HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and now a Western Digital company) today announced a new helium-filled hard disk drive (HDD) platform, which is at the forefront of advanced technology for increasing capacity and significantly reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprise and cloud customers.
With products expected in 2013, the new platform enables HGST to go beyond its award-winning five-platter design, providing a path for higher capacity storage and lower customer TCO for years to come. With industry-wide challenges in scaling current areal density technologies, this new platform allows HGST to design seven-platter drives in a standard 3.5-inch form factor that will cost-effectively extend the capacity and cost-per-gigabyte curve for many product generations to come. In addition, the inherent benefits of the platform, including the helium fill, allow HGST to significantly improve datacenter TCO on virtually every level: capacity, power, cooling and storage density.
With the explosion of data resulting from mobile devices, Internet services, social media and business applications, corporate, cloud and big data customers are constantly looking for ways to improve their storage infrastructure costs and their bottom line. Also, new storage models, such as cold storage, are evolving in ways that require enormous amounts of data to be stored and available within a moment's notice. These hyperscale datacenters must deploy massive amounts of storage with the best TCO to help them manage their costs and growing storage needs. And when it comes to TCO, numbers matter most – cost-per-terabyte, watt-per-TB, TB-per-system weight and TB-per-square foot.
Seagate Technology announced today that they will be working with Intel Corporation to demonstrate new advancements in solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) at this year’s Intel Developer Forum taking place September 11-13, 2012, at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco. In the Advanced Technology Zone of the event, Intel will demonstrate Seagate’s latest solid state hybrid drive design, accelerated with Intel® Smart Response Technology, which run common office productivity applications almost on par with solid state drives.
Separately, an educational presentation titled “Ultrabook™ Responsiveness: Performance & Power End-Users Can Feel” (#ULBS004), will provide details on how SSHD technology combined with Intel Smart Response Technology will contribute to a powerful new combination of performance and capacity in the next generation Ultrabook devices. Solid state hybrid drives combine performance similar to a solid state drive with the large capacity of a hard disk drive in a single disk drive enclosure.
Each year, Intel’s strategic partners gather at Intel Developer Forum to learn about, discuss and demonstrate advancements in personal computing based on PC industry standards and Intel products. At this year’s forum, Intel will announce support for the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) Hybrid Information Feature with Intel Smart Response Technology, targeted for a release in the second half of 2013. Intel Smart Response Technology is expected to accelerate the performance of solid state hybrid drives enabled with the SATA IO Hybrid Information Feature by up to 30 percent, as measured by the PCMark Vantage HDD suite.
WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corp. today announced it is sampling a 5mm-thin hard disk drive featuring hybrid technology. WD has developed hard drives slim enough for integration into today’s thinnest notebook PCs, which provide high-capacity storage and robustness while featuring instant-on and application performance similar to today’s client solid state drives (SSDs). The new technologies will be showcased during WD’s Investor Day, Sept. 13, 2012.
“Mobile devices are becoming smaller, thinner, lighter and more responsive,” said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client storage solutions at WD. “Working with our technology partners, WD has developed new 5 mm hard drives that enable high capacity storage along with excellent performance and superior economics to allow our customers to expand their thin offerings.”
With device volumetric efficiency a key concern for system makers, WD began shipping 7 mm height hard drives for thin-profile notebooks earlier this year (historically, standard notebook hard drives have been 9.5 mm). WD 5 mm hybrid hard drives will enable the market’s thinnest computers to offer 500 GB of capacity, utilizing almost 50% less volume compared to current 9.5 mm hard drives and at one tenth the cost of similar capacity SSDs.
Today LaCie announced that its professional 2big and 4big Quadra multi-bay RAID solutions, designed by Neil Poulton, now feature USB 3.0 technology. LaCie completely re-engineered these external storage solutions for optimized performance with new Mac computers. Thanks to UAS (USB-Attached SCSI Protocol) compatibility and 7200rpm hard drives, these products reach speeds up to 210MB/s and 245MB/s respectively. With these speeds the user can transfer 10GB of data in less than one minute.
The LaCie 2big Quadra USB 3.0 and LaCie 4big Quadra USB 3.0 are ideal storage solutions for intensive content creation, secure backup, or massive desktop storage. With speeds twice as fast as Firewire 800 these products help professionals get their work done faster. Video editors can play back multiple HD video streams at the same time with Final Cut Pro X™ or Premiere®. Additionally, photographers can browse large photo libraries and edit in Apeture® or Lightroom® 4 without delay.
The LaCie 2big and 4big Quadra offer seamless cross-platform compatibility in any work environment. With USB 3.0 these products are a great companion for a new MacBook Pro®, MacBook Air® or PC. Backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 means the user can connect the product to any standard computer. Plus, two FireWire 800 connections let the user daisy chain other external storage or A/V peripherals.
WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corp., today introduced its newest version of My Passport line of portable hard drives for PC and Mac with the debut of My Passport Edge. The My Passport Edge and My Passport Edge for Mac feature 500 GB of storage and a USB 3.0 interface for fast read/write speeds to help consumers effectively manage, share and enjoy digital content everywhere they go. Its sleek, ultra-slim design makes transport easy and convenient while a variety of security features protects the drive's content from unauthorized access.

