Verbatim sent out a press release today, announcing the launch of two new Quad Interface Desktop Hard Disk Drives. Available in 500GB and 1TB capacities, these new drives offer support for all four of the leading interfaces: USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and eSATA II. The drives are also housed in a black aluminum case and feature a 7200rpm spindle speed and 32MB of cache.

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Verbatim® Americas, LLC, a global leader in digital storage solutions, announced today two new Quad Interface Desktop Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) with capacities of 500GB and 1TB. The pro audio/video-grade storage and backup solutions offer Mac and PC users universal connectivity with plug and play support for all four of the leading interfaces: USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and eSATA II (external Serial ATA II). With these connection options and the equivalent of 1000 Gigabytes of storage backed by Verbatim’s reputation for reliability, the new external drives are ideal for audio, video, digital photography and music professionals as well as graphics applications where capacity, performance and reliability are essential. Affordably priced, the drive also puts volumes of storage within the reach of consumers and small businesses with large amounts of video, photos, music, and data files that they want to store, edit and protect.

Verbatim’s new Quad-interface Desktop HDDs weigh 3.3 lbs. and measure 8.7 in. X 5.9 in. X 1.5 in., making them easy to transport from one desk to another and requiring minimal desk space when connected to a desktop system. Housed in sleek yet durable black aluminum cases, the 3.5” drives feature a 7200rpm spindle speed and 32MB of cache memory to optimize performance. A silent cooling fan is also included.

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“Our new 500GB and 1TB Desktop HDDs offer many advantages for editing and storing high-density applications, compared to using two or three smaller HDDs,” said Charles Klinker, Verbatim Director of Marketing for HDD products. “For example, a single Verbatim 1TB solution only costs about 25 cents per GB and consumes less power than multiple lower-capacity HDDs. It also provides the convenience of being able to store, transport and backup all of your digital content without having to span disks."

Klinker added that with a choice of four interfaces, Verbatim’s new high-capacity Desktop HDDs offer complete cross-platform interoperability to simplify file sharing for designers that need to collaborate on creating and editing projects. With this capability, digital video, music and imaging professionals have a fast and efficient means of moving large files from one system to another without rebooting the computers.

Offering broad compatibility and high performance, the bus-powered drives deliver transfer speeds of up to 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s) when connected to a USB 2.0 port, up to 400 Mbits/s (50 MB/s) for FireWire 400 connections, up to 800 Mbits (100MB/s) for FireWire 800 and up to 3.0 GB/s (300MB/s) for eSATA II connections.

Verbatim’s 500GB and 1TB Quad-interface Desktop HDDs also include Nero BackItUp 2 Essentials, a complete solution for automatic backup on Windows® systems. Easy-to-use, Nero BackItUp 2 incorporates scheduling, backup sets and encryption as well as password control.

Availability and Pricing

Verbatim’s 500GB and 1TB Quad Interface Desktop Hard Drives are compatible with Windows 2000, XP or Vista™ systems as well as Mac® OS X 10.1 or higher systems. Backed by a 3-year limited warranty, the new external drives are available for immediate shipment. The suggested retail pricing will be US$179.99 for the 500GB version and US$249.99 for the 1TB drive. Ready to use right out of the box, the drives include an AC power cord; USB 2.0 A-B cable; FireWire 1394a, 1394b bilingual and 1394b Beta cables, an eSATA cable, Nero backup software and a user guide.

In addition to the new 500GB and 1TB Quad Interface Desktop Hard Drives, Verbatim offers 500GB and 1TB USB, FireWire/USB, USB/eSATA and USB/eSATA RAID desktop hard drives.