• Rugged Perfect for travel environments, the Drop Guard feature protects the drive when dropped up to 51″
• Secure Receive backup software solutions when you purchase Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drives for Mac
• 3 Year Warranty with product registration

Great aluminum design and multiple connections too! With one FireWire 800 port, one FireWire 400 port, and one USB 2.0 port, the Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive offers triple interface versatility for Mac users and a stylish design. These drives are formatted HFS+ for a great out-of-box experience. Plus, the Iomega Drop Guard feature protects the drive when dropped up to 51″ (40% above the industry average!). EMC Retrospect, QuikProtect, and MozyHome Online backup software is included with purchase. Available in Ruby Red, Alpine White and Midnight Blue in up to 500GB capacity (capacities vary per color).

Rating: (out of 100 reviews)

List Price: $ 106.99

Price: $ 64.99

• This 4 port USB hub is the ideal companion for laptop or desktop computer
• Supports Windows Vista, Windows XP, 2000, 98, and Mac OS 8.6 and higher

Brand New GTMax accessories. This 4 port USB hub is the ideal companion for laptop or desktop computer. Octopus extension is great for bulky USB devices like thumb drives that won’t work with standard hubsx Great on laptops with hard to reach USB ports Ideal USB expansion for portable use on the road or at home. Perfect for connecting USB 1.1 or 2.0 peripherals such as USB mice, USB Portable Hard Drives, USB CD-R/RW or DVD-ROM drives and USB 1.1 hubs! Allows simultaneous operation of up to four separate devices all attached to a single USB port. Plug and Play Supports Windows Vista, Windows XP, 2000, 98, and Mac OS 8.6 and higher Compatibility: Compatible with all PC/Laptop with USB port UPC Code:088515701773

Rating: (out of 28 reviews)

List Price: $ 19.99

Price: $ 0.01

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This is what you see when you plug in the drive, two folders — one with the movies, one with some Seagate software — along with a Seagate registration program. The movies folder contains 20 movies along with their cover art. These files are protected by some sort of DRM and while VLC plays them, the picture is scrambled. Users are supposed to login to a website to actually buy the rights to them, therefore descrambling the content.

But the process isn’t a fool-proof. First, there isn’t any files on the drive explaining the process. There’s only a small promotional flier that’s included with the drive’s documentation explaining what these movie files are and how to use them. What happens if this small piece of paper is thrown away like most instructional docs? There really should be some sort of included program on the drive that directs users to this website or at least explains how to unlock the video files. Hopefully Seagate has beefed up its phone support because they are likely going to get lots of calls regarding these files.

Okay, so let’s say the user gets past this first step. They still have to create a profile on a Windows and Internet Explorer 8-only website to purchase the movies — of which there are only 21 to choose from so far.

These are good movies, at least by my standards, but they’re also not omg-I-must-buy this-drive-to-own-these-type of flicks.

• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
• GI Joe
• Shooter
• The Hunt for Red October
• The Italian Job (2003)
• Ghost
• Patriot Games
• Beowulf
• Enemy at the Gates
• The Spiderwick Chronicles
• The Love Guru
• Coach Carter
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• Nacho Libre
• Jackass 2.5
• A Plumm Summer
• Carriers
• Dance Flick
• Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

The drive is supposed to come with a promo code to unlock the new Star Trek movie. I can’t figure out how to use it. The code doesn’t seem to do anything and I’m not spending $20 on the 720p movie just for this post. Sorry, I’m a starving blogger. The press release however states that “The films will be licensed for multiple devices to allow for portability and enjoyment of them on a desktop computer, laptop computer, or widescreen television, using the FreeAgent Theater+™ HD media player.” Don’t expect that much portability, though. These files are locked down.

It’s clear that both companies involved are at least trying to provide consumers with a legitimate storefront for digital media. That’s great. A good amount of consumers want to follow the rules and not download illegal content. But at least this implementation doesn’t work. It’s clunky requiring consumers to bypass needless hurdles while only offers a tiny amount of content at a high premium. Back to brainstorming, boys. Let’s try again.

Toshiba is rolling out Canvio external hard drives, in sizes from 500GB to 1TB, and bundling NTI® BackupNow EZ™ software in order to simplify data backups for average users. I don’t know how this compares to Apple’s Time Machine backups yet. I’m awaiting a demo unit, and will provide a full review soon. In the meantime, here’s the press release.

