Dell is one of the first out of the gates to offer Solid State Drives (SSD) in its product line. With no moving parts, these thin hard drives boot impressively quicker than the standard hard drives (HDD) found in todays laptops. The 1.8-inch 32GB SSD from SanDisk will first find themselves on both the Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and the D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks. While 32GB doesn’t sound large, remember just a few years ago 20GB was the standard size for most laptops. With its power consumption savings and quicker access, those with a need for performance rather than for a large density depot, these new Latitudes may be the perfect thing for the next flight to Tokyo.
“This represents an important milestone in the evolution of personal computers with the arrival of solid state flash memory as a durable, efficient alternative to the hard drive,” said Eli Harari, SanDisk’s founder and CEO. “For those enterprise road warriors who rely on their notebook PCs, hard drive crashes with attendant loss of critical data will soon be a thing of the past. We’re delighted that Dell has chosen the SanDisk SSD to launch this technology into their line of mobile PCs.”
We’ve seen these very drives boot up Vista side-by-side a standard HDD and while not twice as fast in boot up, it was much quicker. Dell claims boot up is 34 percent quicker which seems about right.
If this all sounds wonderful and you’re ready to click “Customize” on your next Dell order, prepare for the $549 addition to your final product in that virtual cart. But hey, 34% is a lot of time when booting Vista and it just may be worth it. 
Newer Technology announced today the NewerTech eSATA Extender Cable for Mac Pro 8-Core/Quad-Core computers. The NewerTech eSATA Extender Cable is the first extender cable available on the market that offers Mac Pro owners the ability to utilize the two unused internal SATA ports on the motherboard and add up to two external eSATA devices to run up to 6 hard drives or other devices on your Mac Pro!
The NewerTech eSATA Extender Cable is specifically and thoroughly engineered to be a “Perfect Fit Solution,” so it accurately and properly routes inside a Mac Pro case. Users can connect any two SATA-I or SATA-II devices to expand their data storage configuration. A step-by step illustrated installation manual is included to make set-up easy.
NewerTech eSATA Extender Cable Features: Read the rest of this entry »
Other World Computing (OWC) announced today the highest capacity, fastest portable storage drive solution on the market – the OWC 160GB Mercury On-The-Go portable hard drive. Equipped with FireWire 800/400 and USB2 interfaces, the OWC Mercury On-The-Go 160GB 7200RPM is a palm-sized, bus powered, high performance storage solution offering a full 60% greater capacity than the next available 7200RPM capacity in the market of only 100GB.
Priced at $279.99, the powerful OWC Mercury On-The-Go 160GB 7200RPM model is geared towards the demanding ‘on-the-go’ professional, who requires dependable, high-performance storage. The ‘fits in your shirt pocket’ portable drive is compatible with virtually all computers with an available FireWire or USB port, including all Macs and PCs. It also works with all FireWire or USB gadgets, including digital cameras and camcorders, for an instant on-the-go portable storage solution to quickly and safely store all your digital photos and video when traveling.
Back-up your desktop computer and bring it with you everywhere you go with the Mercury On-The-Go portable drive. For added convenience when backing up, the portable drive also includes the full retail versions of the latest award-winning Prosoft DataRescue III for OS X (just released last week) and NovaStor NovaBackup for Windows.
“OWC has been a leader in portable storage solutions for over half a decade,” said Larry O’Connor, CEO, OWC. “We understand the need for reliable, high-performance, high-capacity portable solutions, with our Mercury On-The-Go series filling that need quite nicely. Whether it’s taking work between the office and home, or needing that extra capacity when you’re traveling 30,000 feet up, these solutions truly let you get it done On-The-Go.”
The OWC 160GB Mercury On-The-Go Portable Drive is immediately available and shipping at $279.99 through OWC and other retailers. It has two FireWire 800/400 and one USB 2.0/1.1 ports and ships with carrying case, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800 cables, USB cable, Prosoft DataRescue III for OS X and NovaStor NovaBackup for Windows. It is covered by a one-year warranty and is compatible with Apple OS Versions 8.5 through 9.2.x; Apple OS X 10.0.3 and higher (including OS X 10.4.x); and Microsoft Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP.
For more information, see: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/on-the-go.
The first shipments of Polaroid Media Backup – Photo Edition are now available in North America.
Polaroid Media Backup – Photo Edition enables consumers to back up photos from their personal computer by simply plugging the device into a USB port. It immediately searches the computer for all digital images and copies them over to the device without having to install or configure any software.
The ClickFree technology developed my Storage Appliance (www.goclickfree.com) assures the user of a simple and easy process, and eliminates the frustration of backup, making it ideal for consumers with little computer knowledge.
Research shows half of all consumers don’t back up their data at all because they are afraid of the technology. The balance of consumers who back up infrequently rely mostly on CDs to store copies of their files, including photos, which is an inconvenient and time-consuming.
Polaroid Media Backup – Photo Edition contains a 2.5” hard drive that will hold up to 40,000 photos and is available in two colors, Black model# CGA02540 and White CGA02541. In addition to backing up photos, the device has several other convenient features, including the ability to home print and burn a CD from the device. It can also create wallpaper from your photos with a touch of a button.
