Seagate reveals yet another innovation to provide more flexible and affordable high-capacity HDD solutions for the tablet and mobile computing market. The new Laptop Ultrathin HDD by Seagate Technology bundles huge storage, easy integration, and data security all in a smaller footprint. Laptop Ultrathin is thinner than a deck of cards measuring just 5mm and capable of delivering performance equivalent to its 7mm counterpart.

The Laptop Ultrathin HDD seems to continue the trend of having more storage packed in a smaller form factor. With a slim size and high storage offering, this HDD paves the way for expanded and integrated storage. System integrators and designers now have an option to innovate new light systems without compromising storage and affordability. This super-thin 500GB HDD is superior to many other storage solutions in terms of cost-per-GB and cost-per-millimetre factors.

With a standard SATA 6 GB/s interface, the Laptop Ultrathin HDD can be easily integrated into smaller, lightweight mobile computing devices, including tablets and ultra-thin notebooks. Its easy design integration coupled with a reasonably high performance (100MB/s sustained data transfer rate) makes it suitable for laptop applications and other slim storage devices.

Besides reinventing the boundaries of system design, this small-sized HDD can be used for protecting your sensitive business data. As data mobility becomes a challenge for the entire business landscape, it is necessary to ensure that your critical details are not compromised. In order for keeping your assets secure, the Laptop Ultrathin HDD has Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) with TCG Opal protocol for enabling real-time data encryption. You also get Seagate Instant Secure Erase (ISE) feature for a safe and easy retirement of your hard drive.

The slimmer and thinner design of Seagate Laptop Ultrathin HDD privieds more room for incorporating additional designed-in features, such as improved batteries and better air circulation. Laptop Ultrathin carries a retail price of $89.

Seagate has come up with yet another innovation in the field of wireless storage. Seagate Wireless Plus, a successor to its GoFlex satellite drive, has brought to the table serious improvements in all respects, including battery life, storage, and range. The impeccable design of this portable hard disk is one of its major attractions. The drive may seem heavier and wider, but that is expected given the out-of-the-box features of Wireless Plus.

This portable drive carries two indicator lights on the outside: one for indicating that the drive is ready to accept Wi-Fi connections and the other for charging. A charger is included in the package that allows you to charge the drive using a proprietary charging connector. It is also possible to charge via USB, but that is time-consuming.

It is fairly easy to set up this drive for streaming content wirelessly. You need to download the Seagate media app from Google Play or App Store and install it on your mobile device. Once you are finished installing this app, connect your device to the ‘Seagate Wireless’ Wi-Fi network. After doing this, you are ready to launch the app and get started.

Seagate Wireless Plus can be set up to connect to another nearby Wi-Fi network. This way you can have Internet access even if you are connected to the ‘Seagate Wireless’ Wi-Fi network. However, you cannot enjoy your mobile Internet while on the move and connected to this drive.

Wireless Plus is easy to connect to a PC or Mac and load up all the media that is stored on your computer. You won’t see an extraordinary data transfer rate; speeds are average and can be compared to ordinary portable drives. You will find NTFS file system on this drive. However, Seagate offers a copy of Paragon NTFS that allows Mac users to record data to this drive.

While you are connected to Wireless Plus using Seagate Wireless network, you can seamlessly stream content stored on the drive. The app makes your streaming experience a breeze by providing you an intuitive interface containing tabs named Videos, Photos, Music and Documents. You can also move data from your mobile device to the drive quickly using the app.

According to specifications, the drive is rated to provide 10 hours of usage and can address three users simultaneously. You can put the drive in sleep mode to save battery when the need be, i.e. when you are working solely with your mobile device.

Seeing these improvements, it is no surprise that Seagate Wireless Plus will be a cynosure of all those who need to stay connected with their content on the move. The drive provides 1 TB storage and is priced at Rs. 16,000.

