Who has a PC or a Mac with USB 3.0? Anyone? Anyone?

Features

Supporting USB3.0 specification
The maximum transmission speed of USB3.0 allows for example 10-30 GBytes of video data to be copied to a 3.5 inch hard disk drive in 1/4 to 1/3 the time compared to the existing USB2.0 interface
SuperSpeed (5 Gbps) / high-speed (480 Mbps) / full-speed (12 Mbps)
Compliant to Universal Serial Bus 3.0 Specification, Revision 1.0
Compliant to Universal Serial Bus Specification, Revision 2.0
Mass Storage Class Bulk-Only Transport Compliant to Mass Storage Class Bulk-Only Transport, Revision 1.0
SATA Gen2i (3 Gbps) & Gen1i (1.5 Gbps) Compliant to Serial ATA Specification Revision 2.6
Supports ATA / ATAPI device
Supports 2TB over HDD
Supports Window 7 / Vista / Xp, Linux / Mac OS X
Dimension: 69 x 40 x 12mm (approx.)
Weight: 67g

One day I will get you, Unitek SATA to USB 3.0 adapter! *shakes fist* Oh, you teaser you. [Brando]

Supporting 1.5 Gb/s and 3.0 Gb/s transfer rates (peaking at half the speed of existing SATA), mSATA is intended for drives that are roughly the size of a business card.

Check out that lead shot. On the left, you see a small Toshiba drive using a traditional SATA connector. On the right, you see a Toshiba drive using the mSATA standard. (Incidentally, Toshiba will be offering that flash drive in 30 and 62GB sizes with 180MB/s read speeds and 50MB/s writes.) The end products aren't really so different in terms of size, but the mSATA connection itself is, what, half the footprint of SATA?

Sounds good to us. [mSATA and Toshiba via Engadget]

The four-platter drive has also got a massive 64MB cache, necessary, really, with that much space. You just need a brand new motherboard to use it—or add-on controllers, though it is backward-compatible with legacy SATA ports. Oh, and 300 bucks. [Seagate, Image via Scoblizer]

It's called the MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7. Check it:

MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 addresses an issue reported by a small number of customers using drives based on the SATA 3Gbps specification with the June 2009 MacBook Pro. While this update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported.

You'll still need an SSD to take advantage of these speeds, but if you really want to do that, now it looks like you've got the option. If you're not planning on swapping in an SSD, you don't need to worry about this firmware update. [Applw via MacRumors]

The issue has been examined at length in the MacRumors forums, where dozens of users are sharing their experiences, benchmarks and varying levels of disappointment. Here are the kinds of numbers they're finding with faster SSDs (excerpted):

Older 13" MBA, 13" MB, 17" MBP (and old versions of 13"/15" MBP):

Sequential READ = 225 MB/sec
Sequential WRITE = 180 MB/sec

New 13" MBP, 15" MBP

Sequential READ = 115 MB/sec
Sequential WRITE = 95 MB/sec

This sounds terrible: the potential read speeds on the new MacBook Pros have essentially been cut in half. In real-world scenarios, though—particularly Apple-sanctioned real-world scenarios—the speed differences shouldn't matter much; since the MBPs ship HDDs that aren't quite fast enough to max out a 1.5Gb interface, the issue will go unnoticed by most users.

The problem, though, is with upgrades: there are SSDs on the market that can reach and pass the 1.5GB/s threshold, and in the near future they'll become much more common, and cheaper. There's speculation that this could be remedied with a firmware update, but many are saying this is unlikely; after all, reverting to an older firmware wouldn't have saved Apple any money, while reverting to cheaper hardware could have, albeit barely.

UPDATE: Hubert from UberGizmo, a guy who knows his Nvidia hardware, sees a software issue at most:

First of all, I believe that NVIDIA has never produced a single GeForce 9400M motherboard chipset (aka ION) that doesn't handle SATA-2 (3Gbps). And even if they did, it would not really save a buck on the chip, as long as the chip size is identical. Most importantly, a 1.5 Gbps SATA-I Geforce 9400M chipset does not exist, as far as I know.

Then what happened? We're not sure, but consider these scenarios: what if some computer shipped with a SATA-I disk? What if 1.5Gbps consumes less power? Because the hardware supports SATA-II, there is a slight chance that this can be updated in the future. We'll be waiting for an official statement from Apple.

[MacRumors —Thanks, James, Serrada and Kim!]

