storage

WD and SanDisk team up in SSHD effort

If you were wondering where the solid-state part in WD's new solid-state hybrid drive, the WD Black, comes from, the answer is SanDisk.

The two storage vendors today announced their collaboration in creating solid-state hybrid drives, with the first being the WD Black.

According to both parties, SanDisk is supplying a SanDisk iSSD storage device for the WD Black SSHD. The WD Black comes with up to 32GB of iSSD storage and currently offers a total of 500GB mixed iSSD and platter-based storage.

The drive is superslim, being just 5mm thick while still retaining the 2.5-inch laptop-standard design. … Read more

Seagate steps strongly into the solid-state market with four new SSDs

Seagate's involvement in solid-state storage market shifted into high gear today as the company unveiled four new drives: the Seagate 600 SSD, the Seagate 600 Pro SSD, the Seagate 1200 SSD, and the Seagate X8 Accelerator.

Among these new drives, the Seagate 600 SSD is the first from the storage vendor that's designed for general consumers; the rest are geared toward enterprise use.

The Seagate 600 SSD comes in both 7-millimeter and, for the first time among SSDs, 5-millimeter thicknesses. The drive retains the 2.5-inch laptop design, supports SATA 3 (6Gbps), and offers up to 80,000 … Read more

Crave Ep. 119: The flexible MorePhone contorts when you get a call

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This week on Crave, we take a look at a concept phone that can change its shape when you get a notification. Plus, Microsoft shows off the IllumiRoom projector that puts gamers inside video games and we play another round of "Into It Not Into It"! … Read more

iMac buyers can now opt for a solid-state drive

Apple buyers eyeing an iMac now have a choice between a conventional hard drive and a solid-state drive.

Speedier than their mechanical counterparts, solid-state drives are available as options on both the 21.5-inch and the 27-inch iMacs. The 21.5-inch iMac offers a 256GB SSD for an extra $300 and a 512GB SSD for an extra $600. The 27-inch model presents the same options and throws in a 768GB SSD for an additional $900.

If those figures seem too pricey, buyers can stick with a regular serial ATA hard drive. Apple includes a 1TB hard drive in the overall … Read more

Sculpture carrying human DNA to be sent into the depths

Danish artist Kristian von Hornsleth is going to send human blood and hair sealed in a spooky-looking capsule to the bottom of the Marianas Trench.

Something about this strikes us as a phenomenally bad idea. It could be that the artist's name, "Hornsleth," sounds a little too close to "Innsmouth." It could be the strange, spiky, angled sculpture loaded up with human body parts. It could be that those body parts are headed for the deepest part of the ocean.

Either way, it's hard to know if any of those things have occurred to the artist, who has spent years building the Deep Storage Project. He says that his plan is that the 8-meter-cubed sculpture will give eternal life to the more than 5,000 volunteers who surrendered a drop of their blood and a hair from their head. … Read more

Verizon set to roll out Cloud storage 'in the coming weeks'

Verizon Wireless is getting into the cloud business in a big way.

In the coming weeks, Verizon said Tuesday, it will deliver cloud-based storage for smartphones and tablets. The company's customers will receive 500MB of storage at no charge, but can get up to 125GB of storage. Verizon is offering four storage plans to customers:

500MB: Free 25GB: $2.99 per month 75GB: $5.99 per month 125GB: $9.99 per month

"The secure storage app gives customers a place to back up and access their information," Verizon public relations manager David Samberg said Tuesday in a … Read more

Toshiba ships Canvio Connect portable drive with Pogoplug

Many portable drives come with a limited amount of free online storage included. The Canvio Connect, which Toshiba introduced today, offers that and more.

The new USB 3.0 portable drive comes with 10GB of free online storage space. When you plug it into a computer, you can access its contents, as well as those stored on another computer, be it a Windows or a Mac, via the Internet.

This is because the Canvio Connect comes with a lifetime subscription to the Pogoplug PC cloud engine, a software product that works similarly to the Pogoplug Series 4 adapter, which makes … Read more

SugarSync File Manager for Mac 2.0.9 Review

When you need your files to be accessible wherever you go, there is no better option than using a cloud service. SugarSync File Manager for Mac helps you sync and store your files online so you can retrieve and use them at a later time. With this application you can access your files on the go on any device.

If you've ever used Dropbox, then you'll be familiar with how this app works. SugarSync File Manager for Mac offers a free service that allows you to store and sync up to 5GB of data on their servers. There … Read more

WD ships first 5mm hard drive and SSHD

Western Digital announced on Tuesday the availability of its first solid-state hybrid drive, the WD Black SSHD.

SSHD is the new name for hybrid drives that combine both solid-state storage (used in solid-state drives) and regular platter-based storage (as found in regular hard drives) in a single standard box.

The WD Black is not the first SSHD on the market, but it's very different from the Laptop Thin SSHD that Seagate released just last month.

For one, the WD Black SSD is ultraslim, just 5mm thick (compared with 7mm for the Seagate drives), making it almost half the thickness … Read more

Multi-deal Monday: Cheap Roku, free CrashPlan, and affordable printing

Quick housekeeping note: Last month I told you about DietBet, an intriguing site that links you with others for a fun (and potentially profitable) weight-loss contest. I set up a game with a $25 buy-in, then waited to see what happened.

Twenty-eight days later, the contest is over. Exactly 400 people signed up, for a pot total of $10,000. Your Cheapskate is now 8.5 pounds lighter. And in a couple days I'll know how many others will join me in divvying up the pot. Bottom line: This was a huge success for me, and whether or not … Read more