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Tag: hard drive

  • Xbox One To Lack Support For External Storage At Launch

    The Xbox 360 launched with memory cards, but soon ditched those in favor of standardized external memory. Unfortunately, the Xbox One won’t have support for the latter at launch.

    During a PAX podcast, Major Nelson revealed that the Xbox One won’t support external storage at launch. In other words, you’ll only be able to use the included 500GB internal hard drive at launch. Once the feature is added in, however, Xbox One owners will be able to install games and other content to external memory.

    So, when can Xbox One owners expect to see external memory support? Nelson didn’t have a concrete answer. He only said that support won’t be there at launch due to the Xbox One team working on other things at the moment. The best we have is that external memory support “is on the list” of things the team is working on.

    The included 500GB internal hard drive will last most gamers for quite some time, but the digital future outlined by both Microsoft and Sony will require more than just a paltry 500GB of memory. The internal hard drive included with the Xbox One can’t be replaced so some gamers will need that external memory support. That’s why we’re likely to see it added in by the end of the year.

    As an aside, Sony is continuing the policy it started with the PS3 by allowing users to replace the PS4’s internal hard drive. In fact, it’s the only next-gen console to have such a policy. Both the Xbox One and Wii U require users to utilize more external hard drives. Both internal and external hard drives are priced similarly so neither console has an advantage in price when it comes to memory expansion.

    [Image: Xbox Wire]
    [h/t: Eurogamer]

  • Western Digital Explores the Router Market

    Western Digital, the company known for internal and external hard drives ( and streaming TV hardware) is now getting into the router market. And, big surprise, they are doing what they do best by including “network-attatched” storage to the higher end devices.

    The routers will include four dual-band routers and an ethernet switch. They use WD’s “FasTrack” technology to prioritize bandwidth-hogging activities like movie streaming, heavy downloading, video chats and onine gaming. Other options include partental controls and the ability to set up a guest network.

    The higher end models also include storage. It comes in either 1TB or 2TB and you can use the WD Go website to access the drive remotely. They are also working on iOS and Android apps to allow mobile accesss as well. That’s pretty cool.

    The N900 is rated for speeds of 900 Mbps, but lacks internal storage. It has 7 Gigabit sockets and two USB ports. The N750 and N600 (which max out at 750 Mbps and 600 Mbps, respectively) have four ethernet ports and two USB. Prices are as follows: $70 for the My Net Switch, $80 for the N600, $120 for the N750 and $180 for the N900.

    The big news here is that some of the routers will include storage, which can be accessed from any of the computers on the network, and even outside the network, (although I imagine this way would be much slower). The only problem is the units with storage do not go on sale until next quarter. The N900 Central will cost either $300 for 1TB of storage or $350 for the 2TB model.

  • Seagate Drives Hit 1 Terabit Per Square Inch

    Seagate has unveiled the first terabit-per-square-inch hard drive, essentially doubling the typical areal density of modern hard disks. First off, this will result in 6TB 3.5-inch desktop drives, and 2TB 2.5-inch laptop drives – but Seagate expects to expand to 60TB and 20TB drives respectively.

    To have made such a big advance in drive density, Seagate incorporated a technology called heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR). The size of each magnetic bit in a hard drive dictates its size – these bits can only be made so small before the magnetism of other bits begins to take effect. HAMR bits are made of compounds that can withstanding further miniaturization. Fujitsu developed HAMR in 2006, and the system adds a laser to the hard drive head. The drive head seeks as normal, but when it is time for data to be written, the laser comes on.

    seagate hamr

    Data is read in the conventional fashion. One terabit per square inch is roughly two million bits per linear inch, with each site being about 12.7 nanometers long – or about a dozen atoms. Theoretically, HAMR should accomodate areal densities of up to 10 terabits per square inch, which equates to 60TB, for a desktop hard drive. There’s no mention of the cost of HAMR drives, or about how the laser would affect power consumption.

    Still, one might wonder what the point of local storage will become, as cloud-based storage and computing advances. But 60TB local drives, coupled with 100Mbps internet connections might also make the idea of a cloud a bit pointless as well. Though, the latter is unlikely, as smartphones and tablets with flash memory, in tandem with cloud drives might eventually make mechanical hard drives obsolete for typical computing.

