Drobo, makers of award-winning data storage products for businesses and professionals, today introduced several new models of its fast-growing family of business storage systems. Included in the group are both higher- and lower-end models of Drobo's flagship product, the Drobo B1200i, which features a unique patent-pending tiering technology that allows customers to easily and affordably enjoy both the performance benefits of SSD technology and the capacity of traditional hard drives (HDD) in a single system.

The new models, which include several higher-capacity and lower-priced versions of the Drobo B800 series, also embrace 3 TB hard-drive technology, giving Drobo customers even more affordable capacity with the traditional Drobo ease-of-use.

A year after the Thailand flooding disaster partially derailed production, the global hard disk drive (HDD) industry has fully recovered, with shipments to the computer market expected to hit a record level this year, driven by the enterprise market as well as the arrival of the Windows 8 operating system.

HDD shipments in 2012 for the overall computer market, including PCs, are forecast to reach 524.0 million units, up 4.3 percent from 502.5 million units last year, according to an IHS iSuppli Storage Space Market Brief from information and analytics provider IHS.

WD, a Western Digital company, and a leader in the mobile, desktop, high-capacity enterprise and consumer markets for hard drives today announced it is further expanding its enterprise-class storage offerings with the release of new WD RE SAS and WD RE SATA hard drives in capacities up to 4 TB, the largest on the market today.

Available immediately in 1 TB, 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB capacities for nearline SAS and 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB for SATA, the 3.5-inch WD RE SAS and WD RE SATA hard drives offer the powerful combination of enterprise-class features and superior capacity to meet the growing demands of conventional business-critical environments as well as the high-capacity and performance requirements of cloud and scale-out computing.

Panasonic, an industry leader in rugged, reliable mobile computers since 1996, today announced upgrades to its semi-rugged Toughbook 53 notebook computer. Panasonic's semi-rugged notebooks have built a reputation as reliable and versatile devices that deliver high-performance computing in demanding markets like insurance, construction and the military. The updated Toughbook 53, the latest in the line of products that created and continues to define the semi-rugged category, is now available with an Intel Core i5-3320M vPro processor (3MB cache, up to 3.3 GHz) with Intel Turbo Boost Technology. Other upgrades include expanded storage and improved connectivity options.

Seagate announced the Seagate Cloud Builder Alliance, a new strategic partner category within the company's existing Seagate Partner Program. The new program provides technical information, customer insights, market knowledge and delivers partners the tools needed to expand their businesses providing cloud storage technology. The Seagate Cloud Builder Alliance highlights system builders that design, integrate, and deliver custom servers and storage systems used in cloud data centers.

Through the Cloud Builder Alliance, partners will receive business and technology planning, sales and marketing resources, lead generation, training and certification, and system reference design development from Seagate Design Centers globally. The program will also equip members with dedicated sales tools including a cloud sales playbook, market insights and customer presentations. Select partners will collaborate with Seagate on solution development and reference designs, PR and marketing initiatives, and strategic direction and business planning. Seagate Cloud Builder Alliance participants include Ciara Technologies, Intequus, NuCloud Global, Supermicro, Xyratex, and ZT Systems to name a few.

UltraBook has attracted widespread acclaim with its compact body and long endurance, but the cost for pursuing ultra-light mobility is always insufficient storage capacity! To meet the storage demands of mobile users, Apacer adopts "Super Speed, Compact, Stylish Streamline" as design concept to launch the new USB3.0 portable HDD AC233, the perfect match for UltraBook.

By combining matte and glossy finish, as well as the unique "Streamline Shark" curve design, AC233 highlights the USB3.0's velocity. AC233 is available in three capacities, 1 TB, 750 GB, 500 GB, and boasts the maximum read/write speed of 112/109 MB/s. That is, it takes only 50 seconds to transmit a DVD video.

HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and now a Western Digital company) today announced a new helium-filled hard disk drive (HDD) platform, which is at the forefront of advanced technology for increasing capacity and significantly reducing total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprise and cloud customers.

