MacBook Air with 2GB of RAM and 80GB hard drive for $999 and the 20-inch, 2.66GHz iMac with 2GB of RAM and 320GB hard drive also priced at $999.
QNAP Systems has released the newest addition to its line of storage servers, the SS-839 Pro Turbo NAS. QNAP believes this is the world's smallest eight-bay, Intel Atom-based network attached storage (NAS) unit utilizing 2.5-inch hard drives. The SS-839 Pro features disk-on-module architecture, an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz CPU, 2GB of DDR2 memory, and a total storage capacity of 4TB. The unit also offers two eSATA connections and five USB ports that can be used to attach the device to other storage servers and backups. The device is claimed to be energy efficient, with the eight-drive system operating on approximately 34 watts.
Iomega is targeting Mac users by adding a triple-interface model to its recently updated eGo line of portable hard drives. The eGo Portable Hard Drive For Mac is equipped with separate FireWire 400 and 800 ports as well as USB 2.0, and comes pre-formatted in the HFS+ file system. Mac-specific backup applications are also included.
LaCie has released a new series of hard drive bags, while expanding its line of USB Hubs. The new USB Hubs consists of the Core4 and the Core7, each designed to add multiple USB ports to a user's computer. The three-model series of hard drive bags are intended to provide different levels of Hard Drive protection.
QNAP Systems has released the latest addition to the Turbo NAS series, the SS-439 Pro Turbo. The data-server unit consists of four 2.5-inch SATA hard drives that utilize Intel's Atom platform, with 256-bit AES encryption and disk-on-module technologies designed to help minimize the size of the unit and keep data secure. The device is designed to save energy, operating on about 18W. The product also provides three USB 2.0 ports and two eSATA ports for storage capacity expansion or backup systems.
Today's featured DealNN deal is on the 1.83GHz Mac mini from BHphotoVideo.com. It is regularly priced at $599, but has been reduced to $449 and includes FREE shipping as well as free Parallels Desktop 4 software. This Mac mini has 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive, AirPort Extreme wireless, SuperDrive, speakers and four USB ports.
Iomega has introduced the latest generation of eGo portable hard drives, with USB 2.0 support and capacities ranging from 250GB to 500GB. The 2.5-inch drives are housed in an anodized aluminum shell measuring 16 mm thick. The company's Drop Guard system is claimed to protect against drops of up to 51 inches. Power is drawn from the USB port, while an included 'Y' cable connects to a second available port if additional current is needed.
Other World Computing on Thursday released the Express USB 2.0, a compact enclosure for 2.5-inch SATA I/II hard drives with heights up to 9.5mm. The device is bus powered, eliminating the need for an AC adapter. Both Windows and Mac systems are supported and the package includes a USB connecting cable and carrying sleeve.
Featured deals from DealNN include hard drives, printers, cameras and more. First up is the re-designed SanDisk 8GB Cruzer USB flash drive for $24.99. That's $15 off the list price of $39.99 and includes FREE shipping. The newly re-designed SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drive features a retractable USB port and is backed by a lifetime limited warranty from SanDisk.
Today's featured deal at DealNN is on the 1.83GHz Mac mini. It is regularly priced at $599 at J&R.com, but for a limited time they have dropped the price by $140 to $459 and included FREE shipping. This Mac mini has a 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 1GB of RAM and a 80GB hard drive.
Today's deals at DealNN include a wide range of storage devices. Amazon.com's Gold Box deal of the day for today features the Seagate Barracuda 1TB SATA bulk hard drive priced at $79.99. That's a price drop of $100 off the original price and it includes FREE shipping. Make it an external hard drive with the Startech InfoSafe USB SATA HDD enclosure priced at $31.24 with FREE shipping at Buy.com.
Today's featured DealNN deals include hard drives, Blu-ray players, digital cameras and more. For today only TigerDirect.com is offering the refurbished Samsung Blu-ray player for $149.99, which is a savings of $100 off the original price of $249.99. The Samsung Blu-ray player provides playback of Blu-ray disks and DVDs in 1080p (via the HDMI connector) and offers CD playback with high quality audio.
Today's featured deal of the day from DealNN is on the Fantom Drives G-Force 1TB external hard drive. This hard drive is priced at $109.99 which is $14.96 off the list price of $124.95, and for a limited get an additional $20 off with a mail in rebate offer that drops the final price down to $89.99. This drive provides data transfer rates of up to 60MB per second and features an aluminum casing to provide maximum durability as well as fan-less design for silent operation.
Featured DealNN deals for today include peripherals, storage, hard drives and more. First up is the Kensington SlimBlade wireless media mouse for $29.99. That's $27 off the original price of $56.99 and the lowest price we could find on this mouse by about $14. Features include a unique scroll ball that provides intuitive 260 scrolling, multifunction navigation pad that allows you to control digital media from anywhere in the room, automatic sleep function, and battery indicator light.