The My Passport Edge for Mac portable hard drive complements popular MacBook® computers and MacBook Air® computer designs with an all-aluminum exterior to protect the drive and its contents from everyday bumps. The My Passport Edge for Mac is also compatible with Apple Time Machine® for added peace-of-mind and seamless operation out of the box with one’s Mac computer.
Silicon Power, the world’s leading provider of memory storage solutions today launches a new model of Diamond series – Diamond D01. Apart from the sleek stylish look of the Diamond series, SP D01 portraits the urban fashion trend with its seamless geometrical patterns. As small as your smartphone, D01 weights only 147g, infusing “lightness” into your personal digital storage device.
Coated in metallic black, SP Diamond D01 is lined with multiple geometric patterns, creating a sense of metropolitan chic style. With the solid aluminum metal structure and the anti-scratch surface, SP D01 can make you free from worrying about your hard drive being scratched or dented when carrying it around.
Compared to other portable hard drives, SP Diamond D01 is literally light in weight as well as in size, making it easier to carry. However, smaller size doesn’t have to mean smaller storage. D01 offers a wide range of choices in capacity from 500GB, 750GB, to 1TB. The built-in LED status indicator allows users to instantly identify power supply and activity status. It is also a green product as it is equipped with a hibernation mode to save power.
WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation, today announced that it has added the USB 3.0 interface to its line of My Passport for Mac portable hard drives and increased capacity for Mac computer users up to an unmatched 2 TB. Popular among students and other Mac users who take their digital content everywhere, the My Passport for Mac with USB 3.0 allows users to quickly and conveniently take advantage of the faster transfer speeds USB 3.0 provides when connecting the drive to their MacBook® computer or MacBook Air® computer with that interface.

While continuing to provide a sleek and slim design, the My Passport drive also has been a favorite among consumers and professionals who have safety and security at the top of the list of requirements for portable drives, which is why the My Passport for Mac includes password protection and hardware encryption features to protect content from unauthorized use or access. The My Passport for Mac drive is also compatible out of the box with Apple Time Machine for easy backup to further protect valuable files.
WD, a subsidiary of Western Digital Corporation, and a world leader in external storage and connected home solutions, is combining two high-speed technologies to produce one the fastest and most robust dual-storage system ever offered. Supported by the Mac OS X operating system, the new My Book VelociRaptor Duo dual-drive storage system becomes the ultimate storage drive for performance hungry Mac computer users and creative professionals.
My Book VelociRaptor Duo provides ultimate speed and performance with two 1 TB 10,000 RPM WD VelociRaptor drives along with two Thunderbolt ports. The 2 TB dual-drive storage system is ideal for editing high resolution video, 3D rendering, graphic design, and other demanding digital media applications. This boost in performance delivers solid state drive (SSD) -like data transfer rates of up to 400 MB/s for greater work-flow productivity. The dual-drive storage system offers RAID 0 for performance or RAID 1 for protection; and the twin Thunderbolt ports offer daisy-chaining multiple My Book VelociRaptor Duo drives and other high performance peripherals without impacting data transfer speeds or performance. The My Book VelociRaptor Duo also comes complete with a Thunderbolt cable in the box and is user-serviceable.
Photographers, graphic designers and post-production professionals can conduct several high intensity tasks such as video editing, 3D rendering, while completing other graphics-intensive projects. My Book VelociRaptor Duo customers will now have the ability to transfer 22 GB full-length HD movies in less than 65 seconds, 2000 5 MB pictures in less than 33 seconds and over 500 5 MB songs in less than 8 seconds.
Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the Canvio Desk Desktop External Hard Drive and the Solid State Drive (SSD) PC Upgrade Kit, both available now on Toshiba Direct starting at $119.99 MSRP and $109.99 MSRP, respectively.

“With personal storage becoming increasingly prevalent, the need for varying solutions grows and we’re proud to introduce new devices that help round out our already robust line-up,” said Maciek Brzeski, vice president of product marketing and development, Branded Storage Products, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. “Our new desktop drive and SSD Upgrade Kit are providing our users with the high level of power and performance they’ve come to expect from Toshiba storage solutions.”
Imation Corp., a global scalable storage and data security company, today announced the expansion of its secure USB hard drive line with capacities of up to 1 terabyte (TB), optional biometric fingerprint authentication, and a uniquely comprehensive set of options for secure USB hard drive management.

“Enterprise and government organizations increasingly need manageable USB devices in order to provide mobile workers with the tools necessary to work where and when they want, and access the data they need in the most secure way possible,” said Lawrence Reusing, Imation’s general manager for Mobile Security. “People are increasingly turning to USB hard drives to transport large data sets. Our expanding secure hard drive offerings are in response to our customers needing increased capacity without compromising control over the devices and data.”