Other World Computing (OWC), has just announced its new OWC Blu-ray Internal and External Drive Solutions that works on both Macintosh and Windows systems with an extra IDE/ATAPI bay port (for internal drives.) If not, worry not, the FireWire or USB 2.0 system version will get you moving with the external version. With Blu-rays 50GB capacity, any user with a ton of photos, music, or just the need for a back-up of a system will be able to do so easily on one single disc. You’ll also be able to enjoy the full high-quality HD Picture and Surround Sound capabilities of Blu-ray as well. For the $599 price tag, you’ll get 2 25 GB Blu-ray discs, Toast 8 DVD/CD authoring software, and the ability to burn Blu-ray, DVD, and CDs.
Flash drives with U3 smart technology let you bring some applications along with you where ever there is a USB port on a Windows machine; however, it won’t fully replicate your desktop. You need literally to just bring your hard drive with you to make that happen. Enter MojoPac. It in fact does just that in the form of any USB device such as your iPod. Since you can purchase an iPod with 80 GB of hard drive space, you could potentially bring your entire computer with you every where you go!
The folks at RingCube Technologies, Inc. have created an ingenious bit of software that installs on your iPod (or any other USB device) that then loads your desktop and your programs onto the host device. Not to worry, if you’re using this at work, as the hosts desktop can easily be brought up with a click of a button. Nothing changes on the host other than a new row of icons on the top of the screen. Clicking another button brings up your personal environment. Your programs, your desktop, your screen saver, your stuff. Anything that installs on Windows XP will install on MojoPac. Unlike U3, applications do not have to be specially brewed to work with MojoPac!
For $49.99 for a single license, this is really a great deal for the ability to bring your entire desktop with you. If you’re not fully convinced, then download the trial and see for yourself just how cool this really is.
Newer Technology, Inc. (NewerTech) , today announced new lower prices on its award-winning line of miniStack V2 FireWire/USB 2 external hard drive solutions. Available in capacities up to 750GB, prices start at just $114.99 for 80GB - $449 for 750GB. The best value is the 400GB drive, which is priced at only $199.99 from $239.99, a $40 price reduction (see full price list below).
Winner of “Top Product” Macworld Magazine, “Editor’s Choice” MacAddict, and “Accessory of the Year” 123Macmini.com, the NewerTech miniStack drives now include the award-winning Prosoft DataBackup™ II for OS X (a $59.95 value) and award-winning NovaStor NovaBACKUP® for Windows (a $49.95 value). Both software products include the same full technical and update support that comes with the stand-alone retail versions. “Add Your Own Hard Drive” utility/performance and backup software bundles are also available from $69 (a $200 value).
Perfect for audio/video, computer backup, music and photography storage, and more, the NewerTech miniStack drives are ultra-compact with dimensions of 6.5” x 6.5” x 1.5” and feature 3 USB2 and 2 FireWire ports that function as hubs to connect other devices to the computer. The drives also have a unique cooling system, including a Smart Fan.
(Pricing info after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re looking to purchase a new thumb drive, then take a look at our review of the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 2 GB thumb drive. It’s our first review of all five stars. In the end, it performed like no other and we were really impressed with it and the small form factor. It fits in your pocket just nice and works like a charm.
On January 30th, Newer Technology Inc. reported the release of the NewerTech USB 2.0 Universal Drive Adapter. This adapter makes it extremely easy to transfer from your old hard drive to your new one via USB at a speed of 480Mbps. The Universal adapter works with any hard drive and any optical drive (no matter what brand it is) using a USB as long as your computer is running Mac OS 9.2 or higher, Linux 2.4.X, or Windows 2000 or higher. The Drive adapter is perfect for file transfers, backups of your most important files, and accessing information with backup storage.
Because there are so many things you can now put on a hard drive, it can sometimes be difficult large digital video files, music, and photos on an older computer. But what happens when you finally get a new unit? How do you transfer all of your data from the old to the new? NewerTech has made it very easy to do just that with it’s Universal Adapter, all with the simplicity of USB 2.0. Everything you need comes in the box, the hardware you need and the software for you Windows users. This amazing product is available now for just $24.95 at www.newertech.com. Not a bad price at all considering what you can accomplish.
This is also a great helper for hard drives that get malware and spyware invested and need to be cleaned off on another computer. You don’t even have to remove the drive physically from the PC. Just yank the IDE cable from the back, insert this gadget, and turn on the power of the PC. Sure it won’t boot, but it’ll power up the drive and then your other computer will see it as an external drive ready for you to grab the important data and then format that drive for a clean install of the dreaded Windows OS! — Sven
We’ve seen a lot of iPod kits for the car in the last year. Some are good, some are just plain horrible. We’ve also seen some aftermarket in-dash units with modules that plug in the back of those DIN sized stereos and some are good and some are, yup, plain horrible. From Alpine to Pioneer to Panasonic, we’ve seen them.
With perfectly made-to-fit kits, you’d think an add-on unit like Harman Kardon’s drive+play wouldn’t have a chance against these guys, huh? Well you might be surprised to find out that fact is, HK may have played a total KO to these guys. After months of use, we were highly impressed with our drive+play. Read why.