Adding to the composite, component, and USB, the SATA HDD Multimedia Dock II also has an HDMI port, although it only supports 1080i. The media player supports the following formats:

• MPEG-1 (MPG, DAT)
• MPEG-2 (MPG, MPEG, VOB)
• MPEG-4 (AVI, MP4)
• DivX 3.11/4/5 (AVI, DIVX)
• XviD (AVI)
• AVI decode audio: MP3, AC3, ADPCM
• VOBSUB: srt, sub, smi, txt, ass, ssa
• MPEG-1 Layer 3, 24-320kbps (MP3)
• AC3 (in the movie)
• Microsoft PCM Wave (WAV)
• Advance Audio Coding LC (AAC)
• Microsoft Windows Media Audio WMA7/8 (WMA), no support for WMA9 Pro
• MP2 (MPA)

Looks like crap, but nice for $79. [Brando]

However, these numbers are all just theoretical spec. In reality, a combination of hardware and software limitations cause SATA drives run far slower than promised—which is something SATA3 hopes to overcome.

Seagate says SATA3 will be 100% faster than SATA2, while being backwards compatible with the existing SATA infrastructure (cables, etc).

However, there are a few catches: Seagate's SATA3 is not yet a standard that other manufacturers have agreed upon (like Western Digital)—with the exception of AMD, who has pledged to support Seagate's standard in their upcoming chipsets.

Also, Seagate doesn't have an actual hard drive to show you yet. However, they do plan to have a product on the market within the year. [CNET]

UPDATE: Upon a second reading, we think that CNET meant to say "100%" faster instead of "200%" faster.

Challenged with a potential userbase made up of two effectively different standards—powered and unpowered eSATA—OCZ found a way to cater to everyone by tacking on an extra USB connector to power the stick when connected to older hardware, or to connect to computers without eSATA ports.

Aside from the nifty design, the OCZ will come in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities and claims 90MB/s read speeds and 30MB/s write speeds, putting the Throttle head and shoulders above most USB 2.0 drives on the market. Now word yet on price or release date, but "not too high" and "soon" are reasonable expectations. [OCZ via HotHardware]

At its core, the system is a dual-fan USB-powered laptop cooler with extra USB ports. Enter Brando, and this simple device gets injected with a rear-loaded 2.5" SATA hard drive dock to add extra storage. It's hard to believe that the average laptop USB port can power two fans, a SATA drive and three additional USB devices, but it looks like there's AC power to back up the system (the product description was a bit light on this point).

The USB Notebook Cooling Pad + 3-Port Hub + 2.5" HDD is available now for $33. Live it up. [Brando]

Unfortunately, the Datamore Porté is a Korea-only product that's priceless at the moment. But it's best our hard drive enclosures don't have such interesting moving parts because we'd compulsively yank the drive at the wrong time and kill all of our data within a week. [akihabara news]

At the LaCie web site, we learn the 5big has five hot-swappable Serial ATA drive bays that, when fully loaded, can hold up to 7.5 terabytes of information.

There's some leeway on config options too, as the drives can be configured into RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6, RAID 10 and RAID 0. Additional external drives connect with USB 2.0 or SATA ports.

The 5big works with Windows, Mac and Linux at three different price points. The 2.5TB version is $899; 5.0TB clocks in at $1399; and 7.5TB will set you back $1899. Keep it away from airlocks, just in case.[Technabob]

The USB-compatible cases alone go for $250. Bundled with hard drives they begin at $400 for 250GB. [meninos via technabob]

Hitachi Delivers Performance Without Sacrifice in New 7,200 RPM Travelstar Hard Drive

New 320GB Notebook Hard Drive Combines High Capacity and Superior Performance With Power Efficiency and Low Acoustics

SAN JOSE, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Continuing its longstanding tradition of delivering superior performance with no sacrifices required, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today began shipment of its fourth-generation 7,200 RPM mobile hard drive, the Travelstar™ 7K320. The new drive delivers 60 percent higher capacity than its predecessor, while improving application performance by 12 percent and power consumption by 22 percent. The drive's quiet acoustics improve the experience of watching movies or listening to music on a notebook PC. The 2.5-inch drive is offered with optional Bulk Data Encryption for users wanting increased data security. Hitachi also plans to ship enhanced-availability (EA) models, designed to provide high-capacity storage for low-duty-cycle, 24x7 applications.

The performance attributes of the Travelstar 7K320 allow consumers to opt for a full-featured notebook or compact desktop model, while still achieving all the capacity and performance typically associated with a more traditional desktop PC. The new drives bring forth a number of essential features that are in strong demand from manufacturers of notebooks, compact desktops, gaming systems, blade servers and video surveillance systems. Some of these attributes include best-in-class operating shock protection of 400Gs, 5,400 RPM-equivalent power consumption and quiet acoustics.