With products expected in 2013, the new platform enables HGST to go beyond its award-winning five-platter design, providing a path for higher capacity storage and lower customer TCO for years to come. With industry-wide challenges in scaling current areal density technologies, this new platform allows HGST to design seven-platter drives in a standard 3.5-inch form factor that will cost-effectively extend the capacity and cost-per-gigabyte curve for many product generations to come. In addition, the inherent benefits of the platform, including the helium fill, allow HGST to significantly improve datacentre TCO on virtually every level: capacity, power, cooling and storage density.

Japanese company I-O Data has today announced a new addition to its storage offer, the HDPC-UT2.0D portable hard drive that offers 2 TB worth of space and features USB 3.0 connectivity. Claimed to be great for use with both PCs/Macs and TVs, this drive measures 75 x 112 x 19.8 mm, it weights 240 grams, has a two-color (black and blue) casing, and comes with a one-year warranty.

The HDPC-UT2.0D will become available in early October priced at around $325.

SP/Silicon Power, the world's leading provider of memory storage solutions today launches a new model of Diamond series - Diamond D01. Apart from the sleek stylish look of the Diamond series, SP D01 portraits the urban fashion trend with its seamless geometrical patterns. As small as your smartphone, D01 weights only 147g, infusing "lightness" into your personal digital storage device.

Coated in metallic black, SP Diamond D01 is lined with multiple geometric patterns, creating a sense of metropolitan chic style. With the solid aluminum metal structure and the anti-scratch surface, SP D01 can make you free from worrying about your hard drive being scratched or dented when carrying it around.

Six months after losing the top spot in the global hard disk drive (HDD) segment due to the Thai flooding disaster, Western Digital Corp. in the second quarter recovered its market lead from chief rival Seagate Technology, according to an IHS iSuppli Storage Space Market Brief from information and analytics provider IHS.

Western Digital produced approximately 71.0 million HDD units in the second quarter, including production from Hitachi GST, a company acquired by Western Digital earlier in the year. Revenue for Western Digital amounted to $4.8 billion-a company record.

In comparison, Seagate shipped 65.9 million HDD units during the same period, with revenue reaching $4.5 billion-also a record in Seagate's books.

I-O Data introduced the HDPX-UT line of portable hard drives. With a thickness of just 9 mm, the drives are designed to go well alongside Ultrabooks. The drives feature brushed aluminum exteriors, and are available in three color options: black (HDPX-UTK), gold (HDPX-UTG), and silver (HDPX-UTS). The drives provide 500 GB of storage using a 7 mm-thick internal SATA HDD, and are bus-powered, with a single USB 3.0/2.0 connection for power and host connectivity. The drives provide 256-bit AES data encryption, with installers for encryption software included. Measuring 75 x 110 x 9 mm (W x D x H), the drives weigh about 125 g. Slated for mid-September, the HDPX-UT is expected to be priced at 11,130 JPY (US $140).

SanDisk Corporation, a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today marked the 25-year anniversary of flash memory, the transformational technology used by billions of consumers and countless businesses in smartphones, tablets, ultra-thin laptops, data centers and other electronic devices.

Companies such as SanDisk have increased the capacity of flash memory by 30,000 times while decreasing its cost by 50,000 times over the past two decades. SanDisk's first product, a 20 megabyte solid state drive (SSD), sold for $1,000 in 1991 but would cost only two cents today. This efficiency has driven the wide adoption of flash memory and enabled the smart digital lifestyle of anywhere, anytime access to digital content. Flash memory fuels the three forces behind this trend - mobile computing, pervasive connectivity and the proliferation of digital content.

Before starting to establish a new PC system, end users have to consider a lot of options. With the new Hoplite ST, Enermax presents the perfect solution for every system build, no matter if it comes to a simple office system or to a powerful gaming setup. Therefore, the mid-range case even supports over-sized high-performance graphics cards with up to 403mm length. End users profit from a comfortable, tool-less mounting system for HDD, ODD and extension cards and a well-thought cable management with a lot of space behind the mainboard tray.

