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Western Digital has announced a new version of its My Book Studio line of external hard drives. The new line has been updated to USB 3.0, which is three times faster than previous offerings. In addition, a 4TB model has been added to the device line, giving you ample room to store your music, TV shows, and movies.

The My Book Studio line is composed of four models: 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, and now 4TB. The drives are enclosed in a “premium aluminum enclosure,” and are a single-drive configuration. All four drives feature WD Security, allowing users to apply a password and 256-bit encryption to keep private data away from peeking eyes. The My Studio Line “works seamlessly” with Apple Time Machine.

WD’s Executive Vice President and General Manager Jim Welsh offered this statement. “WD’s My Book Studio with USB 3.0 delivers extreme transfer speeds while maintaining the standard USB and FireWire connections computer users prefer. Its large capacity, combined with a premium aluminum enclosure, hardware-based encryption, and compatibility with Apple Time Machine, provide Mac users with a fast, secure and complete system for preserving their valuable content.”

Each My Book Studio model includes a 3 year limited warranty. The first 1TB model is priced at $159.99, the 2TB model is priced at $189.99, the 3TB model is priced at $239.99, and the 4TB model is priced at $299.99. For those who need it, the line will also be available with USB 2.0 instead of the updated 3.0, as well as FireWire 800.

Western Digital announces updated My Book Studio line is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Hybrid disk drives combine a traditional high-capacity hard drive with solid state memory, and are a great compromise if you’re wanting an all-out solid state drive, but really can’t afford one. However, A*STAR’s Data Storage Institute has created a 2.5-inch hybrid drive that’s only 4.98mm thick and can pack in in 1TB of storage.

Called the “A-Drive”, this new 5mm-thick disk drive comes in a 2.5-inch form factor and is able to carry a whopping 1TB of storage with 32GB of solid state memory. The A-Drive relies on a new proprietary motor and 30 design patents to lower power consumption by 70% and achieve its razor-thin form factor.

The company aims to have the drive work in tablets, where it won’t only increase storage capacity, but it could stretch battery life by up to 30%. The company also sees the new hybrid drives being put to work in laptops, ultrabooks, and various enterprise-level storage solutions. A*STAR says its hybrid drive will be cheaper than SSDs currently used in Ultrabooks, and it’s reported that the new drive could cost only $73.

However, according to Executive Director Pantelis Alexopoulos, it might take 6 to 8 months to start production after they make a deal with a manufacturing partner, which hasn’t happened quite yet and is still in the process. It would surely be nice to see these bad boys in Ultrabooks, but we really want to see them in tablets.

A*STAR unveils 5mm-thick hybrid disk drive is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Move over, Western Digital. A*STAR’s Data Storage Institute (DSI) has developed its own 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, and it’s packing a 1TB HDD and a 32GB SSD within its 2.5-inch confines. Aptly dubbed A-Drive, the firm’s razor-thin hardware relies on a new proprietary motor and 30 additional design patents to lower power consumption and achieve its diminutive form factor. The outfit envisions the drive being put to work in tablets, where it could stretch battery life by up to 30 percent, and in ultrabooks or business-centric storage solutions. To top things off, A*STAR says its hybrid drive will be cheaper than SSDs currently used in ultrabooks, and Yahoo! News reports the device could ring up at roughly $73. Can’t wait to have the hardware in a machine of your own? Hold your horses, vaquero. According to DSI Executive Director Pantelis Alexopoulos, it might take six to eight months to kick off production after they strike a deal with a manufacturing partner, which hasn’t happened quite yet.

[Image Credit: Yahoo! photo/ Deborah Choo]

Continue reading A*STAR unveils 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, touts affordability and improved energy efficiency

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A*STAR unveils 5mm-thick hybrid hard drive, touts affordability and improved energy efficiency originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple has just announced an awesomely impressive and super thin iMac lineup. One of the more important specs here is regarding the Fusion Drive under the hood. For those that need more storage, but want the speed and performance of a solid state drive without the cost. That is where the Fusion Drive comes in. More details below.

What is a fusion drive? This is an all-in-one solution for old fashion hard drives, as well as SSD. This gives you from 1 to 3TB of space, and a 128GB solid state drive in one easy to use solution. This enables extremely fast performance, without hindering the users space options.

“Fusion Drive is an innovative new storage option that gives customers the performance of flash storage and the capacity of a hard drive. It combines 128GB of flash with a standard 1TB or 3TB hard drive to create a single storage volume that intelligently manages files to optimize read and write performance. Fusion Drive adapts to the way you use your iMac and automatically moves the files and apps you use most often to flash storage to enable faster performance and quicker access.”

As you can see above. Apple’s new Fusion Drives fuses together the best of both worlds for an easy all-in-one solution. What’s even better is all of this happens automatically. With Mac OSX it will automatically recognize the most used apps and move them to the Fusion Drives SSD for faster performance. The performance jump having the OS on a SSD is a massive improvement, and using a fusion drive to achieve the best of both worlds is an awesome and welcomed edition. More details following soon so stay tuned.

Apple confirms Fusion Drive in iMac models is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While the future of storage on your laptop is undoubtedly solid state, it’s more difficult to predict how the huge tranches of data in server farms will be housed in the future. Recent suggestions, though, predict the rebirth of an old technology: the humble casette tape. More »