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Tag: hard-drives

  • Verbatim Boosts Portable Hard Drives with SureFire FW800/USB2 HDD Line


    Verbatim has launched a new line of portable combo FW800/USB2 HDDs available in capacities of 250GB, 320GB and 500GB.

    The company says the rugged palm-sized FireWire drives combine power, convenience and reliability with a compact, sleek design that can be plugged into almost any computer.

    The bus-powered drives are equipped with one USB 2.0 port, and one FireWire 800 port to deliver high-speed transfer rates of up to 800MB/sec. for FireWire 800 connections and 480MB/sec. when connected with USB 2.0 – without requiring an AC power adapter.

    Ready to use right out of the box, all cables are included.

    Housed in a durable black aluminum-extruded case with a fingerprint-resistant matte finish, the 2.5" drive features a 5400rpm spindle speed and 8MB of cache memory to optimize performance.

    A black protective carrying case designed to match the sleek lines of the SureFire HD is also included.

    Verbatim’s new SureFire portable HDDs weigh 0.41 lbs. (186g), and measure 3.13" x 5.0" 0.66" (81mm x 128mm x 15mm), making them easy to transport from system to system and place to place.

    The suggested retail pricing is USD $109.99 for the 250GB version, USD $139.99 for the 320GB version and USD $179.99 for the 500GB drive.

    The complete package includes a SureFire hard drive, FireWire 800-800, FireWire 800-400, USB 2.0 and USB power cable for systems limiting power over the USB port, a carrying case and a user guide.

  • SanDisk CEO Harari Bullish About Flash Memory


    SanDisk CEO Eli Harari believes that at $2/GB SSDs aren’t competitive yet with hard drives.

    But he is bullish about the technology’s prospects and believes it offers an ideal storage solution for netbooks.

    In an interview with Tech Trader Daily, he said that you can buy an 80 GB HDD for USD $30-$35.

    SanDisk CEO Eli Harari

    However, that same USD $30 would only get you 15 GB of flash. He suggests that 32 GB of storage is probably enough for many netbook applications.

    But to be competitive with hard drives, Harari said the flash industry will have to be able to sell at USD $1/GB while maintaining profitability.

    He said that wasn’t possible at the current 42-43 nm process technology now used for manufacturing flash.

    But he believes it should be possible at 24 nm, or two generations ahead of the current technology.

    Harari told Tech Traders usage of SSDs will start to pick up in this year’s second half and hit the mainstream in a big way in 2011.

  • WD Adds 2TB Hard Drives As Demand Grows


    WD has expanded its WD AV-GP line of hard drives to include a 2 TB capacity, which it claims is the industry’s largest available drive to-date.

    The company said the move was in response to growing demand for higher capacity storage continues to increase due to large video applications, including high-definition video.

    Jim Welsh, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s branded products and consumer electronics groups, said consumer electronics consumers require hard drives that consume less power, generate less heat and operate quietly.

    He said audio and video recording applications, such as DVRs, media servers, media centres and mainstream surveillance systems, often demand 24×7 operation from hard drives.

    "Our drives meet the demanding requirements of these markets including higher reliability, universal compatibility, low power consumption and the ability to simultaneously record multiple audio and/or high-definition video streams," he said.

    The WD AV-GP 2 TB hard drive (model WD20EVDS) is available now for USD $299.00.

  • Downloading Will Be The Death of Blu-Ray













    Predicting the demise of Blu-ray is a popular sport – and it has just gained another fan.

    Consumer review specialist Reevoo has come out with a report saying that the high-def format is fighting a losing battle against HD download services and hard drives.

    It suggest consumers continue to favor DVD players – despite the price of Blu-ray players falling significantly in the past few months.

    But the Reevoo report says that when customers have to upgrade, they are happy to skip Blu-ray altogether and go straight to a combination of downloads and hard drives.






    According to its data and reviews, consumes favor the "convenience" of digital downloads and digital hard drive recorders.

    Whether Blu-ray’s demise will be quite as swift as Reevoo are suggesting remains to be seen.

    There’s no doubt, though, that the format really needs to start making waves soon.






    Reevoo summarises the three main factors it identifies as impeding the uptake of Blu-ray as:






    – Improved DVD players – DVD players are still outselling Blu-ray players by a factor of 10:1 according to Reevoo data. Newer high-end DVD players capable of ‘upscaling’ a standard definition image to near-HD, the gap between DVD and Blu-ray has shrunk to the point that shoppers see no reason to upgrade
     


    – Blu-ray pricing and inflated disc prices




    – Households are downloading – The window for Blu-ray to become the leading video format is closing rapidly. The format is also competing with downloads through services such as Apple’s iTunes store which offers HD content for rental or purchase at a lower price than Blu-ray discs.Hard-drive based personal video recorders (PVRs) sold twice as many units as Blu-ray in the UK over Christmas according to Reevoo data