TOSHIBA INTRODUCES THE CANVIO:
A POCKET-SIZED ONE TERABYTE BACKUP SOLUTION
TO EASE CONSUMER FEARS ABOUT LOSING DIGITAL MEMORIES

Recent Survey Shows Nearly Half of Americans Are Worried about
Computer Crashes and Majority Believe that Backing Up Computers is Crucial

IRVINE, Calif., March 29, 2010 – According to new research, Americans worry more about losing their digital valuables, such as family photos, home videos and important documents, from a computer crash than having a wallet lost or stolen and being audited by the IRS. In response, Toshiba today introduced the Canvio™ Portable Hard Drive product line, an easy-to-use computer backup solution with up to one terabyte (TB1) of storage capacity to protect the enormous amounts of digital content Americans are creating and storing on home computers.
According to the recent survey conducted by Impulse Research and sponsored by Toshiba2, 70 percent of Americans have lost some type of data on their computers. The vast majority (89 percent) of consumers are aware of the importance of regularly backing up their computers to avoid losses; however, most (57 percent) never back up or only do it when they think of it.

How Can Consumers Be Saved From Themselves?
A leader in delivering mobile storage products to consumers, as well as to computer and consumer electronics manufacturers, Toshiba designed and introduced the Canvio Portable Hard Drive to help consumers make protecting their digital memories an uncomplicated and regular practice. The Canvio appeals to consumers with diverse digital comfort levels – it’s easy to use with simple plug-and-play operation for novices and offers customizable options for tech-savvy users.
The stylish Canvio product line comes in five colors and four storage capacities, ranging from 500GB to 1TB. At the top capacity, the Canvio holds up to 285,000 digital photos, 263,000 digital music files, or 820 digital movies3. Consumers can easily back up entire music, photo or home video libraries with this vast amount of storage space.
Smaller than a postcard and weighing about six ounces, the Canvio is portable, providing a great emergency solution for saving digital memories in the event of a home catastrophe. In fact, survey respondents ranked their digital memories third in a list of items they would take with them in the event of a home evacuation, excluding family members and pets – only behind money and family photos.

Who’s Concerned About Digital Memory Loss?
Concern for protecting valuable digital assets is on all consumers’ minds – but it’s top-of-mind for some more than others. According to the survey:
• Fear of losing computer data (cited by 42 percent of respondents) ranked just under fear of being laid off (46 percent) – a telling statement in this economy.
• Digitally savvy young people (18-24 years old) are most concerned about computer crashes (65 percent), listing it as their biggest fear, right after someone breaking into their home (70 percent).
• Women, in particular, are concerned about the security of family memories – 78 percent of women respondents indicated they are primarily responsible for maintaining family records and memories to pass down to future generations. These “chief memory officers” say that family videos and photos, as well as ancestor photos, are the most precious memories they have.
“If the thought of losing all of your family’s important documents, photos, and music makes you shudder, spare yourself the worry by backing up your files,” says the product reviews staff from MomCentral.com. “Toshiba’s light and sleek Canvio Portable Hard Drive makes it easy to save your data, whether you’re working from home or on-the-go.”

Backup Made Simple
With an easy setup process and “set-it-and-forget-it” operation, the Canvio product line can automatically and regularly back up a computer while in use, removing the primary barrier to backing up – 54 percent of survey respondents said they simply forget about it.
Building on the success of its previous portable hard drives, the Canvio product line features easy-to-use Windows™-based NTI® BackupNow EZ™ software, upgraded with better search capabilities and simpler step-by-step restore functionality to retrieve lost files. For advanced users, the Canvio offers even more customization features than previous Toshiba personal storage products, including extensive backup options, advanced restore functionalities and an ability to overwrite specific original files. The Canvio also provides an option for complete system backup, enabling users to restore select files or the entire computer, even if Windows is unable to start.
“As the survey shows, home computers hold very personal and valuable assets, and yet the majority of people aren’t doing enough to help protect that precious data,” said Manuel Camarena, product manager for consumer storage at Toshiba Storage Device Division. “For consumers who know backup is important and want an easy path to peace of mind, the Canvio is a no-brainer. It simply acts like an insurance policy against the loss of crucial data and precious digital memories.”

