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The latest collaboration between two renowned brands, Acer and Seagate, has produced an outstanding improvement in notebook hard disk capacity, up to 500GB for new Acer laptops.  I, for one, am glad that Seagate has managed to meet the increasing demand for higher hard disk capacity on laptops.  As a frequent laptop user, I know how limiting it is to find out that I don’t have enough free space to meet my excessive multimedia needs.

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Modern laptop users demand SSDs for their laptops due to their inherently faster seek time and shock-proof nature.  With that in mind, Toshiba has recently announced a boost in its SSD and Flash Modules line-up, satisfying laptop and netbookusers.

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Buffalo is set to introduce what they are claiming to be the world’s thinnest external hard drive.  The official name of the product is the MiniStation Shinobi and it is just 5mm thick.  While the device looks like a run-of-the mill flash drive, it actually houses a 1.8-inch hard drive.  I got to handle one of these tiny drives and it is very light at 2-ounces. 

Encased in a very cool-looking metallic black enclosure, Buffalo placed a tiny retractable USB connector in the side of the unit.  The connector nests within the case when not in use; the drive does not have a mini-USB port.  It will ship with an USB extension cable in case the built-in connector cannot reach your computer’s port.  Buffalo will release two versions in October.  There is a 30GB model for around $120 and a 60GB model for about $170.  Both come with back up software by Memeo.  More pictures after the break.

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Not only is Western Digital concern with introducing various colors of its portable USB hard drives, but it looks like it has also been working on giving us more storage capacity for their My Passport HD product line. If the 320GB capacity of previous models of both the My Passport Elite and My Passport Essential left you wanting for more storage, then you will be glad to know that WD has answered your prayers. WD has just released 500GB models of My Passport Elite and My Passport Essential.

Despite the bigger storage, both My Passport USB hard drives are still light-weight at 7 ounces and still sport the same ultra-compact form factor. Aside from these, both My Passport Elite and My Passport Essential eliminate the need for an external power adapter since they are USB-bus powered. Both portable hard drives also come with synchronization software which allows users to sync their changes to data stored on the hard drive with the security of 128-bit encryption. Other features of these portable hard drives include plug-and-play support with gaming consoles such as Xbox 360 and PS3 which enables users to play music and view photos on a regular TV unit.

My Passport Elite also boasts of additional features including; capacity gauge which indicates available space, an automatic backup software, and the ability to retrieve forgotten files from MioNet-enabled PC (for Windows only) using MioNet Key software.

Available now at WD’s online store, My Passport Elite with 500GB storage capacity retails for $219.99 while My Passport Essential will set you back $199.99. And yes, all 11 colors of My Passport Essential are available in 500GB capacity as well.

Product [Western Digital] Read [PR Newswire]

Rumor has it that Seagate is dropping the brown/orange colorway on its FreeAgent external hard drives and refining it to a more futuristic look (as pictured above).  The bigger drive is most likely the FreeAgent Desktop, the standard desktop drive.  To its right is probably the FreeAgent Go, or another iteration of Seagate’s portable drive line.  From the picture, it is evident that there is the inclusion of a new docking station, which will help show off the eye candy element of the drive.  Not only will the drives shed their brown exterior, they’ll be available in grey, black, silver and others, including red, green, gold, and pink.  For Mac users, it is especially exciting to hear that at least one of the drives will be formatted for instant use in OS X, so lowly Windows users will have to format the drive in order to use it. 

Look for a formal announcement for these external hard drives sometime next month.

Via [Engadget]

Seagate has announced that Dell XPS laptops will soon be shipping with their Momentus 7200.3 hard drives, and they will also incorporate the same technology on Alienware laptops soon. The Momentus 7200.3 hard drive was designed for on-the-go worker and touts a low power consumption and overall reliable performance. This new Seagate 2.5-inch hard drive gives out up to 320GB of storage capacity and boasts a fast Serial ATA 3.0 Gbit/second interface. It spins at a 7200-rpm speed and has a 16MB cache. In addition the hard drive is equipped with G-Force Protection that was built to withstand up to 1000Gs of non-operating shock and 350Gs of operating shock and free-fall sensor technology that helps to prevent drive damage and data loss even when your notebook gets dropped.

The Momentus 7200.3 will be offered in 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB storage capacities. These new Seagate hard drives also consumes less energy and will only be a $46 upgrade on the XPS M1730 notebook.

Read [CNW Group] Via [Engadget]

For those looking to give their external hard drive a little camouflage within their home office, the Hardbox may be just what you need. We do mean it though when we say little, because while the drive itself has the appearance of a book, it still has two external LED lights. Though we cannot say for sure, it seems those LED’s would most likely draw some attention in the midst of those regular books on your shelf.

The drive is being offered up from Sarotech and has support for 3.5-inch SATA I or II hard drives with support for up to 1GB. The Hardbox comes with a built-in power supply and ships with “powerful backup software.” It offers up a USB connection, but seems to be missing one important item, a fan. However according to Sarotech the drive has an “advanced aluminum” case that keeps the drive operating at a cool temperature. Sadly the Hardbox is currently just available in the Korean market and is also a little on the expensive side at 315,000 KRW, around $300 US.

Product [Sarotech] Via [Oh Gizmo!]

The GBDisk RS1 series of Serial ATA (SATA)-compatible industrial silicon disks is the latest addition to TDK’s roster, which will be made available in June with up to 16GB capacities. High-speed, frequent data writing and maintaining data reliability come first with the GBDisk RS1 series. And because of that, it features single level cell (SLC) NAND Flash memory, and GBDriver RS1 SATA controllers for use in NAND Flash memory controller ICs.

It also offers complete power interruption tolerance, error correction, distributed data writing, and bad block management. Basically, these are new types of hard disks, coming in at the same size as current generation HDD’s (2.5-inches) that should offer fast start up, stringent shock resistance, and low power consumption. It’s been reported to be already Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL)-certified, and now if only they could bump up the storage a bit more than 16GB’s, then we’d all be happy. Or at least, those who need to use hard disks in industrial equipment.

As of now, pricing is unknown, but as earlier mentioned, production will start in June 2008.

Via [Tech On]

Looking for a creative (albeit a bit expensive) way to banish your computer’s data? EDR Solutions might have just the right thing for you. Cleverly disguised as a seemingly hibernating war machine, the Hard Disk Crusher will offer to ‘drill’ through your hard drive’s spindles, effectively killing it just like how crunch waves do brain cells. A standard 110V outlet should be enough to give this monster some juice, but in the unlikely event that you need to use this where there’s no electricity available, you can use an emergency hand-pump and crush hard drives 15 pumps at a time. How much is one Hard Disk Crusher to destroy all your unwanted data easily? $11,500 (including a one-year warranty, at $995 per year extended). The comfort in knowing that nobody will ever find all your precious “YouTube videos?” Priceless.

Via [Oh Gizmo]

Iomega has announced the new ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive, a portable external data storage device touting a 500GB storage capacity provided by a 3.5 inch 7200rpm NTSF formated hard drive.

The ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive comes with a remote control to help you navigate through your collection of digital content and has support for various media formats including MP3, AC3, WAV, WMA, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and JPEG. It also features both HDMI and component video outputs that you can use to display high-resolution digital photos and video on your display of choice. With these connections, you can choose your preferred video settings from either 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i.

The ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive is currently available in the US and retails for $209.95, and is expected to ship internationally sometime in May for around $282.

Via [Far East Gizmos]