Storage World

The 15-inch MacBook Pro has been totally re-engineered. Apple’s “unibody architecture” builds it out of a single piece of aluminium, which, says Apple, reduces construction failures. The design is easier to service, too.

We looked at a 2.53-GHz Core 2 Duo model with 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 5400rpm, 320GB hard drive. The ports, including Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, two USB, audio-in and -out, and an ExpressCard/34 slot-are on the left. The slot-loading SuperDrive and a Kensington lock slot sit on the right. At a minimum weight of 5.5 pounds, it’s about 1 ounce heavier than the older model.

The 15.4-inch, 1440-by-900- pixel wide-screen monitor is a joy to behold. Inside is nVidia’s Hybrid SLI pairing of two GPUs (one on the motherboard, the other discrete). You can toggle between the two for better video performance or longer battery life.

It got a respectable 93 in our WorldBench 6 tests due largely to the nVidia GeForce 9600GT M GPU riding shotgun. Battery life is trickier. We run our benchmarks in Windows, which meant we could not test the MacBook in its battery-saving mode. At high power, though, it lasted for 1 hour, 54 minutes.

The entire 4.13-by-3-inch trackpad acts as a button. It’s so big, you might end up using the extensive array of supported hand gestures instead. As for the keyboard, the generous, flat-topped keys have just enough travel, and register a solid press.

Apple MacBook Pro MB471LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Slot Loading SuperDrive)

Source: PC World Jan 2009

Tags: storage

Iomega, a specialist storage and data protection company and part of the EMC group, announced on 6 December 2008 the debut of the Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive.

The company said that the drive, supplied in 1TB or 500MB versions, has an on-board processor and runs a Linux-based operating system to provide networked access to data on the drive from all network connected devices, from PCs to games consoles.

The drive is supplied with EMC LifeLine Home software which allows users to configure networked PCs to automatically backup files onto the Home Media Network drive. The drive also supports streaming media to attached devices or applications running on attached devices.

The 500MB Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive will be available in early January 2009. Included in the cost is 2GB of on-line storage via EMC’s MozyHome on-line backup service.

Source: M2 Communications Jan 2009

Tags: hard disk

These days, there’s no such thing as nonsensitive data. Whether it’s a client list, sales figures, financial projections, or designs for a new product, you can’t risk letting your information fall into the wrong hands. That’s why you need hardware-encrypted storage.

Secure hard drives lock out intruders at the hardware level, preventing anyone from seeing any part of the drive until they enter a secure password. That safeguard thus forestalls hackers from using conventional software tools to circumvent your encryption scheme: They can’t hack what they can’t see.

Though secure hard drives come in various shapes and sizes, laptop varieties are the most relevant to small businesses. Inter- nal laptop drives such as the Seagate Momentus 5400 FDE prevent your portable from booting without a secure password, making it nearly impossible for a thief who has stolen your laptop to see your data. External models such as the Maxtor BlackArmor Portable Hard Drive let you add security to your mobile arsenal without retrofitting your laptop.

If you put all of your critical data on a Maxtor BlackArmor, you can be reasonably sure that it will never wind up in a bad guy’s clutches in readable form. When you plug in a BlackArmor for the first time, you’ll be prompted to create a secure password. From that point, the drive is protected. Unplug it from your USB port, and it will use its last trickle of power to relock itself instantly.

Though cracking any security scheme is at least theoretically possible, hardware encryption systems are robust enough to stop even the most determined and nefarious script hackers in their tracks. However, a professional data-recovery service won’t be able to get into the drive either-so whatever you do, don’t forget your password.

These drives are a good match for enterprise-level businesses too. Companies with large mobile workforces can quickly redeploy a Black-Armor drive from one employee to another by securely erasing the current key on the drive and then assigning a new key.

Click for more details:
Seagate Momentus 5400.2 ST96812AS Hard drive

Seagate STM903203BAA1E1-RK Maxtor STM903203BAA1E1-RK 320GB Black Armor 2.5-Inch External Hard Drive

Tags: hard disk

Seagate latest Barracuda 7200.11 internal drive packs a whopping 1.5 terabytes of storage in a single unit. Seagate was the first drive maker to break the 1TB threshold, and in this model the company does so with excellent results: The new Barracuda is the most capacious drive on our current chart, and a solid performer, too.

Three new Western Digital internal drives also earned chart spots, including two high-performance models with premium price tags. The RE3 Enterprise is a server-class drive with a higher mean-time-between failure rating than consumer drives offer, and the Veloci Raptor is the only 10,000rpm drive on the chart.

Our external-drives list has no new model debuting, but all the prices are lower- a good thing if you’re shopping for storage on a budget.

Click for more information:
Seagate 1.5TB 32MB SATA Hard Drive ST31500341AS

Tags: storage