Storage

Today, Yoggie Security Systems announced the launch of the Yoggie Data Keeper line of secure flash drives, which pack high-end features designed to keep your portable storage free from all manner of nasty malware and prying eyeballs. Packing 2GB or 4GB storage capacities (as well as 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption), Yoggie Data Keeper  is available in three models, each containing an unique feature set.

• Yoggie Data Keeper (online firmware update capability)
• Yoggie Data Keeper Pro (built-in security features such as file-scanning anti-virus software and password protection for up to two users)
• Yoggie Data Keeper Personal Ed. (online firmware update capability; secure and non-secure partitions)

The flash sticks will be availble for purchase in August, but if you want to lay claim to one now, pre-orders are now being taken at www.yoggie.com.

We’re digging Pogoplug, the $99.99 NAS device for the casual user that connects to your own external storage drive  so that you can access files from any web-connected Mac, PC, iPhone, or iPod touch.  Today, the company behind Pogoplug, Cloud Engines, announced a handful of new features designed to give the device even more functionality and expand its appeal. These include:

• Drive app support for 64-bit operating systems (Linux, Windows Vista, Windows 7)
• Expanded drive app support for 32-bit operating systems (Linux, Mac OS X Tiger, Windows 7)
• Simplified sharing to multiple e-mail addresses at once
• Personalized e-mail messages when you share a link
• A new search bar on both the web and iPhone/iPod touch app for quickly finding files

In addition, a few more features will go live on Friday:

• Cloud Engine is ditching the lengthy 26 character Pogoplug ID that you need to key into the browser when setting up the device;  auto-discovery is being added
• Media RSS feeds that support video and music sharing and allow Pogoplug to be compatible with Boxee
• You will be able to sort by file name, size, or type in both ascending and descending order

All of the updates are free and will be pushed out to devices soon. If you currently own a Pogoplug, what do you think of the new features? If you’re not an owner, are these enough to convince you to purchase one?

Today, Iomega announced the availability of its new generation of eGo portable hard drives, which combine the company’s robust storage and backup technologies with plenty of eye-popping style.

Available in Ruby Red (250GB, 320GB, 500GB capacities), Silver (320GB), and Midnight Blue (320GB), the eGo drives are less than a half-inch thick, and weight under 7 ounces–a very nice travel companion that won’t weigh down your pocket or bag. They feature anodized aluminum shells, and Iomega’s Drop Guard technology to safeguard data from drops of up to 51 inches. A Y-cable is included for powering the drives using notebooks that fail to deliver sufficient power from a single USB port.

Included is the Iomega Protection Suite, which includes a six-month subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus, Iomega QuikProtect (file-level back up software), EMC Retrospect Express or Express HD (backs up all data, including applications and settings), and MozyHome Online Backup, which offers 2GB of free online backup (or you can upgrade to unlimited storage for $4.95).

The drives are available today, ranging in price from $84.99 (250GB) to $134 (500GB). Coming in June is a 500GB BlackBelt drive that utilizes Drop Guard Xtreme to help it survive drops from up to 7 feet.

One of the biggest storage trends in 2009 is the super-simple backup solution. Back in a Flash and Clickfree have changed the game with their plug-in-and-forget backup drives that require no folder/drive setup–perfect for those perceive backing up as a chore. Today, memory giant Corsair has announced the availability of its new backup device: The Corsair Voyager Port.

Powered by NovaBackup 10 software, the Corsair Voyager Port connects to a notebook via USB 2.0 and lets you backup and recover documents, photos, e-mail contacts, music, and other files with just a button press. Although the unit is “available immediately from all good stocklists” according to Corsair’s press release, the Voyager Port isn’t yet in stock at the likes of Amazon, NewEgg, or TigerDirect and no price was given (we’ll update this post when a MSRP is available).  Should you find it, rest easy in knowing that the device is backed by a lengthy 10-year warranty.

UPDATE: We’ve confirmed that it wll be priced at $29.99 and available “very soon.”

Falling flash prices have resulted in larger capacity solid-state drives than ever before, but another benefit of the flash revolution is that we’re seeing new players enter the market  A prime example is Western Digital, which announced that it purchased SiliconSystems, a supplier of SSDs for embedded systems, for $65 million.

If you’ve never heard of SiliconSystems, it’s not surprising; the company’s been supplying high-end drives to the network-communications, industrial, medical, military, and aerospace markets since its inception in 2002. This includes 2.5-inch drives–the most common form factor in notebooks.

