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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]

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Buffalo has recently introduced their latest portable storage solution, the MicroStation. The new drives come in a variety of storage options to include 32, 64 and 100GB and the exciting part is they are solid state drives. As of now pricing and an availability date have not yet been announced, but we can tell you that these portable SSD’s will be USB-powered and feature the USB cable in a wrap around style, which means it will not get lost in your gear bag, or even worse forgotten at home. Other features of the new SSD based MicroStation drives include a shock resistant chassis and a data transfer rate of up to 35 MB/s as well as as included Secure Lock Ware encryption software and Memeo backup software.

Product [Buffalo] Via [iTechNews]

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Samsung has taken a 120GB 1.8-inch hard drive and recently put it into a shiny black, credit card sized enclosure. Seemingly without an official name, the new drives feature a shiny black exterior with a hard drive logo and a simple statement of “The Storage World In Hand.“

All things considered 120GB is quite a lot of storage for a drive enclosure of that size, and certainly beats using a regular USB flash drive in terms of capacity. The drive does offer some nice perks in that its a 4200rpm drive which only requires 1.4W of power, which means it will not require anything other than a spare USB port for power.

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Art Lebedev, who perhaps is best known for their cool but very expensive keyboards has recently introduced a new flash drive. The new drive is available in just one storage option, 4GB and sports (as the name implies) a folder like design. The Folderix flash drive is made of aluminum with a laser-etched logo and is currently available in your choice of yellow, blue or purple. The price is a little high for 4GB of storage coming in at around $55, but at the same time the unique design almost makes it seem worth the extra money.

Product [Art Lebedev] Via [electronista]

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Being tiny doesn’t mean lesser capacity, at least for Super Talent’s recently released Pico D USB swivel flash drive. Measuring only 1.4-inches, the Pico D has a capacity of up to 8GB and uses a chip-on-board (COB) technology. Aside from having this much storage capacity, the Pico D is also shock resistant, water resistant, so pretty much sure that your data will be well protected even if you subject the flash drive to adverse conditions. Downloading and uploading files from and to this flash drive is a breeze as well with its transfer speed that could go as fast as 200X(30MB/sec).

Other features of the Pico D USB flash drive include; USB 2.0 and 1.1 support, USB bus-powered, 10 years data retention, and plug & play installation feature. The Pico D USB flash drive is currently available and retailing for $40.

Product [Super Talent] Via [Far East Gizmos]

• Kingston announces 64GB DataTraveler USB flash drive
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LG has launched a new stylish portable hard drive in the Korean market. This 2.5-inch hard drive with a SATA II interface is called the LG XD1 and gives out a transfer speed of up to 480mbps with its USB 2.0 E-SATA port. The XD1 features a gradient texture design which is available in either red wine or black pearl colors. It will be available in 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB storage capacities.

Pricing and release date information for the LG XD1 are not yet available. LG has not yet announced as well whether this portable hard drive will be available internationally.

Via [I4U]

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Digital Foci has announced its new and upgraded Photo Safe II. This portable digital photo storage now either comes in 80GB or 160GB storage capacity and a built-in memory card reader that supports practically all card formats including CF Extreme III, IV, UDMA, MMC, SD/HC card, miniSD, Memory Stick, MS PRO, MS Duo, MS PRO Duo, and xD-Picture card. The Photo Safe II card slot also offers rubber covers for added protection from dust.

In addition to the increased storage and wide range of memory card support, it also has a nifty “Auto Copy” button which copies all the content of a memory card, including all file formats (RAW images and videos) without changing their file name and file structure. Adding more value to the Photo Safe II is the fact that it can be used as a back storage device as well when connected to a computer thought the USB port.

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Fujitsu Europe has upgraded the storage capacity of its portable HandyDrive 2.5-inch external HDD with up to 500GB. This is in addition to other models which are available in 160GB, 250GB, 320GB and 400GB storage capacities.

The HandyDrive also features a maximum data transfer rate of 60mbps, an 8MB read/write buffer and a password lock tool option for data security and unauthorized access. The Fujitsu HandyDrive should be a good option for a portable drive since it measures only 5.59 x 3.23 x 0.87-inches in size and weighs a mere 7.76-ounces.

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What Imation has been touting as a paper clip-sized Atom Flash drive has just been officially released. Like we told you not so long ago, the Atom Flash drive features a unique and iconic design in aluminum finish and comes with password protection and drive partitioning software. In addition the atom flash drive is compatible with Windows Ready Boost feature, so users have an option to speed up system performance on any Windows Vista PC. 

Measuring a mere 1.20 x 0.5 x 0.22-inches, you won’t have a problem carrying the Atom Flash drive around. In fact, you might even have a problem locating it due to its small size. The Atom Flash drive will be available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB storage sizes with prices ranging from $18 for the 1GB model up to $100 for the 8GB model.

Via [electronista]

• SanDisk’s Cyber Monday deals
• Micro Center’s Black Friday 2008 weekend sales
• Kingston announces 64GB DataTraveler USB flash drive

The latest in the never ending supply of USB flash drives is the USBee, which makes not only perfect sense name wise, but also has a “bee like” yellow and black exterior. Along with the fancy name and coloring the USBee drive actually has some nice features that go along, first off the drive is made from silicon and aluminum and has a flexible design to prevent accidental damage.

In addition to a thoughtful and hopefully damage proof design the USBee also has a cooling system built into it’s stripes to keep it from overheating and a detachable cap that will snap on to the other end when the drive is in use.

The USBee drive is not yet in production, so of course we have no idea on just how much it would retail for or any available storage options. But in good news it did recently take first prize in an MS Industrial USB Competition held by a Seriban Design Community forum.

Via [Yanko Design]

• Micro Center’s Black Friday 2008 weekend sales
• Kingston announces 64GB DataTraveler USB flash drive
• DataTraveler 100 4GB Flash Drive on sale at Newegg for $7.99