esata

LaCie announced Thursday the Rugged eSATA external hard drive. Though external hard drives with an eSATA connection are not new, this appears to be the first drive that comes with a Power eSATA interface. This means its eSATA cable is also capable of powering the device, making the drive more portable.

The Power eSATA interface, also known as a USB-eSATA combo interface, combines the high transfer speeds of the eSATA standard with the USB standard's capability to draw juice from the computer.

The USB-eSATA combo interface has a slightly different connector than the standard eSATA and, unfortunately, is only … Read more

Finally, it looks like the Drobo storage system I've been waiting for has arrived.

I've been struggling with the right way to deal with data as I move from a desktop machine with abundant internal storage to a laptop that can't fit my burgeoning photo library. Earlier four-drive Drobo models, with FireWire and USB ports, looked better at backup than storing live files I'd be using constantly.

But Monday, Data Robotics announced the Drobo S, a five-bay, $799 storage system that adds an eSATA connection to the mix.

Drobo systems use technology called BeyondRAID that stores data across a mixture of different drives. It offers redundancy and automatically rebuilds your files when you replace an older drive or add a new one that's more capacious. Drobos don't come cheap, but they offer longevity, and right now Amazon is selling 1.5-terabyte drives for $99.

So why should the prospect of dropping $1,000 on a storage system excite me? Because of eSATA.… Read more

In September, Seagate made the first 6Gbps SATA hard drive available. The new Seagate Barracuda XT hard drive offers twice the throughput speed of existing popular 3Gbps SATA hard drives. Now you're about to get the chance to take advantage of the new drive's performance with your current PC.

HighPoint, which makes controllers for storage devices, announced Monday the availability of the first SATA 6Gbps (or SATA 3.0) host adapters, the Rocket 600 series, which are based on PCI-Express 2.0 technology.

SATA 3.0 is the next generation of the SATA storage standard. Currently most computers … Read more

First up, some important business: I'm on vacation this week! But I couldn't leave you hanging without one more sweet deal, so here's my farewell post. See you next Monday! (Unless I just can't stay away... you never know.)

Holy ridiculously cheap storage, Batman! Buy.com has a Fantom G-Force 1-terabyte external hard drive for $69.99 shipped.

The catch? Yep, you guessed it: There's a $20 mail-in rebate [PDF]. I know that's a deal-breaker for some, but even in the unlikely event you get the short end of the rebate stick, $89.99'… Read more

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new low! OnSale.com has the Fantom GreenDrive 1 terabyte external hard drive for $79.99. UPS Ground shipping will run you a very reasonable $4.99.

OK, you knew there had to be a catch, right? Actually, there's a pair: rebate No. 1 (PDF) and rebate No. 2 (PDF). They're $20 apiece.

I don't have a problem with rebates, but I know that some people hold them in the same regard as AIG bonuses. (Surely, they aren't that bad.)

As for the drive itself, it features USB 2.0 … Read more

It's been awhile, but once again you can pick up a 1-terabyte external hard drive for under $100.

Specifically, Buy.com has the Fantom 1TB G-Force USB/eSATA hard drive for $99.99 shipped. That's an awful lotta storage for the money. And no rebates!

Though fairly industrial in design and not likely to win any beauty contests, the Fantom's got it where it counts: a 7,200-rpm drive, an 8.5-millisecond seek time, and your choice of USB or eSATA interfaces. It's compatible with most versions of Windows and the Mac OS.

A drive like … Read more

These tangle-free LaCie Flat Cables must work because they managed to slip by our sticky fingers at the time of their release back in early December '08. LaCie makes these multicolored neon cords in a variety of interfaces, including:

A French design firm enlisted by LaCie came up with the flat strip shape that neatly folds into a coil to prevent tangles. The Flat Cables also come with 24 labels so you'll never wonder what plug goes with a particular device again.

As always, though, design innovation and pretty colors (see: Apple) come at a premium: would you pay 10 dollars each for these cables? Sound off in the comments section!

More pictures after the jump.… Read more

Intel demonstrated a working version of USB 3.0 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week. Here's why it will make eSATA and FireWire obsolete.

When USB 3.0 is expected to hit the market in early 2010, it will have been 10 years since the now ubiquitous USB 2.0 was introduced (April 2000). The current USB 2.0 specification runs at a theoretical maximum speed of 480Mbps, and can supply power (for those looking for the hard details, you can find the USB 2.0 specification here (zip file).

According to the USB Implementers … Read more

Toshiba continues its lineup with a couple of new notebooks from its Satellite series.

First up is the 15-inch Toshiba Satellite L305-S5921, an average, entry-level notebook that will suffice for the student on a budget. Don't expect to find a FireWire port, Bluetooth, or a Webcam on this unit, but do expect to see the usual row of media-control keys for pause, stop, rewind, and fast forward and two programmable keys defaulted to mute and open Windows Media Player. Also on this notebook are three USB ports, a 4-in-1 Bridge Media Adapter, and an Express Card slot. It comes … Read more