Sep 26

Toshiba outs ‘new’ Canvio 3.0 portable HDDs, extends USB 3.0 to its Basics range

Posted in: Today's Chili, Toshiba, usb 3.0, Usb3.0

Monday morning is hardly the time for philosophical questions, but here’s one anyway: should manufacturers refresh product lines if they’re not adding anything new? Toshiba’s Canvio 3.0 external HDDs announced today have pretty much identical specs to the Canvio 3.0 Plus drives already available on Amazon: capacities from 500GB to 1TB, prices from $90 to $140 and the inclusion some cloud backup software worth around $40. The pocket-sized drives come in a range of colors and it’s hypothetically possible that they’ll look better than their predecessors, but we can’t be sure until we get product photos instead of the plain render you see on the right. Meanwhile, things get relatively more interesting when we come to the Canvio Basics range, which make a few sacrifices to come in $10 cheaper and which at least now come with USB 3.0. Enough with the nihilism already.

Continue reading Toshiba outs ‘new’ Canvio 3.0 portable HDDs, extends USB 3.0 to its Basics range

Toshiba outs ‘new’ Canvio 3.0 portable HDDs, extends USB 3.0 to its Basics range originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 23

Angelbird’s Wings PCIe-based SSD preview and benchmarks

Posted in: benchmark, europe, hard drive, HardDrive, impressions, preview, solid state drive, SolidStateDrive, SSD, storage, Today's Chili

Storage enthusiasts (yeah, there is such a thing — what of it?) would probably tell you that PCIe-based SSDs are a dime a dozen these days. But in all seriousness, the prices we’re seeing are proof that a few more competitors wouldn’t hurt. A few weeks back, Austria’s own Angelbird started to ship a solution that we first heard about during 2010, and we were fortunate enough to pop a Wings PCIe SSD RAID card into our Mac Pro for testing. For years, we’ve been booting this up and running every single application off of its stock HDD — a 640GB Hitachi HDE721064SLA360 (7200RPM) — as we surmise many of you desktop owners might be. Anxious to see if these are the Wings your existing tower needs to soar? Head on past the break for our impressions.

Gallery: Angelbird’s Wings PCIe-based SSD

Continue reading Angelbird’s Wings PCIe-based SSD preview and benchmarks

Angelbird’s Wings PCIe-based SSD preview and benchmarks originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 21

OCZ debuts Synapse Cache Series SSDs to compensate for your HDD’s shortcomings

Posted in: hybrid, solid state drive, SolidStateDrive, Today's Chili

This really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given some of OCZ’s other offerings, but the company has outed its Synapse Cache SSDs so you don’t have to suffer the speed limitations inherent in spinning disk storage. These 2.5-inch, 6 GB/s SATA drives come in 64 and 128GB flavors, and do the dual drive dance with your HDD of choice using the firms’ Dataplex caching software. That nifty bit of code hastens data retrieval by dynamically managing your data, placing frequently used info on the speedy SSD, and shoving the rest on your capacious, cheap-as-chips HDD. When can you up your storage speed limit and how much will it cost? OCZ’s not telling, but the drive’s full performance specs can be found in the PR and source below.

Continue reading OCZ debuts Synapse Cache Series SSDs to compensate for your HDD’s shortcomings

OCZ debuts Synapse Cache Series SSDs to compensate for your HDD’s shortcomings originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Sep 2011 00:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 20

LaCie ships Little Big Disk Thunderbolt, promises 240GB SSD variant in mid-October

Posted in: Apple, hard drive, HardDrive, now shipping, NowShipping, on sale, OnSale, ship, shipping, ships, storage, thunderbolt, Today's Chili, video

It’s taken its sweet time, but folks who weren’t exactly keen on the Promise Pegasus finally have a compact option for putting their Thunderbolt port to good use. LaCie has just announced that it’s Little Big Disk Thunderbolt external drive — a first for the outfit — is available to purchase. For those keeping count, it’s only the second overall T-bolt drive to hit the scene, with this 1.4-pounder boasting a pair of 2.5-inch drives, support for JBOD / RAID 1 / RAID 0 and a typically metallic chassis that measures 1.6- x 5.5- x 3.3-inches. We’re promised speeds as high as 480MB/sec (for SSD arrangements) and 190MB/sec (for HDD models), and users can daisy chain several of ’em to hit transfer rates of around 800MB/sec. These guys should be available starting today (though Apple’s online shop currently has a “one to two week” wait), with the 1TB 7200RPM edition retailing for $399, and the 2TB 5400RPM model listing for $499. We’re still awaiting word on the specifics surrounding the October-bound 240GB SSD variant, but those who’d rather press their luck for a free one can enter the ongoing contest in the More Coverage link below.

