Filed under: Storage

Nothing too special about Tosh’s latest USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive — just a good lookin’ 400GB unit that should slide into most average sized cargo pockets on the market today. The 6-ounce drive is available in “Electric Blue and Black” (pictured) as well as Carbon Grey, Hot Rod Red and Gecko Green, and while pricing has yet to be revealed, those looking to size it up can chew on these dimensions: 0.65- x 3.19- x 5.0-inches. Not too shabby, huh?

[Via Electronista]

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Filed under: Storage

Iomega went out of its way to make sure you really, really understood that this here external hard drive would go nicely with your MacBook Air, but we’d prefer to see it as something that could slip right into just about any traveler’s briefcase. The anodized aluminum shell measures in at just 0.63-inches thick, weighs 7-ounces and packs a 320GB 2.5-inch hard drive within. Additionally, the unit comes formatted with Apple’s HFS+ file system, features the company’s own Drop Guard design to protect it from falls of up to 1.3-meters (and not a nanometer more), and gets all the juice it needs from a spare (or only, in the MBA’s case) USB 2.0 port. It’ll be available across the globe next month for $149.99.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

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Filed under: Storage

It’s hard to say if we’ve ever laid eyes on a family of portable hard drives with less vigor and pizazz, but Memorex isn’t kidding around when it calls these things “essential.” Boasting nothing more than the bare necessities, the new line of TravelDrives arrives with 2.5-inch HDDs that pack 160GB, 250GB or 320GB of space. You’ll find a USB 2.0 port and a flashing LED to keep you from dozing off, and there’s even a few color options to choose from in case you’re partial to Spring Blossom, Tropic Green, Caribbean Blue or Cool Silver. At least they start at just $89.99, right?

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Filed under: Storage

Although Western Digital seems to have the portable hard drive sector all wrapped up, LG’s looking to snag a bit of that market share by introducing a new line of stylish alternatives. Each member of the XD1 family possesses a 2.5-inch HDD with a SATA II interface and a USB 2.0 port, and just in case black isn’t your bag, you can expect a red wine colored version as well. For now, we’ll have to live without a price or release date, but you can look forward to units arriving in 120GB, 160GB, 250GB and 320GB sizes sometime in the future.

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Filed under: Storage

Father Time isn’t slowing things down anytime soon, so it’s good to see that Fujitsu is doing its best to keep up. Merely two months after taking the HandyDrive to 400GB, the firm has introduced an all new, totally marvelous 500GB iteration. Featuring the “world’s highest capacity 2.5-inch external hard disk drive (likely the MHZ2 BT),” this bus-powered unit hasn’t changed a bit in design, but it will hold a half-terabyte of information (in case you missed it the first go ’round). Grab it later this month in Europe, the Middle East and Africa for €229 ($364).

[Via Pocket-lint]

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Filed under: Storage

It’s not the biggest portable hard drive OWC has to offer, but if speed is your top concern, you can now get a still impressive 320GB model from the company, which will spin at an always-desirable 7,200 rpm without the need for a pesky AC adapter. As with OWC’s other Mercury-on-The-Go drives, you can also get this one in your choice of FireWire 800/400 + USB 2.0 Triple, FireWire 400 + USB 2.0 Combo, USB 2.0 + eSATA, or plain old USB 2.0 versions, each of which include a handy carrying case and the requisite backup software (for both Mac and Windows), and will set you back $280, $260, $258, and $240, respectively.

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Filed under: Ask Engadget, Storage

Yeah, we’ve let you folks toss out suggestions for a similar question back when a 1TB internal HDD was nothing more than a pipe dream, but it’s about time we gave this one an update, don’t you agree? Hear Ian out:

“I was wondering which portable hard drive was good enough to stand up to the life of a student. Something that can take a few bumps and not be harmed. It doesn’t have to be huge in capacity, but I need one larger than 80GB. I’d obviously like FireWire and USB 2.0 if possible, but I’m not trying to spend a fortune here either.”

Had any particularly good / bad experiences with battle-tested portable HDDs? We want to hear ‘em all, so don’t be shy, alright? To get your question up in the lights, send us a note at ask at engadget dawt com — just don’t forget to include the secret password.

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Filed under: Storage

LaCie’s bright orange Rugged Hard Disk hasn’t changed much externally since it surfaced over two years ago, but what used to buy you 160GB will now land you a full half-terabyte with dough left over for several In-N-Out runs. The latest Rugged drive packs Hitachi’s 500GB Travelstar 5K500 and still maintains the scratch-resistant aluminum shell and shock-resistant rubber bumper. As for ports, you’ll find a USB 2.0-only edition or a more versatile iteration that includes USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 sockets. Either flavor comes bundled with the company’s Setup Assistant and backup software, and if you’re tired of waiting for 1TB in your pocket, you can make do with this one for just $299.99 / $399.99 depending on your choice of interface(s).

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OWC’s Mercury On-The-Go family of pocket-lovin’ hard drives has been around for quite some time, but the group is getting an all new leader courtesy of the recently announced 500GB edition. Packing a half-terabyte of space on a 5,400RPM, 8MB of cache drive, the unit even includes FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 to ensure compatibility with pretty much whatever rig you’re dealing with. You’ll also find a copy of Prosoft DataBackup III for OS X and NovaStor NovaBackup for Windows bundled in, but you won’t be getting any closer to this bus-powered unit than the photo above without laying down $359.99 to call one your own.

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