Storage

D-Link networks routers' USB ports

I reviewed D-Link's DIR-855 wireless router recently, and complained that it didn't offer NAS or print-serving capability. On Wednesday, the company fixed that by introducing the Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit DIR-825.

Like the DIR-855, the DIR-825 is a true dual-band gigabit router, meaning it can spontaneously offer Wireless-N signals in both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies. The DIR-825, however, comes with SharePort technology, which allows for turning the USB port of the router into a virtual-network USB port that supports external hard drives for NAS functionality and other USB devices, such as printers.

The new router also … Read more

Sony kicks off its Reader Revolution

Starting October 1, if you walk by one of Sony's stores in Manhattan, chances are you will see Dave Farrow, the Guinness World Record Holder for memorizing 52 decks of cards randomly shuffled together, sitting by the storefront reading out of Sony's digital Reader. No, his incredible memory hasn't turned him out of his mind.

To help combat a general decline in reading in the U.S., particularly among young people, and to promote its digital Reader, Sony is spearheading a so-called "Reader Revolution" to engage the public in digital reading.

Dave Farrow is part … Read more

Western Digital unveils new ShareSpace NAS server

Western Digital (WD), introduced on Tuesday its all-new NAS server called ShareSpace. The server somewhat resembles the design of the company's My Book external hard drives with easily accessible drive bays, eco-friendly hard drives, and quiet performance.

The new NAS server has four hard-drive bays: each can accommodate a 3.5-inch SATA internal hard drive up to 1TB in capacity, making the server's total storage space up to 4TB. The four hard drives can be installed or removed completely without using a tool and set up in RAID 0, RAID 1, or RAID 5 configurations. The NAS server … Read more

Super Talent to release budget solid-state drives

Two weeks after announcing two new high-speed solid-state drives (SSD), Super Talent Technology on Tuesday announced it will release the MasterDrive LX as a budget solid-state drive later this week.

The MasterDrive LX comes in 64GB and 128GB versions and will cost about $179 and $300, respectively. Both drives are SATA-II and use NAND flash technology. They will be compatible with computers that support the ever-popular 2.5-inch SATA hard drive.

The low prices do come with a shortcoming: the throughput speed. The new MasterDrive LX drives are significantly slower than other SSDs; it's even slower than some regular … Read more

Get a 1TB external drive for $89.99 (AR)

I said it would happen, and here it is: a 1TB external hard drive for less than $100. Specifically, Buy.com has the 1-terabyte Cavalry CAXE3701T0 dual-interface drive for $89.99 shipped (after a $50 mail-in rebate). Yowza.

Because it's preformatted with NTFS, it's plug-and-play ready for Windows users. (Mac and Linux folks could easily reformat it, I'm sure.) The drive includes both USB and eSATA interfaces, and even comes with a SATA bridge cable so you can connect it to an internal SATA port (handy for those systems that lack an external one). Why bother? Oh, … Read more

SanDisk's microSD card hits 16GB

If recent blog posts about the increase in capacity of CompactFlash cards and small-size hard drives make you wonder what's in store for your mobile phones, then I have some good news.

On Monday, SanDisk announced its new microSD high-capacity (microSDHC) card that offers up to 16GB in storage space. While 16GB doesn't sound like a huge deal compared with other media that offer hundreds of gigabytes, this is actually very significant for two reasons. First, microSD cards are by far the smallest in size among consumer storage devices--about the size of your little finger's nail. Second, … Read more

Get a 4GB SDHC card for $7.99 shipped

Need more storage for your digital camera? If you buy a memory card off the shelf at, say, Best Buy or Office Max, you'll pay way too much. Witness: Newegg has a Kingston 4GB SDHC card for just $7.99 shipped (lowest price I've seen yet, btw). And no rebates! Best Buy sells the exact same card for $37.99, plus sales tax.

Kingston is a well-known brand, and the card comes with a lifetime warranty. Just make sure your camera, PDA, MP3 player or whatever supports SDHC media (some older devices don't).

So... good weekend? My … Read more

Toshiba, Samsung in race to ship 256GB solid-state drives

Toshiba will begin shipping a 256GB solid-state drive, matching Samsung, its bigger, badder rival.

Another nail in the hard-disk-drive coffin? Well, not quite. But Toshiba's drive rivals magnetic drives in size while delivering better performance.

Solid-state drives are more expensive than hard-disk drives but are also generally more power efficient and faster.

Toshiba is trying to keep pace with the 800-pound SSD gorilla, South Korea-based Samsung. Samsung is the largest flash memory chip supplier in the world and has stated in the past that it would sample a 256GB SSD in September. Toshiba is ranked No. 2.

And the … Read more

Toshiba announces faster 1.8-inch hard drive

Two weeks after releasing the largest capacity 1.8-inch hard drive, Toshiba announced on Thursday its MKxx29GSG series of this small form factor storage device that's finally catching up with the regular 2.5-inch laptop hard drives in terms of speed and storage space.

For a long time, 1.8-inch hard drives' performance was limited to 4,200rpm and the old-school ATA interface, making them significantly slower than the currently popular 2.5-inch hard drives that spin at 5,400rpm (or even faster at 7,200rpm) and use the SATA standard. That discrimination has ended now with Toshiba's … Read more