Toshiba Corporation today announced the launch of a family of advanced 3.5-inch HDDs that bring multi-terabyte capacities to the consumer space. Four series of high-performance models offer a total of 12 variants: four models offering 3 TB capacities, complemented by models offering 2 TB and 1.5 TB levels of storage. Volume shipments of the drives, produced with manufacturing equipment acquired in a recent transaction with Western Digital Corporation of the United States, will start at the end of this month. In adding these drives to its current line of 250 GB to 1 TB consumer-use 3.5-inch HDDs Toshiba will expand its product coverage to a wide ranging 250 GB to 3 TB.

The high capacity storage devices that add to the performance of today's digital devices, among them desktop PCs, external hard drives, digital video drives and TVs with an integrated recording function, must match advances in HD image quality and the proliferation of TV channels and other digital sources with density advances that can meet increasingly heavy demands on capacity. Toshiba is making this possible with a new product line-up that includes 3.5-inch drives with a full 3 TB capacity.

Every year, technology is able to become more and more advanced and is constantly improving. Also, with being physically the smallest, and performing the best is the end goal of any storage system. This is why SFF (Small Form Factor) storage systems are becoming more popular due to its low power consumption and space-saving benefits. With the advent of recent solid state technology, this allows 2.5" SSD's to easily achieve 500MB/sec in transfer rate, which overcomes the 3.5" SATA hard drives in every category except capacity. Therefore, maximize the capacity in a limited space becomes the most important task that many storage consulting firms are faced with often. For SFF systems, we introduce the Icy Dock MB992SK-B 2.5" SATA Mobile Rack solution for use in 3.5" device bays (Floppy bay).

Western Digital's new high-capacity 2.5-inch hard drive, the WD Green WD20NPVT made an appearance in Japanese ground stores. Strangely enough, while the drive is built in the 2.5-inch form-factor, it is 15 mm-thick, making it unfit for most notebooks. The drive provides a staggering 2 TB of unformatted capacity, and features IntelliPower variable spindle speed (4,500-5,400 RPM?), 8 MB cache, SATA 3 Gb/s interface, 0.2W idle (parked) and 1.7W (active) power consumption. It is priced at 18,800 JPY (US $240).

The new ThecusOS 5.0 has been released! This means that users will be able access more innovative functions with their Thecus NAS. Dedicated Thecus users know that Thecus NAS utilizes the best and most up-to-date hardware. The new ThecusOS 5.0 is the key piece that will unlock the most efficient and advanced NAS on the market. Ultimately, Thecus is a well-known innovator in the storage industry and ThecusOS 5.0 sets higher limits.

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) today reported revenue of $12.5 billion and net income of $1.6 billion, or $6.58 per share for fiscal year 2012, compared to fiscal 2011 revenue of $9.5 billion and net income of $726 million, or $3.09 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, fiscal 2012 net income was $2.1 billion or $8.61 per share, compared to fiscal 2011 net income of $770 million or $3.28 per share. Both the GAAP and non-GAAP fiscal 2012 results include results from the company's newly acquired HGST subsidiary from the acquisition date of March 8 through the end of fiscal 2012.

For its fourth fiscal quarter ended June 29, 2012, the company reported revenue of $4.8 billion, hard-drive shipments of 71.0 million and net income of $745 million, or $2.87 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $872 million, or $3.35 per share.2 In the year-ago quarter, the company reported revenue of $2.4 billion, net income of $158 million, or $0.67 per share, and shipped 53.8 million hard drives. Non-GAAP net income in the year-ago quarter was $193 million, or $0.81 per share.

HighPoint Technologies is proud to announce the industry's first USB3.0 Storage Docks with dual-dedicated 5Gb/s per SATA bay architecture. Optimized for high-speed SATA 6Gb/s SSD's and hard disks, RocketStor Storage Docks are the perfect, high-performance storage companions for Ivy-Bridge based PC and Mac notebooks.