"As operating systems have grown more complex, users have struggled with an overall decrease in system performance," said Larry Swezey, director, Consumer and Commercial HDD, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "Solid state drives (SSD) have yet to deliver an overall increase in speed, and certainly not at an affordable price. The 7,200 RPM speed of the Travelstar 7K320 provides an improved overall experience, at the capacities users want and at a far lower cost than SSD."

Gartner is predicting worldwide mobile PC shipments will surpass global desk-based PC shipments in the second half of 20091. This evolution has been driven by the ever improving performance-for-price of mobile PCs, relative to desktop PCs. Hitachi believes the greater availability of 7,200 RPM hard drives will help accelerate this trend, as more users realize the benefits of combining desktop-class performance with the convenience and portability of a notebook.

Advanced Features

The Travelstar 7K320 includes many features that translate into very tangible benefits for users, including:

* 320GB capacity for storing approximately 80 hours of high definition video, 320 hours of standard video, 100 movies, 80,000 4-minute MP3s or 160 games2
* The 7,200 RPM provides any operating system with a noticeable advantage in boot times and application performance. A SATA 3Gb/s interface and fast media transfer rates provide faster file copying and document retrieval, better graphics and improved game performance
* Best-in-class operating shock protection of 400Gs to minimize the effects of rough handling and vibration
* Power utilization on par with Hitachi's 5,400 RPM mobile drives, so that users can enjoy more "unplugged" notebook computing time
* The drive's quiet acoustics provide a richer audio listening experience for music, movies and games

Protect Your Data

The Travelstar 7K320 features optional Bulk Data Encryption (BDE), a capability that Hitachi has offered in its mobile hard drives since the start of 2007. Previously, data on a hard drive could be protected either through software-based encryption or a system-level password. Hard drive level encryption provides improved performance and a higher level of security than any of the previously available methods.

When employing bulk data encryption, data is scrambled using a key as it is being written to the disk and then descrambled with the key as it is retrieved. Thus, data encryption at the hard-drive level represents a more sophisticated approach of securing users' data and is generally considered to be virtually impenetrable. Another benefit is that it speeds and simplifies the drive re-deployment process. By deleting the encryption key, the data on the drive is rendered unreadable, thereby eliminating the need for time-consuming data-overwrite.

BDE models ship exclusively with a SATA 1.5Gb/s interface.

Technical Specifications:

Travelstar 7K320
320/250/160/120/80GB
9.5mm in height
7,200 RPM
252 billion bits per square inch maximum areal density
2/2/1/1/1 glass disks
4/4/2/2/1 TMR recording head(s)
1000G/1ms non-operating shock
400G/2ms operating shock
4.2ms average latency
12ms average read time
1.0W active idle
0.8W low-power idle
Serial ATA 3Gb/s, 1.5Gb/s encrypted
115/110 grams in weight
2.5Bels typical idle acoustics
2.8Bels typical operational acoustics

Availability

The Travelstar 7K320 is now shipping to customers worldwide. The enhanced-availability version of the drive is expected to ship in the third quarter of 2008.

About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies develops advanced hard disk drives to store and preserve the world's valued data. Founded by the pioneers of hard drives, Hitachi GST enables users to fully engage in the digital lifestyle by providing high-value, high-capacity storage in formats suitable for the office, in the home or on the road. With vertically integrated research, design and manufacturing capabilities, Hitachi GST delivers leadership technology and quality to its global customer base.

With approximately 33,000 employees worldwide, Hitachi GST offers a comprehensive range of hard drive products for desktop computers, high-performance storage systems and servers, notebooks and consumer devices. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.hitachigst.com.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies trademarks are authorized for use in countries and jurisdictions in which Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has the right to use, market and advertise the brands. The Travelstar trademark is authorized for use in the Americas, EMEA, and in the Asia-Pacific region in the following countries: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE:HIT) (TOKYO:6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 384,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2006 (ended March 31, 2007) consolidated revenues totaled 10,247 billion yen ($86.8 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

1 Garter Global PC Forecast and Shipments Quarterly Statistics, George Shiffler, March 13, 2008

One GB is equal to one billion bytes and one TB is equal to 1,000 GB when referring to hard drive capacity. Accessible capacity may be less.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies' trademarks are authorized for use in countries and jurisdictions in which Hitachi Global Storage Technologies has the right to use, market and advertise the brands. The Travelstar trademark is authorized for use in the Americas, EMEA, and the following Asia-Pacific countries and jurisdictions: Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan. Hitachi Global Storage Technologies shall not be liable to third parties for unauthorized use of its trademarks.