The Digital Products Division (DPD) of Toshiba America Information Systems revealed yet another innovation in their line of portable external hard drives called Canvio Connect. The Canvio Connect hard drives are set out to provide improved file sharing and data access from any mobile device anywhere. You can enjoy these benefits by simply connecting this drive to a running Internet-enabled PC or Mac.

The Canvio Connect drives are available with a storage capacity up to 2 TB in a variety of colors to choose from, i.e. black, silver, blue, red and white. The drive is attractive in its compact form factor and has an edge over other competitive products on the market owing to its unique share and access features.

You can stay connected to your digital content anytime anywhere. You can back up your valuable data directly from your mobile device to the external hard drive with minimum fuss by simply having the Toshiba Storage’s iOS or Android app. Until the system to which you have attached your Canvio Connect drive is powered on, you can enjoy unlimited access to your information from any device.

The Canvio Connect can be referred to as ‘personal cloud’ hard drive as it provides free 10 GB storage on the cloud to allow you back up your content online. The drive is easy to set up and use for backup, file sharing, and data access. This ensures you are anywhere connected to your friends and family even on the move.

Toshiba’s Canvio Connect is perfect for use on both Windows and Mac platform. It comes preformatted with NTFS for Windows users. It also has an NTFS driver for Mac, allows Mac user to access data, share files, and back up digital content without a hitch. The Canvio Connect will be commercially available in mid-May and is priced at a range $99 – $189.99 (depending on the storage capacity).

It is no surprise that the notebook computer market is booming and that this very fact has behooved HDD manufactures to consider yet smaller form factors for the notebook computer drives. The result is an ultra-thin 5-mm high, 50 GB notebook computer HDD by Western Digital. These drives are thinner than the 7-mm high HDDs available from manufacturers till date. They can be used in the notebook computers as a pure HDD or a hybrid HDD. This development will pave the way for adding more batteries to a computer allowing for a greater battery backup.

Hybrid HDDs have the advantages of both HDDs and SSDs. They are inclined to give you an SSD performance and take care of the cost per byte factor (a benefit of using HDDs). These drives can help fulfill performance needs even with systems having normal consumer usage patterns. Hybrid drives are certainly a good alternative to using a separate SSD with a separate HDD. However, these drives are lacking some of the key features that may be incorporated in their later versions. The ability to perform write caching and storing the OS on a fast flash memory cache are some goals that the HDD manufacturers are seeking currently.

The reports disclosed by IDC showed a 14% drop in PC sales for CQ1 2013. Surprisingly, Western Digital claimed only a 4% increase in desktop HDDs and a 1% drop in notebook computer drives. The two other HDD manufacturers are yet to reveal any data on shipments in CQ1 2013. Western Digital reported a 1.5% increase in HDD shipments as compared to the last quarter of 2012.

A high percent rise was seen in the shipment of enterprise HDDs (according the Western Digital reports). Enterprise HDDs are the primary assets of a data center. They form a major part of storage when it comes to managing data for Cloud applications (such as cloud backup and content access). The need for enterprise HDDs is further raised by the growing smart phone and tablet market. The rise in the number of smart phones and tablets will considerably increase the demand for SATA HDDs as compared to hybrid HDDs. This could be a major change that you can expect in the HDD market in the foreseeable future.

Ankaka, China electronics wholesaler, has rolled out Cool USB Flash Drive Biometric USB Flash Drive U Key that has a U Disk memory of 8 GB and the ability to secure your data using Biometrics. The small form factor and elegant design of this portable USB flash drive. This drive perfectly fits in the palm of your hand and let you carry your music, videos, and other data everywhere you go.

The secure fingerprint lock is one of the major attractions of the Cool USB Flash Drive. It is equipped to store ten additional fingerprints to ensure multiple users can take advantage of this excellent security. The USB drive scans your fingerprint to allow accessing or creating files.