  • Western Digital Releases First Ever 2 TB Portable HDD

    Western Digital announced today the next generation of its top-selling My Passport line of portable hard drives, including the first-ever portable drive with a 2 TB capacity. Now available in five popular colors: white, black, silver, blue, and red, with a range of capacities beginning from 500 GB, the new sleeker My Passport portable drives offer digital consumers an appealing array of storage options that reflect their personal style. Additionally, the new My Passport drives offer WD SmartWare™ automatic backup software and WD Security™ for password protection and hardware encryption.

    With the addition of premium finishes, specially-engineered to make the outer shell more resistant to scratches and fingerprints, the new My Passport external drives feature ultra-fast USB 3.0 connectivity; USB 2.0 compatibility; continuous, automatic backup software; and password protection with hardware encryption. The included software offers the flexibility to customize the drive to a user’s storage preferences: installing all features, just the components needed, or using the drive without the software. The new 2 TB model offers massive capacity in an amazing pocket-sized enclosure, affording plenty of secure storage for all of one’s photos, video, music and other important files.

    Given the small form factor and easy portability of My Passport drives, the built-in security features of password protection and hardware encryption help protect files from unauthorized use, making the drives safe data repositories for data while offering peace of mind to busy consumers on the go.
    “More than money, jewelry and other valuables, the item most missed if ever lost or stolen is one’s computer – and everything on it – so our goal in launching the next-generation of the popular My Passport drives is to encourage more consumers to protect their data before something happens,” said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD’s branded products and consumer electronics groups. “The new My Passport makes backing up and preserving one’s digital life easier, reliable and more secure than ever – it’s the perfect blend of monstrous capacity, reliability and user-friendly technology in a sleek form factor, now in five colors.”

    My Passport drives come with a 2-year limited warranty are available online at the WD store at www.wdstore.com and at select retailers and distributors. MSRP is $129.99 USD for 500 GB, $149.99 USD for 750 GB, $179.99 USD for 1 TB, $199.99 for 1.5 TB and $249.99 USD for the new 2 TB edition.

  • Western Digital Acquires Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

    Most consumers probably don’t care where their hard drives come from, but the news today is sure to make some people happy or mad.

    Western Digital announced yesterday that it has acquired Hitachi Global Storage Technologies to the tune of $3.9 billion and 25 million shares valued at $0.9 billion. To sweeten the deal even further, Hitachi now owns 10 percent of Western Digital shares and it can appoint two people to Western Digital’s board of directors.

    WD technologies and HGST will both operate under the WD banner as wholly owned subsidiaries. In 2011, the two companies made about $15 billion combined. WD’s CEO, John Coyne, will remain as CEO of the new venture.

    “The completion of this acquisition is a truly momentous event in the 42-year history of our company,” said Coyne. “With ownership of two successful companies and the best talent available in the industry, we expect to accomplish great things as we build the new WD to be the world’s leading storage solutions provider with the industry’s deepest technology capability, broadest product portfolio and best-in-class execution. Similar to successful multi-brand models in other industries, the two subsidiaries will compete in the marketplace with separate brands and product lines while sharing common values of customer delight, value creation, consistent profitability and growth.”

    The news could not have come at a better time as hard drive sales are at an all-time high. The growth of the hard drive business is expected to rise at the rate of 8.6 percent per year from 2011 to 2016. What’s the biggest driver in hard drive sales? If you guessed cloud computing, you would be right on the money. They aren’t the only ones though as mobility, social business and big data analytics are all driving increased hard drive storage sales.

    WD CEO Coyne says that while they are still seeing success in traditional markets, new sales from enterprise solid-state drives, storage solutions for small businesses and low-profile HDDs and hybrid drives for Ultrabooks is what’s driving their current growth.

    The Verge pointed out that this acquisition makes Western Digital the largest hard drive manufacturer in the world. Now that they’re here, does this mean that we’re going to get cheaper solid state drives? I’m still not entirely on board with paying $300 for half the storage of what that money would get me in a traditional hard drive.