Toshiba Canvio Product Details
The Canvio product line comes in an array of colors, including Raven Black, Satin Silver, Liquid Blue, Rocket Red and Komodo Green. Toshiba has reduced the physical size of this personal storage line by 25 percent and added environmentally-friendly packaging, delivering a 35 percent reduction in total volume and using 100 percent recyclable materials.
The Canvio product line is available now at www.toshibadirect.com or through major retailers and online outlets. For a complete list of retailers offering the Toshiba Canvio, please visit www.wheretobuy.toshibastorage.com.
Suggested retail prices by capacities are:
• $119.99 for the 500GB Canvio
• $139.99 for the 640GB Canvio
• $159.99for the 750GB Canvio Plus
• $199.99 for the 1TB Canvio Plus

Why should I require an external HardDisk?
External HardDisks are made use of for many needs. You’ll be able to use it as a backup/recovery hard drive for your data, so you don’t lose all of your documents or other data files. It can be also made use of as a transportable storage device, that is greater than a usb drive and less difficult to move than an interior hard drive. An additional use for external harddisks is utilizing it as protected storage space, that is connected and accessed just when necessary.

Why would I choose external harddisks rather than a usb flash cards?
External hard Drives possess much more capacity than flash cards and are tougher to brake. Even though flash cards are more portable, hard drives are more effective.

Will I want an external power supply for the external harddisk?
A number of them do, a number of do not. Modern and smaller versions generally don’t need a power supply, nevertheless always check it with the hard drive manufacturer.

What are the external harddisks?
An external harddisk can be described as kind of hard disk drive which is attached to a electronic computer by means of a USB cable or other means. That means the harddisk is portable and you could carry it anyplace.

Do external hard drives work with both Windows and also Mac?
Yes, almost all external hard drive should work with both Windows and Mac. You ought to as well verify that with the hard drive manufacturer for additional facts.

I need some more answers. Where would you advise?  
Web forums on external harddisks are incredibly scarce.  One forum that is helpful, though, is the external harddisk forum at http://external-harddisk.bidandblog.com .  The forum is likely the internet’s most popular forum where you can locate just about any answer that you may want about external harddisks, not to mention that it’s free of charge.  The discussion board also offers live auctions for external harddisks plus a free email service that will email you each time a new external harddisk auction is posted.  And, there is practically always someone on the discussion board that will answer almost any external harddisk question.  

The future is here, everyone. Let’s check out the just-announced Seagate BlackArmor PS110 Performance kit. It’s Seagate’s first USB 3.0 product and it’s noice — where noice is slang for nice, and for the sole fact that it’s the first USB 3.0 drive I’ve tested. I’m a little excited.

Features:

• USB 3.0 interface
• Backwards compatible with USB 2.0
• 7,200 RPM drive
• 500 GB
• 0.47 inches thin
• $179 MSRP

Pros:

• Fast
• Includes a USB 3.0 PC Card
• Bus powered with included USB power cable

Cons:

• Takes a USB port to power the PC card

Review:

Seagate has the right idea. This drive comes with a USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter. Mainly because only about four people in the whole world actually have a USB 3.0 computer right now. The rest of us will need the PC Card in order to fully take advantage of the faster USB 3.0 speeds — or you could just use the drive in USB 2.0 mode as it’s backwards compatible, but that’s no fun.

The PC Card needs a little help powering the drive, so an included cable sucks what the PC Card needs off a powered-USB port. It’s bus-powered, though, when used in USB 2.0 mode.

The PC Card drivers are locked away on the hard drive instead of coming on a CD or flash drive. This turned out to be a problem for me as I couldn’t get the computer to recognize the hard drive even under USB 2.0 mode until I switched it on line in Disk Management. But once I had the drivers, I fell in love with USB 3.0.

It’s all about the speed. Nothing else really matters, as we’ve been hearing about USB 3.0’s performance numbers for some time now. Thankfully, this drive holds up to the hype.

Disclaimer: The internal SATA drive in my notebook is only a 5400 RPM drive. However, that’s what’s most common in notebooks anyway and, therefore, the benchmarks below are a good indication of real world results. Stay tuned for a full comparison against a Firewire 800 and eSATA drive. Benchmarks via HD Tune Pro 4.01.

The first chart compares the drive in both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 mode against my not, while the second one shows file write/read speeds with USB 3.0 on the left and USB 2.0 on the right. (click to embiggen)

There you have it. The Seagate PS110 is stupid fast for a semi bus-powered portable hard drive. And to think that this is just a first-gen USB 3.0 device. They are bound to get faster and faster. The future is looking mighty good thanks to USB 3.0.