Gallery: LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt press photos

Continue reading LaCie ships Little Big Disk Thunderbolt, promises 240GB SSD variant in mid-October

LaCie ships Little Big Disk Thunderbolt, promises 240GB SSD variant in mid-October originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 14

Iomega Mac Companion 2TB hard drive on sale now for $240, we go hands-on

Posted in: Apple, charging, hands-on, hard drive, HardDrive, ipad, iPhone, Mac, storage, Today's Chili, usb, video
The Mac Companion hard drive that we told you about back in early August has started to ship from Apple’s online store and is ready to take its spot beneath your iMac’s monitor. We got a little hands-on time with the the HDD and have to say, it’s a slick peripheral that will certainly fit in with the collection of the aesthetic-conscious Apple devotee out there, with a metal-bordered exterior that seems to have taken a few fashion cues from the iPhone 4. On the front of the drive are four white LEDs, which turn off one by one as you fill up more space, letting you know how much room is left on the thing.

The top of the drive is a glossy black surface, which is a bit of a fingerprint magnet — again, familiar territory to those with Apple products. Upon plugging it in (Iomega gave us the 2TB version to play with, though there’s also a 3TB model), the Mac Companion will ask whether you’d like to back your system up via Time Machine. Transfer-wise, the drive does USB 2.0 and FireWire. In our limited testing, we got around 35MB/sec and just under 60MB/sec, respectively.

The Mac Companion also doubles as a hub for your peripherals — with two USB ports on the rear and a 2.1 Amp port on the side. The ports on the rear require the drive to be connected to a computer to charge and sync devices. The high-powered port on the side, however, will charge up devices like an iPad or iPhone even when the drive isn’t connected to your Mac.


The Mac Companion is a fairly straightforward, good looking drive, which worked quite well out of the box on the Lion system we tested it out on — and the fact that it does double duty as a USB port sets the thing apart from much of the pack. The 2TB version will run you around $240 online.

Gallery: Iomega Mac Companion Hard Drive hands-on

Iomega Mac Companion Hard Drive hands-on

Iomega Mac Companion 2TB hard drive on sale now for $240, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 14

Satechi will LockDown your SATA hard drive, boasts USB 3.0 too

Posted in: hard drive, HardDrive, OLED, security, Today's Chili, usb, usb 3.0, Usb3.0

If you keep close watch over your digital belongings like we do, security is an utmost concern for external storage devices. Now you can keep your valuables under lock-and-key with Satechi’s LockDown — a SATA HDD enclosure that guards data via an encrypted 256 bit protection and allows lightning fast USB 3.0 transfer speeds. Utilizing a touch keypad on an OLED display, the device is only accessible through a 4 to 8 digit passcode — even if it’s connected to a PC or another device. This gives you the ability to keep “your backup data as secure as the data on your personal computer.” Pretty sweet, right? The LockDown plays nice with both Mac and PC and is shipping now for $90. Hit that PR link just past the break if you’re looking to lock down those precious research papers… see what we did there?

Continue reading Satechi will LockDown your SATA hard drive, boasts USB 3.0 too

Satechi will LockDown your SATA hard drive, boasts USB 3.0 too originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 08

G-Technology demos dual-drive 8TB G-RAID HDD, with a dash of Thunderbolt

Posted in: external hard drive, ExternalHardDrive, Mac, os x, OsX, thunderbolt, Today's Chili, usb, Windows
Not to be outdone by Seagate’s 4TB GoFlex Desk, Hitachi’s G-Technology unit has now unleashed a jumbo-sized external HDD of its own, with the 8TB, dual-drive G-RAID. Demoed at this week’s IBC conference in Amsterdam, the company’s new storage house consists of two 4TB drives nestled within an aluminum enclosure, each of which clocks in at 7,200 RPM. Configured for OS X, the G-RAID also sports a Thunderbolt port that offers transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps, though it can also support Windows with some simple reformatting. G-Technology will begin shipping its 4TB drives in October (with eSATA, FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 ports), whereas its “4TB-based” Thunderbolt-equipped drive won’t hit the market until Q4 — though it’s still unclear whether either model will ship as single drives, or as a two-headed, 8TB beast. Pricing remains a mystery for the moment, but you can find more details in the full PR, after the break.

