Toshiba Corporation today announced that it will establish two new technology development centers for hard disk drives (HDD). The "HDD Advanced Technology Center" will seek to accelerate development of higher density technology and the "HDD Manufacturing Technology Center" will develop enhanced manufacturing capabilities. Both will open on July 16th. Toshiba will cooperate in the development work with TDK Corporation, which manufactures magnetic heads, and Showa Denko K.K., a disk media manufacturer.

In 2004, Toshiba led the industry in introducing perpendicular magnetic recording technology (PMR), now the dominant technology for high areal density HDD, and in doing so realized significant advances in hard disk drive capacity. However the physical limit of PMR is widely recognized at around 1.6Gbit/mm2 (1Tbit/in2) and densities beyond that will require further technology breakthroughs.

Toshiba, in cooperation with TDK and Showa Denko, is establishing an HDD Advanced Technology Center to focus on innovation in future generations of higher capacity HDD by investigating promising technologies, including energy-assisted technologies and bit pattern technology.

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wd_my_book_studio.jpgWestern Digital today announced that its newest generation of the popular My Book Studio external hard drives are designed for use with Mac computers and Apple Time Machine. Now available with a 3 TB storage capacity, the new design features a brushed aluminum casing to match the appearance of a Mac computer, and also serves to keep the drive cool while in use. The aluminum exterior, combined with its WD Caviar Green drives, eliminates the need for an internal fan to reduce drive noise and extend the life of the drive. Although formatted for Mac computers, the My Book Studio external hard drives can also be reformatted for PCs.

The My Book Studio external hard drive includes all the features and benefits that have made it one of the favorites among creative professionals and Mac computer enthusiasts, including its fast and flexible FireWire 800/400 and USB 2.0 interfaces, user-controlled automatic backup software and drive management, password protection and hardware encryption. Shipping in capacities of 1 TB, 2 TB and 3 TB, the My Book Studio drive includes the WD Caviar Green series of internal hard drives with WD GreenPower Technology.

"WD has updated the design of its My Book Studio drive while providing natural cooling features delivered by the new aluminum enclosure," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of WD's branded products and consumer electronics groups. "The drive will maintain all the features that are important to the creative community, including high speed FireWire 800 and adding large capacities up to 3 TB."

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Seagate is delivering hard disk drive storage for the world’s first handheld tablet computers with hard drives. The ARCHOS G9 8- and 10-inch tablets, announced today in Paris, feature the Seagate Momentus® Thin hard drive, a speedy notebook drive with a super-slim 7mm profile.

The performance and capacity of the Momentus Thin drive are the perfect complement for the cutting-edge speed of the ARCHOS G9 family of tablets that features the industry’s fastest dual-core 1.5 GHz processor and, on the strength of the Momentus Thin drive, gives users 250GB of capacity, eight times more than a standard 32GB tablet but at the same cost, making the ARCHOS G9 one of the tablet industry’s best cost-performance values.

ARCHOS 80 G9, the 8-inch product, and ARCHOS 101 G9, the 10-inch model, are scheduled to be available in late September. Estimated MSRPs for the ARCHOS 80 G9 and ARCHOS 101 GB tablets are $279 and $349, respectively, compared to competitive tablets starting at $499. More information on the ARCHOS tablets is available at www.archos.com.

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Porsche Design Group and LaCie announce the latest technology to join the luxury brand’s exclusive P´9000 electronics category: the LaCie Porsche Design Mobile (P’9220) and Desktop (P’9230) Hard Drives. The new storage accessories represent cutting-edge USB 3.0 technology, sleek aluminum frame, and puristic design.

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Since 2003, LaCie and Porsche Design have worked closely to deliver products that are technically inspired, delivering flawless functionality in its purest form. The luxury brand and the leading technology company compliment the other, with technical influence from LaCie, together with an exclusive and timeless shape presented by Porsche Design.

“For 20 years LaCie has introduced products that influence and fit right into our digital lives,” says Dr. Juergen Gessler, CEO of the Porsche Design Group. “Since 1972 the Porsche Design luxury brand embodies that philosophy in everything that we have created, bringing a sense of quality and luxury to every single Porsche Design product. We are pleased to introduce a product that resembles superior form and functionality.”

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Silicon Power today announces their ultra capacity 2.5inch USB 3.0 Stream S20 1TB external hard disk drive. It further strengthens powerful Stream Series of SP External Hard Drives. SP Stream S20 design concept comes from high-performance sports car. Front side of Stream S20 resembles sports car’s low wind shear design as well as top and back-end. From any side Stream S20 displays its powerful performance. Metallic purple paint demonstrates its luxurious style and at the same time declares its superiority.

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The eye-catching SP Stream S20 features not only attractive design but also high performance and speed. Featuring the latest USB 3.0 super speed transfer interface for instant copy/ write actions, Stream S20 requires merely 70 seconds for copying a 25GB Blu-ray DVD; 1TB storage space allows users to store up to 200 DVD movies. SP Stream S20 offers users the freedom to store their data at lightning speed. It is indeed a perfect combination of power and beauty.

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