Deals at DealNN today include graphics tablets, hard drives, iMacs and more. The refurbished 20-inch iMac is first on our list. Last week when the iMac line got an upgrade, the prices on refurbished models were slashed at Apple's online store. This model was previously priced at $999 and was dropped to $849. Included is a 2.4GHz processor, 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, along with iSight webcam, microphone, 8x SuperDrive, and AirPort extreme wireless card.
Today's DealNN deals include a variety of GPS units, external hard drives, digital camcorders and more. First up is the Magellan Maestro 3200 GPS unit. It is regularly priced at $149.99, but for this week only it is reduced to $94.99. Features include a 3.5-inch color touchscreen display, turn-by-turn voice guidance and SmartDetour that automatically navigates out out traffic jams or stopped freeway traffic.
MCE Technologies is now shipping OptiBay hard drives for the aluminum-unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro. Available capacities range from 250GB to 500GB, each with an 8MB buffer. The 350GB and 500GB drives run at 5400rpm, while customers can choose a 7200rpm option for the 320GB model. The company claims that the OptiBay components consume less power than the original drives, contributing to a 10- to 15-percent extension of the battery life. The drives also support status monitoring and spin-down commands from the Mac OS.
A variety of deals, at discounted prices, from MacBooks and external hard drives to digital cameras, are currently being featured at DealNN. The most prominent deal today is on VMware Fusion 1.1 with free upgrade to version 2 at MacMall.com. This software, that allows Mac users to run Windows based programs on their desktop, was reduced in price from $69.99 to $29.99. A mail in rebate further drops the price down to $19.99. VMware Fusion 2 is a free downloadable upgrade for all VMware Fusion 1.x users and will work with the included serial number. That makes this around $37 less than buying Fusion 2.
Featured DealNN deals for today include printers, hard drives, GPS units and more. Most noteworthy today is the Sound Labs iMaingo portable iPod speaker case. This protective iPod case fits most iPod models and has built-in speakers making it possible to listen to music without headphones. For today only J&R.com reduced the price on this item from $39.99 to $14.99.
Today's deals at DealNN include a variety of deals on electronics from iPods to external hard drives. Most notable today is the Western Digital My Passport Studio external hard drive. This hard drive is pre-formatted for Mac users and offers FireWire, and USB interface options. It is currently priced at $99.99, which is a price reduction of $55 off the original price of $154.99, and includes FREE shipping after mail in rebate from MacMall.
Today's DealNN deals include a selection of products for under $50. Starting at $7 is the Dane-Elec 2GB SD memory card from J&R.com. Next up is the Patriot Razzo 4GB USB flash drive for $9.99 after a $10 instant rebate from TigerDirect.com. Buy.com has the Genius G-pen 4500 graphics tablet priced at $34.99, a savings of $30 off the list price of $64.99. The refurbished second generation 1GB iPod shuffle (in green, blue and pink) is available for $39 at the Apple store. Lastly is the Seagate Barracuda 250GB SATA hard drive for $49 at Newegg.com.
Today's DealNN deals include a variety of bargain priced products from notebook cases and digital cameras to external hard drives. First off is the Mobile Edge express tote notebook case for $20 from Buy.com. For a limited time Amazon.com has a special offer on the Sony Cybershot 8.1MP digital camera, in silver, priced at $195 with a FREE Sony 1GB memory stick. Get $30 off the Acer 22-inch LCD monitor from TigerDirect.com, it was priced at $199.99, now priced at $169.99. The refurbished Buffalo 250GB LinkStation is available at eCost.com for $44. Crucial 2GB SODIMM DDR2 memory is available at UpgradeNation.com for a reduced price of $33, that's $20 off the regular price of $53.
French company MacWay has unveiled the SilverDrive Quattro 1.5TB quad interface external hard drive. The new drive offers the highest storage capacity of the SilverDrive Quattro series, and supports USB 2.0, FireWire 400/800, and eSATA connections. The 7200RPM single disk drive is housed in an aluminum housing that allows for passive cooling, eliminating the need for a fan, which the company claims significantly reduces operating noise.
Every hard drive will eventually fail. Backing up your data can protect you against a hard disk crash, but you can often prevent minor hard disk problems through proper maintenance with special disk utility programs such as DriveGenius 2.1.
Toshiba on Wednesday unveiled a new 250GB 1.8-inch format hard drive, something the company claims to be an industry first. Sitting off a Serial ATA connector, the MKxx29GSG series drives now offer the highest density of data storage currently available, at 378.8 Gb per square inch, with a 15ms seek time. The drives, which are also available in 120GB and 160GB capacities, run at 5400RPM, and offer a free fall sensor option to help prevent damage to the drive platter.
Sans Digital has unveiled two new hard drive storage rackmounts, each allowing up to 42 drives, the AccuRAID AR442F4 and AR442F4R. 42TB of storage space can be supported when operating as direct attached storage, but also allowing setup as a network-attached service. Drives are interfaced using fibre-channel technology (4GB/s) for maximum speed and can be configured up to RAID 6 to protect against multiple drive failures. Both devices contain three hot-swappable power supplies and two hot swappable cooling fans.
