Mar 18

Xbox 360 getting USB storage support in Spring 2010 firmware update

Posted in: hard drive, HardDrive, leak, leaks, rumor, rumors, Today's Chili, usb, xbox, xbox 360, Xbox360

Are we gazing onto the cusp of a new horizon, one where our Xbox 360 storage needs aren’t shackled to overpriced proprietary hard drives? Probably not quite. Our best friends at Joystiq have managed to obtain documents (corroborated with multiple sources) showing that the folks in Redmond are mulling over an option to enable USB mass storage support for its game machine. To elaborate, that means downloaded Xbox Live and Arcade games, DLC, other associated game files, and even installed disc-based games can be saved to an external HDD of your choosing. The documents further elaborate that the storage device itself must be 1GB or more; a system partition of 512MB is required, and by default beyond that the consumer partition (i.e. your games and the like) will occupy the remainder of the drive or 16GB, whichever is smaller — and unfortunately, that’s as much as you’re gonna get. This could be another way for Microsoft to, alongside the rumored Valhalla motherboard, trim some fat for a slimmer future… but given the size constraints, we’re guessing it’s more likely to be a more spacious alternative to Memory Units than the main HDD itself. Word has it the feature will be rolled out in a Spring 2010 firmware update — that is, if Microsoft keeps to its paperwork here. Excited? We are. Read the full documentation over at Joystiq.

Xbox 360 getting USB storage support in Spring 2010 firmware update originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 13

Packard Bell Studio ST media playback drive invades Europe

Posted in: hard drive, HardDrive, media player, media streamer, MediaPlayer, MediaStreamer, set-top-box, streamer, Today's Chili

It’s not much more than a hard drive with HD media playback abilities, but the Packard Bell Studio ST certainly looks nice, doesn’t it? It’s Europe-only for now, but we’re hoping parent company Acer brings over a US-branded version of this box, which holds up to a 2TB hard drive and can do 1080p out over HDMI with Dolby Digital. Codec support is described as “all main formats,” which is a little shady, but we’ll be forgiving if it’s cheaper than the Western Digital WD TV Live HD.

[Thanks, Matt]

Packard Bell Studio ST media playback drive invades Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Mar 2010 07:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mar 07

Strobeshnik: probably the most awesome hard drive clock of all time

Posted in: diy, hard drive, HardDrive, LED, storage, Today's Chili, video

Turning aged hard drives into clocks has been a common occurrence for years now, but there’s still something magical about this rendition. Designed and crafted by Svofski, the Strobeshnik relies on the stroboscopic effect to create the illusion of a persistent numeric display. The HDD platter itself has ten digits, colon and dash marks cut all the way through it, and by carefully timing the light strobes, the illusion is perfected. Check out a video of the startup just below the break — and be patient, the payoff is spectacularly sweet.

Continue reading Strobeshnik: probably the most awesome hard drive clock of all time

Strobeshnik: probably the most awesome hard drive clock of all time originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 22:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink technabob, Engadget German  |  sourceStrobeshnik  | Email this | Comments

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Mar 01

WD’s My Passport Studio wears contents on its sleeve with always-on ‘e-label’

Posted in: Apple, external hard drive, ExternalHardDrive, hard drive, HardDrive, Mac, os x, OsX, storage, Today's Chili

Western Digital’s My Passport Studio line has been spinning for years now, but today the outfit is pushing out a revamped version with a little something special. Boasting a FireWire 800 interface, a highly pocketable design and 256-bit hardware-based encryption, this here drive offers an “e-label smart display” on the front that actually remains on even when the drive is off and unplugged. Owners can tweak the text on the display as often as they like via WD‘s SmartWare software, and by utilizing e-paper technology, you’ll always be able to see what’s inside at a glance. Just so you’re aware, the company’s shipping this thing in 320GB, 500GB and 640GB flavors, but all three come pre-formatted for Mac use — thankfully your Windows 7 rig won’t have any issues wiping that slate clean and starting over once you hand over your $149.99 to $199.99.

WD’s My Passport Studio wears contents on its sleeve with always-on ‘e-label’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 28

Corsair Nova, Reactor SSDs now available

Posted in: hard drive, HardDrive, SSD, Today's Chili
Well, it didn’t exactly seem like these were nearing an imminent release when they were introduced earlier this month, but Corsair has now pulled a pleasant surprise and announced that its new Nova and Reactor SSD drives are available right now. As expected, the Reactor series comes in 60GB and 120GB varieties and uses the Micron JMF612 controller with 128MB of DDR2 memory, while the Nova boasts 64GB or 128GB capacities and uses an Indilinx Barefoot controller with 64MB of cache memory. Speeds are not drastically different between the two, but the Nova does have a slight edge, with the 128GB model coming out on top at 270MB/second read and 190MB/second write. Prices range from $185 for the 60GB Reactor to $375 for the 128GB Nova.

