LaCie have obviously been quite busy as they have just launched a whole raft of external hard drives for both desktops and laptops. The desktop range, cunningly entitled LaCie Desktop Hard Drive, comes in three sizes, 320 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB with the 1 TB big boy having a larger form factor too. The laptop range, called LaCie Mobile Disk, comes in a variety of sizes from 80 GB up to 320 GB. Here are a few more details on the new drives

Desktop Hard Drive

* Hi speed USB 2.0 interface
* 7,200 rpm
* 8 MB cache (16 MB on the 1TB version)
* 480 Mbps transfer rate
* 41 x 113 x 194 mm (115 x 65 x 208 mm for the 1TB version)
* 900g (1800g for the big boy)
* Plays nicely with W2K upwards and Mac OS X 10.3 or higher

Mobile Disk

* USB mini connectivity
* 5,400 rpm
* 8 MB cache
* 480 Mbps transfer rate
* 81 x 128 x 15 mm
* 170g
* Plays nicely with W2K upwards and Mac OS X 10.3 or higher

There’s no official price tags for these suckers on the LaCie website at the moment, but rumour has it that they’ll start at US$125 and go from there. So as long as rumour is right and the price tags are reasonable these drives may be a worthwhile investment and they certainly look the part.

Source: Electronista

Featured tags: external hdd lacie portable hard drive

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Beating the usual suspects out of the gate, Buffalo will launch their very own 320 GB portable hard drive, the MiniStation Turbo USB HD-PS320U2, in December. Not only will the new unit sport oodles of disk space but will spin around at 5,400 rpm which according to the Buffalo spiel about their other portable 5,400 rpm drives means they are up to 64% faster than their oh so slow 4,200 rpm siblings.

The unit also features 256 bit encryption provided by Buffalo’s Secure Lock Ware plus Memeo’s AutoBackup software. Connectivity is provided by a USB 2.0 interface, which sucks power for the unit from the attached PC rather than requiring a hefty separate power supply. The drive is encased in a ‘Shock Resistant Chassis’ although I’d like to see how it performs in my sledge-hammer testing rig :)

It talks nicely with kit running W2K, XP, Vista and Mac OS X. But what about the moola? The MiniStation Turbo has a surprisingly nice price tag of US$319 hanging around its neck. Overall I think Buffalo have come out with a little beauty for anyone looking for a ton of portable storage space.

Featured tags: buffalo external hdd hdd portable hard drive

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With Hitachi announcing their portable 250 GB this week, Western Digital bounce back and announce their own 250 GB portable, slip in your pocket, hard drive. As noted over at DailyTech although the WD 250GB offering rocks in at US$50 under the Hitachi price, it is a good inch longer than the Hitachi and most importantly doesn’t have the ‘go faster’ stripe down the side ;)

So as usual you pay for what you get, although with a saving of US$50 I’d be happy with a larger option, I’ll just have to buy trousers with extra large pockets!

Featured tags: 250GB portable hard drive western digital

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