But I don’t know if I would buy this hard drive just yet. Right now it retails for $179 and it’s only a 500GB hard drive. Other options offer a lot more storage for the same price. But then again, this might be the fastest, bus-powered portable hard drive on the market. In other words, you must decide between speed and storage capacity. Personally, I would go for the larger drive until the price drops.

Product Page

The USB 2.0 self-powered Rikiki measures in at 109.7×75×13.4 mm, which is just over a full inch shorter than the small Seagate FreeAgent line. The drives are available now with prices start at $74.99 for the 250GB and climb to $109 and $149 respectively for the 500GB and 640GB options.

The Smallest of its Species: LaCie Rikiki
Size does matter–resistance too.

December 15, 2009

Ultra compact, high capacity
Aluminum exterior for sturdy data protection
USB Boost and backup software included
Plug & play on Mac® and PC
Today, LaCie introduced the most compact 2.5″ hard drive on the market – LaCie Rikiki, in metal. Measuring just a mere 110cm, its sophisticated form factor holds up to 640GB of media that you won’t mind storing in a pocket or purse.

Encased in brushed, sturdy aluminum, the LaCie Rikiki, which means “tiny” in French, represents a resilient aesthetic that protects your media from everyday blunders and unwelcome fingerprints. Its lightweight design makes it a perfect companion for keeping your digital world close at hand.

“We are part of a generation that wants more from our electronics, but in the smallest form factor possible, and with a competitive price,” said Anne-Sophie Marchand, Consumer Product Manager. “With the LaCie Rikiki, we have done just that by fitting high-performance and high-capacity in the palm of your hand, for under $100.”

Leveraging the versatile USB 2.0 interface, the LaCie Rikiki is instantly compatible with your PC or Mac. Simply plug it in and you’re ready to store and share your favorite media with high-speed performance. LaCie Rikiki also offers USB Boost software for enhancing speeds up to 33% (Windows® only).

LaCie Rikiki also comes with a simplified software suite – for quick setup and easy-to-use backup management – enabling complete configuration in just a few clicks. The LaCie Rikiki is an all-in-one solution for storage mobility.

Availability
The LaCie Rikiki will be available in 250GB, 500GB, and 640GB capacities through the LaCie Online Store, LaCie Reseller+, and LaCie Corner, starting at the suggested retail price of $74.99 (excluding VAT). For more information, visit www.lacie.com.

Remember Pogoplug? That brilliant little gadget that networks any USB hard drive and makes it internet accessible in practically zero steps? We’re not the only ones who thought it was an especially good idea, and Seagate has licensed the technology and incorporated it into a dock for portable hard drives. The Seagate FreeAgent DockStar is essentially a Pogoplug in a different case, offering the same networked and internetted (?) functionality plus some extra USB ports and a special dock for Seagate FreeAgent hard drives… In a nutshell, this technology lets you seamlessly access any and all USB drive(s) you plug into it over your home network and the internet, and even from your iPhone.

At $99, the Seagate FreeAgent DockStar seems like an obvious choice over a $99 Pogoplug, except that the Seagate version apparently comes with a $30 subscription fee after the first year, whereas purchasing a Pogoplug includes lifetime online access to your files. So, if you were just born and you live to be 150 years old, that’s like $4,500 in access fees. I’m not sure whether this implies that Seagate (as opposed to Pogoplug) is taking care of the actual internet service part of things themselves, but either way, I really really hate subscription fees for hardware.

Pogoplug makes a point of saying that they’re just licensing their technology, and they’ve still got all kinds of exciting things planned… Seagate is being welcomed into the Pogoplug family as opposed to vice versa. To that end, today Pogoplug is announcing a bunch of new social networking features for their online drive interface, which makes it easy to share files and folders on sites like Facebook and Twitter. Basically, the service lets you share content from your hard drive via a web link that users can click on to access your drive directly. A variety of privacy options should keep the rest of your stuff safe, and it’s certainly way faster than uploading (and conveniently bypasses any kind of space limitations), but the whole concept still makes me vaguely uncomfortable. Like, I don’t want those dirty Facebook/MySpace people accessing my drives! …Even if they are all (hypothetically) my friends.

Incidentally, we’ve been sent a Pogoplug for review, so we’ll have a write-up for you (including another look at those social networking features) in the next few weeks.

[ Seagate FreeAgent ]
[ Seagate DockStar ]
[ Pogoplug ]