Cool USB Flash Drive will run smoothly on Windows 7, XP, and Vista. Ankaka 8 GB biometric flash drive provides a high image resolution of 508 dots per inch, which is an impressive figure for making your images reasonably clear on any modern device. The drive features USB 2.0 interface and a data transfer rate of 6800 kb/s.

The drive comes with a USB cable to allow for easy download of data to a laptop or tablet. The fingerprint lock can be deemed as the next step towards ensuring authorized data access on USB flash storage devices. It is easy for a hacker to crack your password, but duplicating your fingerprint would seem impractical.

The Cool USB Flash Drive Biometric USB Flash Drive U Key is available from resellers and drop shippers. You can also order unique USB flash drive by browsing the online Ankara wholesale store.

StarTech.com, a leading technology manufacturer, is set to release a portable and high-performance USB Flash Drive Duplicator that will enable users to clone the entire USB flash drive volumes or just back up the content of these volumes to two flash drives simultaneously. The tool eliminates the need of a host computer system and behaves as a standalone device. You do not require connecting the duplicator or the USB drives to a computer system in order to perform the designated tasks.

The Flash Drive Duplicator is light-weight, durable, and portable much to the delight of the consumer. The integrated LCD display is useful to track the status of duplication process anytime and get easy access to the options menu. Users can expect speeds up to 1.5 GB per minute for quicker backups and high-speed duplications.

The flash drive copier has a knack of performing bit-by-bit imaging or cloning, making an exact replica of the source drive on the target. The USB Duplicator can conveniently copy or clone to SD/ SDHC/ Micro SD/ MMC/ Mini SD/ CF media using a USB multimedia card reader (available separately). You can also attach hard drives or solid-state drive to the target USB ports of the device using a hard drive docking station or USB enclosure.

When erasing drives, the Flash Drive Duplicator offers a series of erase modes to choose from, including Quick erase, Full erase, and Secure erase. The Secure erase provides additional security by following the USA Department of Defense (DoD) secure erase standard (performing a three-pass wipe).

The StarTech.com’s USB Flash Drive Duplicator and Eraser supports USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 flash drives. This standalone duplicator is a good choice for forensic technicians who require exact replicas of source flash drives for investigation.

Toshiba brings to light another breakthrough technology that would aid in secure storage and distribution of high-definition content. The Japanese firm announced the release of new microSDHC cards at the headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. The new cards will employ a content protection technology named ‘SeeQVault’. This leading-edge technology is the result of combined efforts of Toshiba Corporation, Panasonic Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Sony Corporation. SeeQVault is currently licensed through NSM Initiatives LLC (NSM is the acronym for Next Generation Secure Memory Initiative).

SeeQVault is developed to create a secure environment for accessing and viewing high-definition content, such as images, videos, movies, and more. The technology banks on a unique identifier and public key infrastructure to provide bidirectional authentication. SeeQVault can be used with flash memory cards and their host devices. NSM Initiatives LLC began to distribute the licenses to memory card manufacturers and mobile device makers on February 22.

Consumers can take advantage of this technology to access and view content across multiple platforms. They can access the latest digital content on a smartphone, tablet, or TV that is protected with an additional layer of security.

The microSDHC cards are compatible with the Ultra High Speed Bus I and the U1 UHS speed class. The initial product line-up features capacities of 16 GB and 32 GB. However, these will not be the exact figures for consumer-usable capacity due to various factors, such as overhead data areas, bad blocks, etc. The new cards are expected to hit the market by the end of 2013.

Every new innovation in the field of storage is based on three important perspectives, i.e. increased capacity, more convenience, and longer lifespan. There have been significant improvements towards ensuring greater storage capacity and compactness for storage devices; however, data longevity is still a top concern. The American company Millenniata has taken a major step forward to improve the expected lifespan of storage devices with its M-Disk drives and storage media. The data is no longer written but etched into a rock-like layer.