According to Western Digital, the integration will begin immediately, and SiliconSystems will now be known as “WD Solid-State Storage.” Maybe, just maybe, if we cross our fingers and wish hard enough, WD-branded SSDs will be available in coming months to satiate our speedy notebook storage needs.

As the price of HD camcorders continue to fall and the digicam megapixel arms race wages on, big storage is needed more than ever before. Western Digital has stepped up to the plate to satiate your storage needs by bumping its entire My Book line up to 2TB. Although not particularly revolutionary (LaCie also has 2TB drives), this increase expands the capacity the My Book Studio Edition, My Book Mac Edition, My Book Home Edition, and My Book Essential Edition drives by including 2TB of storage in a single hard disk.  Let’s break down the features.

My Book Studio Edition and My Book Mac Edition are formatted for Apple notebooks and are aimed squarely at creative professionals and video editors.  The My Book Studio Edition features FireWire 400, FireWire 800, eSATA, and, of course, USB. My Book Mac Edition ditches the high-speed connections, in favor of just USB. My Book Home Edition comes equipped with backup software, as well as FireWire 400, eSATA, and USB ports. My Book Essential Edition features just a USB interface.

All of the drives feature and environmentally friendly design that save power by going into standby mode after 10 minutes of inactivity, a capacity gauge, and Kensington lock to prevent unsavory characters from walking off with your drive.

My Book Studio Edition, My Book Home Edition, and My Book Essential Edition are available now (My Book Mac Edition will be ready for purchase next month). If you’re eager to make the 2TB jump, expect street prices ranging from $329 to $379.

There’s potentially drool-worthy news out of CeBIT for solid-state drive buffs: ADATA has just unwrapped a half-a-terabyte SSD, the 512GB XPG. ADATA rates the performance at 230 MBps (read) and 160 MBps (write), which would be mighty impressive if the drive lives up to it in real-world testing. Pricing has yet to be announced, but considering the capacity we expect it to cost a pretty penny.

ADATA is not the first company in the world to release a 512GB SSD nor is 512 the highest capacity available.  In fact, pureSilicon has a 1TB SSD which ASUS releases put into its Lamborghini VX5. Nevertheless, this is yet another tiny nail in the coffin of magnetic media.

Today, Western Digital unveiled its redesigned My Book World Edition network storage drive, which allows an entire household to wirelessly back up their precious photos, music, video, and other files no matter if they’re Mac or PC.  How simple is it to use the drive? Any changes that are made to a file are automatically updated for no-brainer backup.

But the My Book World Edition can be used for more than just safeguarding data; users can securely access and share their centralized file from any location, using the the drive’s remote access software. In addition, multimedia content can be streamed directly from the My Book World Edition to any Mac, PC, or DLNA media player such as a Microsoft Xbox 360 or Sony PlayStation 3.

Intrigued? The Western Digital My Book World Edition is available now in 1TB ($229) and 2TB ($449) capacities.

Time flies in the SSD business.  Just last Spring, a 32GB Samsung SSD cost well over $800 online. Then the low-cost drives from memory-makers like OCZ, Patriot, Transcend, and SuperTalent started to hit the market and, though most of these did not have the best write and multi-tasking peformance, they helped drive prices down. For the past several months, you’ve been able to get a 32GB value SSD for around $100, sometimes less and 64GB for less than $200.

Now, the 80GB Intel X-25M, which is probably the fastest SSD readily available to consumers today,  has dropped significantly. Intel recently cut its wholesale cost per thousand units to $390 and apparently some retailers are selling the drive for even less as we found it on sale for $369. That’s still a lot more than most consumers want to pay for an 80GB drive, but it’s getting close to the sweet spot where consumers cna justify the upgrade.

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Even though the makers of the Mouse Computer netbook think a DVD drive is fitting for the 10 inch netbook form factor, most netbook manufacturers have overlooked the disc format. And while many would argue that an optical drive isn’t necessary on the rapidly expanding crop of netbooks given the amount of downloadable and streaming content, Vmedia would argue otherwise.

What is Vmedia?

Vmedia isn’t touting the optical of yesterday or the Blu-Ray of today. They are talking small discs that measure 36 x 36 mm (think the size of those 1990s  pogs). They may look like mini-discs, but they are much, much smaller. See our hands-on shots of the Vmedia discs below in comparison to some other mobile storage solutions.

The company is currently working with content providers to provide Vmedia discs with movies preloaded. Currently a Vmedia disc can hold 1GB of data or an entire 576p (720 x 576-pixel) resolution movie. Vmedia disc capacity will increase to 2GB in about a year and will also be two-layer, capable of writing.

Playing a Vmedia disc, which is based on the latest blue laser technology, requires a Vmedia optical drive.

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