Continue reading G-Technology demos dual-drive 8TB G-RAID HDD, with a dash of Thunderbolt

G-Technology demos dual-drive 8TB G-RAID HDD, with a dash of Thunderbolt originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 08

Western Digital, Seagate and Hitachi square off in 3TB hard drive roundup

Posted in: hard drive, HardDrive, roundup, storage, Today's Chili
We’ve seen 3TB hard drives trickling onto the market for the better part of a year, but it’s only now that we’re seeing more UEFI-equipped motherboards that can actually handle all that storage capacity. So, the benchmarking wizards over at HotHardware decided now would be a fine time to pit a few of ’em against each other, rounding up models from the likes of Western Digital, Seagate and Hitachi and subjecting them to a grueling battery of 28 tests. We’ll leave it to you to peruse the scores, but suffice to say the Seagate Barracuda XT swept about half the benchmarks, and notched a close second the rest of the time. But is it worth spending an extra $30 over Western Digital’s consistently trailing Caviar Green? We’ll leave that to you and your wallet.

Western Digital, Seagate and Hitachi square off in 3TB hard drive roundup originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 06

Seagate plays the 4TB card with its GoFlex Desk external HDD, shipping now for $250

Posted in: external hard drive, ExternalHardDrive, hands-on, hard drive, HardDrive, storage, Today's Chili, usb, usb 3.0, Usb3.0

That tangled mess of a backup solution feeling a little cramped? Yeah, join the crowd. Seagate’s looking to give you a dash of capaciousness — a dash that you could desperately used — with its newest desktop HDD. The GoFlex Desk line is about as sleek as it gets for a non-mobile drive, with 1/2/3/4TB options being made available. The stock model ships with USB 2.0 / 3.0 support, a required AC power adapter (blah) and support for OS X and Windows platforms. The entire unit weighs but 2.38 pounds and checks in at 6.22- x 4.88- x 1.73-inches; true to the GoFlex name, the lower base can actually be swapped out for those who’d prefer a different interface (you know, like FireWire or Thunderbolt), and there’s a four-LED capacity gauge on there as well. In our limited testing, we consistently saw USB 3.0 burst rates top 100MB/sec, while sustained transfers hovered closer to 60MB/sec. When used on a USB 2.0 rig, we saw reads and writes hover between 30MB/sec and 40MB/sec. As for pricing and availability? The 4TB flagship can be found right now at Seagate’s site for $249.99, while the GoFlex Desk for Mac — which touts both Firewire 800 and USB 2.0 — will be available in Apple stores by the end of the month. We’re told that Thunderbolt will be supported once that GoFlex adapter is let loose, but an ETA isn’t quite ready for public eyes.

Gallery: Seagate 4TB GoFlex Desk hard drive hands-on

Continue reading Seagate plays the 4TB card with its GoFlex Desk external HDD, shipping now for $250

Seagate plays the 4TB card with its GoFlex Desk external HDD, shipping now for $250 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Sep 2011 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 01

OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid merges 100GB SSD with 1TB HDD for $499

Posted in: hard drive, HardDrive, hybrid, solid state drive, SolidStateDrive, Today's Chili

We heard about OCZ’s clever crossbreed a few months ago, but couldn’t be sure about pricing for this premium model. Turns out, it’s significantly less than we’d guessed: $499 for a 100GB SSD and 1TB HDD happily united on a single PCI Express card. Yup, that’s still a heck of a lot more than the $300 or so it’d cost to pick up a SandForce-controlled 120GB solid state beauty along with a separate 1TB SATA 6GB/s hard drive. The comparison isn’t entirely fair, though, because OCZ claims its combo boosts overall performance by caching both “hot” and “cold” data, which is automatically organized between the SSD and HDD, on a single card with up to 910MB/s bandwidth and 120,000 IOPS. Nevertheless, it’ll take some real-world benchmarking to determine whether the promised speed gain is worth our wages. More details in the PR after the break.

Continue reading OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid merges 100GB SSD with 1TB HDD for $499

OCZ RevoDrive Hybrid merges 100GB SSD with 1TB HDD for $499 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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