The M-Disk drives and storage media are commercially available in India after the license was given to LG Electronics by the company. The very first version of optical discs leveraged organic dyes to store data (mostly audio), which made them increasingly susceptible to degradation over time, physical vulnerability, and thus limited lifespan.

Developments were seen in the form of stabilizers being used for these devices to improve durability, and thus data retention. However, these developments did not suffice to resolve the issue of degradation that remained because of exposure to ultraviolet radiation. A few years later, DVDs were able to provide massive storage, but had a limited lifespan due to its susceptibility to oxidation.

Millenniata’s Leading Edge Technology

The company claims to ward off risks of media degradation by preventing use of chemicals that contribute to the problem. Organic dyes and other compounds make the recordable surface of disks vulnerable to oxidation. These compounds leave chemicals on the surface of both disks and the drives that record data on them. The use of inorganic and metallic elements for data layer helps to prevent oxidation and increase data longevity.

The existing DVD drives can only read data on them. M-discs are writable only on M-drives in order to keep data almost forever.

With a new innovation in the storage industry coming almost every quarter, it is no surprise to see a rapid adoption of these new storage components in data center storage systems. Before a transition to this new technology takes place, it is necessary to test the new components (especially SSDs) for understanding their behavior and common reliability issues under various circumstances.

Recently, the researchers at the Ohio State University and HP Labs conducted tests to examine reliability issues in block-level storage devices. They set up a testing unit comprising specially-designed hardware to simulate power faults directly in devices, software for stressing these devices after faults, and techniques to identify various failure modes.

The tests were performed with fifteen commodity SSDs. When power faults were injected to these drives, thirteen of them showed surprising results. The tested SSDs exhibited unexpected behavior manifesting five different types of failures, i.e. bit corruption, shorn writes, metadata corruption, unserializable writes, and total failure.

The results also showed some amount of data loss on all devices that encountered failure. Massive corruption was observed with two SSDs, one of which failed to register on the SAS bus and the other having one-third of the blocks severely corrupt after facing eight fault-injection cycles.

The enthusiasts who claim that SSDs will soon take over the enterprise are oblivious to the reliability challenges these flash devices have posed that are yet to be worked upon. The experiments of the researchers from the University of Ohio and HP Labs brought to light different aspects of behavior of flash memory that might replace spinning disks used in data centers in the foreseeable future.

The failures observed with SSDs may have negative connotation, especially when designing storage systems. For working around bit corruption and shorn writes, one would require ensuring in-place update to sensitive and highly critical data. Another concern is serialization errors for systems that overly depend on the order of operations to maintain data integrity. The new study will behoove organizations to test their SSD models before deploying them in data centers.

Patriot, a renowned distributor of flash memory products for computers and consumer electronics, has expanded its product offerings with a new line of wireless external hard drives. The new wireless hard disk drives will serve as additional external storage to various mobile and portable devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and laptops. These drives can work on platforms from Apple, Google, or Amazon.

Patriot Aero wireless hard drives will provide users with access to 500 GB to 1 TB of content and media. These drives are available in two different storage capacities, i.e. 500 GB and 1 TB. This amount exceeds the internal storage offered by many high-end mobiles and media tablets. The mechanism of connecting to other devices is similar to the one seen in Patriot Gauntlet Node wireless HDD enclosure. The new drives have USB 3.0 port and support wireless standards ‘Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n’. When using wireless network technology, you may use any of the wireless network security standards, i.e. WEP, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK.

You can use the Patriot Connect App (can be found on Apple App Store, Google Play and the Amazon Appstore) to facilitate data transfer to five tablets or smartphones simultaneously. Further, the support for third-party media player apps eliminates the restriction to use proprietary file formats. With the help of an Internet pass through access point, you can have multiple devices sharing single IP address to stream data.

The Patriot Aero mobile hard drives are expected to hit the market in April, 2013 with a price of $199.99 for 1TB version and $159.99 for 500GB capacity version.