HighPoint Technologies has unveiled the RocketRAID 4320 SAS RAID Controller. This hardware, featuring the Intel Xscale IOP348 at 1.2GHz, was designed by HighPoint to meet the scalability, performance, reliability, and manageability requirements for enterprise. RocketRAID 4320 is a PCI-Express x8 SAS RAID controller capable of supporting eight SAS/SATA hard drives. HighPoint claims transfer rates over 1004MB/s read and 913MB/s write using their second generation "TerabyteArchitecture".
Other World Computing today announced it is now offering a 2TB version of its Mercury Elite-AL Pro Dual-Drive USB 2.0 hub/storage device. The Mercury Elite is a "Plug 'N Play" external hard drive for Mac or PC that also offers three powered USB 2.0 ports. The drive runs at 7200rpm and has 64mb data buffer cache. OWC claims data transfer rates of 60MB/sec; the drive is packaged with Prosoft Engineer Data Backup for Mac OS X 10.2.9 or later, NovaStor NovaBACKUP for Windows 2000 or later, and Intech SpeedTools Utilities for Mac OS 8.6/X. A USB 2.0 cable is included with the drive. Storage capacities for the Mercury Elite series range from 500GB to 2TB, with prices ranging from $170 to $440, respectively.
Newer Technology has announced its new miniStack v2.5, an upgrade to its Mac Mini form factor hard drive/powered hub. The miniStack offers three FireWire 400 ports (one in and two out) and four USB 2.0 ports (one in and three out) and now features a SATA interface with the latest Oxford 934 bridge chipset. It is available now at Other World Computing with up to 1TB of hard drive space. Prices range from an enclosure kit with no hard drive for $80 to a 1TB miniStack at $280.
Currently the Apple store has a wide selection of re-certified aluminum cased iMacs. Starting at $949 is the base level 20-inch model with 2.0GHz processor, 1GB of memory and 250GB hard drive, and the 2.4GHz model for $999. Next in the 20-inch category is the 2.4GHz model with 1GB of RAM and 320GB hard drive for $1,099 and the 2.66GHz model with 2GB of RAM and 320GB hard drive for $1,299. Three 24-inch models are available: 2.4GHz, 1GB of RAM, and 320GB hard drive for $1,349 ; 2.8GHz, 2GB of RAM, and 320GB hard drive for $1,549 ; 3.06GHz, 2GB of RAM, 500GB hard drive for $1,899. Two configurations of refurbished Mac minis are available: 1.83GHz, 1GB of RAM, 80GB hard drive for $499 and 2.0GHz, 1GB of RAM, 120GB hard drive for $679. Apple certified refurbished displays are $499 for the 20-inch, and $749 for the 23-inch.
Sans Digital has introduced a new direct attached storage enclosure, the TowerRAID TS2UT. The TS2UT is a tray-less, 2-bay storage tower with RAID capabilities. The tray-less feature is designed for fast installation and access of hard drives: each hard drive can easily be installed or removed by opening the front plate handle. A turn-lock located at the front of each handle allows the drives to be secured without the need of screws or other tools. In addition to easy hard drive access, the TS2UT offers users four different RAID modes, FAST (RAID 0), SAFE (RAID 1), JBOD (individual drive access), and BID (spanning). The different RAID modes are selectable by a switch located on the front panel.
Imation on Wednesday announced the release of a new Apollo portable hard drive with a 500GB capacity. Previously, the largest 2.5-inch Apollo HDD was available in a 320GB size, along with a 250GB and 160GB units. All four are just over a half-inch thick and weigh less than a half-pound. The only connection required is a USB 2.0 cable, which allows for data transfer at speeds up to 480Mbps as well as providing power to the drive.
Other World Computing today introduced a new 1TB drive in its line of external FireWire Neptune drives. The range includes seven drives ranging from capacity from 80GB to 1TB, with a 7200RPM speed hard disk common to all. The new range is fully compatible with Apple Time Machine back-up software. OWC claims the Neptune series is affordably priced, sharing its Oxford chipset and heavy-duty power supplies with OWC's Mercury Elite series of external drives.
Power Mac G5 and Mac Pro gamers have a new high-performance disk system available to them, through HighPoint Technologies' RocketRAID 2640x4, a 4x PCI-E SAS hard drive RAID system. The system offers users 56-percent increased performance over 10,000 RPM SATA drives, with 128MB per-second transfer speeds, offering users lower average latency and lower read/write seek times. The RocketRAID 2640x4 sells for $165 from HighPoint's website.
MCE has released its 500GB MobileStor Performance Hard Drive Upgrade Solution for MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The kit includes a 5400RPM SATA drive, a portable USB 2.0 enclosure for the old drive and everything needed to make the swap. MCE says the MobileStor has a sustained data transfer rate over 85 MB/sec and a burst transfer rate of 150MB/sec.
