Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced that it has agreed to acquire Fabrik, Inc., a privately-held supplier of personal and professional storage solutions. Fabrik, whose leading storage brands include G-Technology and SimpleTech, strategically positions Hitachi in the fast-growing external storage business.

Industry analyst firm IDC expects worldwide personal storage device shipments to grow from approximately 52 million in 2008 to 123 million in 2012. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Closing of the acquisition, which is subject to customary conditions, is expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2009.

Fabrik’s business will continue intact and form the core of Hitachi GST’s newly-formed external storage business. Hitachi GST will fully support the G-Technology and SimpleTech product lines, building upon their success and differentiation in the market. The combined company will also leverage operational, technical and product development resources, distribution channels and global reach to accelerate delivery of a full portfolio of traditional hard drives, solid state drives and branded personal and professional storage products.

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After releasing the 128 GB 2.5-inch SATA II SSD, Silicon Power, the leading brand among Flash Memory Manufacturers, is expanding its SSD product line with a larger, 256GB version. Except for its larger capacity, a new version SSD delivers an outstanding performance in data transfer rate. It can reach a read speed of 165 MB/s and a write speed of 95MB/s. High-speed transfer rates, as well as the very low (0.2ms) latency, it's a benefit for SSD-equipped computers to provide faster functioning speed and boot times.

With the mentioned high speed data transfer, the new units provides the cutting edge controller and flash memory shock resistance, minimum vibration, low power consumption, no noise, no latency delay, no seek error and high reliability, enabling the operating system to work well even if it is on the move. The new 256GB SSD also features an integrated ECC (Error Correction Code) to ensure an accurate data transfer, as well as built-in wear leveling technology that guarantees long-term reliability and ultra-long storage lifespan. Customers can easily install the SSD in laptops, PCs or other devices that support SATA II SSD. Silicon Power 2.5” SSD with SATA II or IDE interface is fully compatible with RoHS requirement, with capacities ranging from 8GB to 256GB.

With today’s release of the 433X CF card, Pretec is breaking its own world record of previous fastest CF card (333X) by more than 30%. Using a specially-crafted controller IC and SLC NAND flash technology, the Pretec 433X CF card reaches 65MB/s read speed and 50MB/s write speed. The Pretec 433X CF card is sampling now to key customers, with volume delivery by March, 2009.

Pretec, creator of the highest capacity CompactFlash card in the world (64GB) and the fastest CF card in the world (333X) will demonstrate the new Pretec 433X CF card, another speed breakthrough in flash memory at “Focus on Imaging 2009”, Europe’s biggest annual imaging event in Birmingham's NEC. The Pretec 433X CF card will be on display at stand Q20 together with Peartree and Leaf, a world leading manufacturer of digital medium format camera systems and digital backs.

The Pretec 433X CF card is the newest member of Pretec’s family of innovative flash memory cards, consistently first to market in high speed and capacity products; 233X and 333X CF cards were launched by Pretec at Taipei in 2007 and 64GB CF cards started shipping in Sept. 2008. With today’s release of the 433X CF card, Pretec is breaking its own world record of previous fastest CF card (333X) by more than 30%.

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Western Digital sent out a press release this morning, announcing its newly redesigned My Book World Edition network hard drives. Available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, the My Book World Edition is designed to automatically back up files from all the PCs and Macs on a home network. The drive also features integrated UPnP media server and iTunes Music server software, allowing you to stream content directly to an Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or computer using iTunes software.

WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its newly redesigned My Book® World Edition™ network storage drive, simplifying the critical but tedious task of backing up an entire household's precious files. Designed for consumers who have multiple computers on a home network, the new drive will be available in 1 terabyte and 2 terabyte capacities, and is compatible with PC and Mac® computers.

Consumers are amassing increasing amounts of digital media on their computers, including irreplaceable photos, movies and documents. While 70 percent of users in a recent WD study of 1,500 U.S. consumers claimed to be "backing up," most use sporadic, tedious processes such as copying to CDs/DVDs or USB thumb drives. Having several computers multiplies the work. My Book World Edition network drives are designed to automate and simplify the backup chore for the 36 million networked homes in the U.S. according to research firm Parks Associates. Just plug the My Book World Edition drive into a network router, click a few buttons and the My Book World Edition storage device backs up the files from all the PCs and Macs on the network. Any changes to the files on these computers are automatically and continuously backed up to the drive.