Western Digital today introduced its newest generation of My Passport® portable hard drives specifically designed for use with Mac® computers and Apple® Time Machine®, featuring compact, elegant Mac-inspired designs with high capacity storage options and exceptional security for today's active lifestyles.

My Passport® Studio™ boasts the all-metal design and performance needed for today's discerning Mac user, serving as an ideal companion for the on-the-go photographer, videographer, graphic artist, or creative professional that produces, shares and consumes massive amounts of digital content daily. Offering up to 1 TB capacity, the My Passport Studio also provides multiple connectivity options with two FireWire® 800 ports and a USB 2.0 interface. The dual FireWire ports provide blazing fast upload and transfer speeds while also allowing users to daisy chain additional drives or other peripherals such as HD camcorders. My Passport Studio also features encryption and password protection software, and an all-new design constructed of metal for a sturdy feel in your hand and scratch resistance.

Housed in a stylish yet durable slim enclosure, the My Passport for Mac® is designed for Mac users who need high capacity storage in an ultra-compact and lightweight design. Available in capacities up to 1 TB, My Passport for Mac remains a favorite among students and other Mac users whose work environments may include extensive travel or outdoor and adventure locations.

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OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today launched its Synapse Cache Series 2.5” SSDs. The new Synapse SSDs are optimized for caching applications and leverages Dataplex™ cache software to dynamically manage the Synapse SSD in conjunction with standard hard disk drives (HDDs), to provide users with SSD-level performance across the entire capacity of the HDD.

"The industry has shown that it craves the performance advantages that SSDs provide, however, many users still value the high capacities associated with HDDs,” said Tobias Brinkmann, Director of Product Management, OCZ Technology Group. "We see the Synapse Cache SSDs integrated with Dataplex™ software as a big win for a large number of customers who value SSD performance but still require HDD capacity. We are proud to be the first to offer this no-compromise approach to enabling high-performance and high-capacity storage for virtually any PC platform.”

This comprehensive caching solution prioritizes the most frequently/recently used “hot” data on the Synapse Cache SSD, while “cold,” less frequently used data is stored on the larger capacity HDD. The OCZ Synapse series features the latest and most advanced hardware and software technology to deliver superior storage performance without sacrificing HDD capacity.

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Micron Technology, Inc., today introduced a new version of its popular RealSSD C400, featuring self encryption for unmatched data security. The C400 SED (Self-Encrypting Drive) is based on the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Opal specifications and provides a hardware-based answer for the increasing wave of data breaches that continue to impact computer users and enterprises worldwide.

Security breaches caused by malicious attacks are on the rise, according to the recent Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. While it's notable that the increase in small-scale external attacks doesn't rely on highly sophisticated approaches, encryption is widely credited as the first choice for the most affordable security solution for deterring such intrusions.

"Self-encrypting drives represent the future of data protection," said Dr. Joerg Borchert, 2011 president and chairman of the nonprofit Trusted Computing Group. "Hardware encryption provides the strongest security and best performance, and solid-state technology like Micron's will provide even quicker data access."

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CDRLabs has taken an in depth look at OCZ's 120GB Vertex 3 solid state drive. Available in capacities ranging from 60GB up to 480GB, the Vertex 3 is powered by SandForce's SF-2281 processor and features a SATA 6GB/s interface as well as native TRIM support. OCZ's SSD also uses 25nm synchronous MLC NAND flash to deliver up to 550MB/s read and 500MB/s write transfer rates and up to 60,000 4KB random write IOPS.