2 Actual storage may vary depending on the compression rate applied. Capacities may not be combined.

I don't think that there is quite enough cool looking circuitry in a portable HDD to warrant a clear case, but the design works. At 3.5" (W) x 5.5" (D) x 1" (H) and at 2.5 lbs it is as light as can be expected. The kicker for the Mercury is the price; it is $359.99, which means that you are going to want to go on the road with your equipment a lot in order to justify the expense. If you work from home a 3.5" will give you a lot more bang for your buck. [OWC via Slippery Brick]

This is good news for near-future UMPCs and refreshes of subnotebooks like the MacBook Air. Also, though Toshiba stresses the PC application, these more rugged and less power-hungry drives may even be the key to reducing lag in portable media players (ahem, iPod classic) too.

TOSHIBA introduces high-performance 5,400 RPM 1.8-inch HDDs with micro-sata connector

New 1.8-inch Products Feature High Capacity at 120GB and 80GB and

Enhanced Performance for Ultra-Portable PC Solutions

IRVINE, Feb. 25, 2008 - Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today added a line of high-performance 5,400 RPM Serial ATA (SATA) 1.8-inch HDDs to its product offerings for mobile PCs. Available in 120GB1 and 80GB capacities, these new HDDs integrate design elements from Toshiba's flagship 2.5-inch line into its proven 1.8-inch platform to offer enhanced performance for ultra-thin and light PC applications.

These new 1.8-inch HDDs leverage the interface architecture from Toshiba's 2.5-inch SATA HDDs, which carry the industry certification for SATA compliance, providing seamless compatibility across Toshiba's full line of SATA HDDs. The combination of 5,400 RPM spin speeds with SATA features expands Toshiba's market-leading 1.8-inch product lineup into the high-performance segment of the growing ultra-portable computing market.

Toshiba's 120GB MK1216GSG and 80GB MK8016GSG 1.8-inch HDDs are designed to the latest SATA 2.6 specification and incorporate the new industry-standard micro-SATA connector. Features include native command queuing, staggered spin-up and hot-plug capability. These ultra-slim storage solutions deliver both high performance and power efficiency, providing computing capabilities traditionally found in desktop and notebook PCs - all in a lightweight design at 62 grams. Toshiba's 1.8-inch HDDs feature an 8MB cache to optimize read and write performance and fully utilize the 489 Mbits/sec data transfer rate for a powerful computing experience in thin and light mobile computers.

In addition to spurring miniaturization and mobility for PC devices, 1.8-inch HDDs deliver improved ruggedness at capacity levels popular in larger form factors. Toshiba's introduction of high-capacity 5,400 RPM 1.8-inch HDDs reflect the market's voracious appetite for storage as broadband Internet and powerful media-rich applications bring new capabilities to mobile PCs, enabling consumers to take advantage of digital content on the go. The new 1.8-inch HDDs also provide improved shock tolerance over best-in-class 2.5-inch HDDs by more than 100Gs during operation and several hundred Gs in non-operating mode, making them ideal for highly mobile PC users.

"The portable computing market is looking for an uncompromised computing experience in small and light-weight storage solutions," said Maciek Brzeski, vice president of marketing at Toshiba Storage Device Division. "With enhanced features for the mobile environment, these new 1.8-inch HDDs enable mobile system manufacturers to reap the benefits of high-capacity magnetic storage, along with better power efficiency and ruggedness."

Delivering Industry-leading 1.8-inch HDDs

With over 60 million 1.8-inch HDDs shipped since 2000, Toshiba has consistently held the number one position in the 1.8-inch HDD segment according to IDC2. Toshiba's product leadership in the 1.8-inch market has helped fuel the digital product revolution in both PC and CE devices, with capacity points traditionally seen in mobile 2.5-inch and desktop HDDs, while delivering better power efficiency, improved ruggedness and quieter acoustics during system operation.

Toshiba will showcase its new 1.8-inch HDDs at the Intel Mobility Summit in Shanghai, China, February 26 - 29, 2008. Toshiba's new 1.8-inch HDDs will begin shipping to mobile PC manufacturers and distribution partners in April 2008. Interested developers and design engineers can visit www.toshibastorage.com for more information on Toshiba's line of industry-leading 1.8-inch HDDs.

The design uses a SATA interface and is only 4 mm thick. Micron claims the advantages of such a design are the small size and the ability to line up multiple drives next to each other. In addition, this design requires no wires or attaching the motherboard with screws, reducing the risk of the SSD becoming disconnnected or loose inside a computer. While this product is nowhere near ready for market, Micron says they would need to work with an OEM or someone who can offer a compatible computer solution. [Micron]