Corsair Nova, Reactor SSDs now available originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 27

SilverStone HDDBoost gets reviewed, okayed for purchase by most Earthlings

Posted in: hard drive, HardDrive, hybrid, reviewed, SSD, Today's Chili

SilverStone’s HDDBoost is an interesting, if not completely unique, offering. It’s a relatively inexpensive (around $45) option for boosting performance in older machines, but it still requires the purchase of a decidedly not inexpensive SSD. For those with one already on hand (not to mention a traditional HDD), it allows you to have a RAID-type setup that provides peace of mind and a performance boost when it comes time to boot or load an application. Critics over at HardwareCanucks found that this little doohickey actually provided a noticeable increase in speed when coming from an older HDD-based setup, but those already using a WD Black Edition or Raptor probably “won’t see much of a difference in terms of load times.” They also point out that users should certainly use second-generation SSDs if picking one up, and if you’ve been searching for the next big breath of life to send to your aging desktop, you owe it to yourself to peek the full writeup.

SilverStone HDDBoost gets reviewed, okayed for purchase by most Earthlings originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 27

WD’s ‘Advanced Format’ Caviar Green HDD gets benchmarked, minor benefits found

Posted in: benchmark, hard drive, HardDrive, Today's Chili

Western Digital has yet to actively market its “advanced format” hard drives — in fact, there’s a decent chance you’ve no idea what we’re talking about if you weren’t tuned in on December 11th. In short, it’s a technology that alters a hard drive’s sector size from 512 bytes (the standard for the past three decades) to 4096K, which enables the ECC data to be stored in a more efficient manner. Just recently, WD began to ship Advanced Format Caviar Green hard drives, and the benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware strapped one in to see exactly how much of the hype was warranted. For starters, they debunked the thought that Advanced Format drives offered more usable space; Windows reported 931GB of free space on both AF and non-AF 1TB drives. They also go on to explain how to make AF drives play nice with Windows XP, and on the testing front, they found that an aligned AF Caviar Green drive could (mostly) hang with the higher end (and more expensive) Caviar Black. Pop that source link for the full skinny, particularly if you’re a WinXP user looking to snag a new drive.

WD’s ‘Advanced Format’ Caviar Green HDD gets benchmarked, minor benefits found originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Feb 22

Seagate ships 3.5-inch 2TB 6Gbps Constellation ES hard drive

Posted in: enterprise, hard drive, HardDrive, now shipping, NowShipping, ship, shipping, ships, storage, Today's Chili

Seagate’s no stranger to the world of SATA 6Gbps, and if you really, really needed another option, here you go. The aforesaid company has just shipped what it calls the industry’s first 2TB 6Gbps SAS enterprise drive, complete with a 7200RPM spindle speed and some sort of “best-in-class” reliability. And given the kind of thing that Seagate’s own CEO recommends you use its drives for, you can be certain that you’ll need that. Mum’s the word on pricing, but 500GB and 1TB versions are also out there for those with less to archive.

Seagate ships 3.5-inch 2TB 6Gbps Constellation ES hard drive originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hot Hardware  |  sourceSeagate  | Email this | Comments

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Feb 20

Sharkoon’s USB 3.0 SATA HDD dock doubles up, now handles two drives

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

We tell ya, these HDD docks… they sure know how to keep pace with the latest and greatest of technological innovations. Shortly after Sharkoon busted out a USB 3.0-enabled version, along comes this fellow: a dual-drive version of the same device. Packing a pair of SuperSpeed USB sockets and room for two 2.5- or 3.5-inch hard drives (or a combination, if you prefer), this device makes it dead simple to clone drives and ready a new one to supplant your existing platter. It’s available now for €59.90 ($81), but if you wait a fortnight or so, we’re almost certain the next iteration will be out to take its place.

Sharkoon’s USB 3.0 SATA HDD dock doubles up, now handles two drives originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 04:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Everything USB  |  sourceTweakTown  | Email this | Comments

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Feb 17

Apple opens up repair program for some MacBook hard drives

Posted in: Apple, hard drive, HardDrive, macbook, Today's Chili

This one goes back a few years, but Apple has now finally, officially confirmed a hard drive problem that has plagued some MacBooks, and it’s announced a repair program that will allow you to get your hard drive replaced even if the MacBook is out of warranty. The specific models covered are both black and white MacBooks from 2006 and 2007 with 1.83GHz, 2GHz, or 2.16GHz processors, and either 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, or 160GB hard drives. As you may recall, the hard drive issue in question is a pretty nasty one that can leave your data unrecoverable, but it seems like Apple will only replace your drive once you’re stuck with the flashing question mark on boot-up — it’s just recommending that people backup their data in the meantime. Hit up the link below for the complete details.

Apple opens up repair program for some MacBook hard drives originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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