RocketStor Storage Docks leverage dual-dedicated 5Gb/s USB 3.0 engines to deliver the industry's fastest USB 3.0 bandwidth for high-speed SATA 6Gb/s SSD/HDD.

Thermaltake, being the industry pioneer brand with expertise in PC chassis, power supply and thermal solution, introduces the Muse 5G series, the next-generation external hard drive enclosure for authors, scientists and artists in the 21st century to unite their power and soul by collecting and protecting all precious inspiration.

Thermaltake Muse is named after the 9 goddesses of Greek mythology, poetry and literature. The goddesses are considered the source of knowledge that became the representatives of poetry, the arts and science, and sources of inspiration. Thermaltake, carring the corporate mission of "delivering the perfect user experience",has insight into the importance and the power of knowledge, thus specially developed the Muse 5G series in a high quality aluminum housing to provide a better heat dissipation as well as an elegant look like the goddesses we all have imagined.

Toshiba's Storage Products Business Unit, a division of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., and a committed technology leader, today announced the AL13SE series of 2.5-inch 6Gb/s SAS interface hard disk drives (HDDs), which offer enterprise-class performance in capacities ranging from 900GB to 300GB.

The AL13SE is the first 10,000 RPM class model enterprise drive from Toshiba to achieve 900GB capacity and is also the first of Toshiba's 10,000 RPM drives to employ a dual-stage head positioning actuator that provides additional performance gains, including a 32% increase in sustained transfer rate.

WD, a storage industry leader, today announced the debut of WD Red NAS hard drives, an innovative line of SATA hard drives specifically designed for home and small office NAS (network attached storage) systems with one to five drive bays. Compatibility-tested with top NAS box manufacturers and optimized for power and performance, WD Red hard drives are now shipping in 3.5-inch 1 TB, 2 TB and 3 TB capacities.

The WD Red line features NASware technology, designed to improve reliability and system performance, reduce customer downtime and to simplify the integration process. This new product line addresses the unique environment of NAS and the growing demand for affordable, reliable and compatible storage that reduces customer total cost of ownership. WD Red hard drives also feature 3D Active Balance Plus, an enhanced balance control technology, which significantly improves the overall drive performance and reliability. In an exclusive for WD Red customers, WD is offering free premium 24x7 dedicated support and a three-year limited warranty.

The Thecus users already know that their NAS devices give them the liberty to customize their storage experience to a level that is unmatched. Constantly up-dating their products, the storage expert follows the latest trends and makes sure their users gets to work with the best.

Following the hard drive disks market developments, Thecus never stop to test more brands and more types of drives every day. Already supporting 4TB drives since the beginning of 2012, the list of compatible 4TB HDD devices from Thecus has never been longer.

External enclosures are a great way to have high capacity data storage on the go. Data can also be a critical factor for users in the media business or who work with data centers. Some of the top tier hard drive companies have made their own all in one enclosure with hard drive included. However, one of the known major causes of hard drive failure is due to excessive heat buildup caused by a lack of a proper cooling system.

Also, a majority of hard drive manufactures only allow a 1 year warranty on their all in one external hard drives. This can be fatal for someone who has just lost their data and has to spend a significant amount of money in order to recover their data. There are other external enclosures in the market that provide a cooling system to help prevent this, but the physical placement of the cooling system does not always allow for the optimal airflow to cool the hard drive. Going above and beyond, the MB080U3S-1SB Blizzard is the next generation of external enclosures dedicated for maximum performance in cooling.

Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH, the European subsidiary of Shuttle Inc., one of the leading developers and manufacturers of compact PC solutions such as the world-renowned XPC Mini-PC Barebones, today announces the launch of the third generation of its award-winning and completely fanless XS35 model from their slim PC series.

"Even our dealers keep telling us how impressed they are with the quietness of this model," says Tom Seiffert, Head of Marketing & PR at Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH. "It's very rare that the elimination of a particular component has been greeted with such positive comments. However, we've certainly achieved this by doing away with the use of fans."