Addonics Technologies today announced the Addonics 2.5 inch Flash Drive, a family of drive kit solutions that enable common flash memory cards to be used like 2.5 or 3.5 inch SSDs. The new family of Addonics flash drive kits comes in three different models to work with cards such as CF, CFast media or mSATA SSD.

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For example, the Addonics 2.5 inch mSATA Flash drive turns a regular mSATA SSD into a 2.5 inch SSD. The drive frame and the connector mimic the exact size and connector location of a 2.5 inch SATA hard drive. Once the mSATA SSD is mounted inside this 2.5 inch mSATA Flash drive, it can be used just like a standard 2.5 inch SATA hard drive.

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Plextor, a leading brand of high-performance storage and digital media solutions, announces plans to differentiate its ODD portfolio by offering a stand-alone optical storage device under the name of PlexEasy (PX-650US). With the PlexEasy, Plextor largely wants to target a new audience that is less familiar with PC but have a need to make backups of their precious data. The PlexEasy will be a compact 8x DVD writer that can be used without a PC, it will feature a built-in SD card reader and USB port which allows end users to make direct backups from data that is stored on SD Cards or on digital devices like tablets, smart phones, hard disks, flash drives, camcorders, and digital cameras.

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PlexEasy is meant to provide an easy and intuitive way for lesser- or lightly skilled end users to make reliable backups of their data without having to use a PC. It will support mass storage devices and the Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP), an image transfer technology integrated into many models of cameras and smartphones. For users, this means that PlexEasy can be used for burning photos directly from a camera (point-and-shoot or DSLR) or smartphone (iOS, Android, Blackberry etc.). The drive’s compatibility with mass storage devices enables the connection of MP3 players, flash drives, and external hard disks. Users are able to transfer videos, music, or other data from a device to DVD or from an SD card to an external storage device.

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pny_hp_v240g_usb_flash_drive.jpgPNY Technologies is considered a leading designer, manufacturer and a worldwide leader in RAM Memory and Flash Memory products, and authorized partnership with HP since 2008. December 2011 PNY has introduced its popular line-up - the HP v240b/v240g, which is a tiny but elegant designed drive targeting mainly business people. The drive comes in no-nonsense plastic casing in classic blue and green colors. The clean design is meant to symbolize tidiness and a coherent professional feeling at the workplace.

The drive comes with a cap to protect the USB plug from dust and water. In fact, the drive is not only rugged, it is also dustproof and waterproof, with the strong polymer lending it durability and resistance to shock. The cap has a keyhole to attach a lanyard, useful to attach it to your purse, keychain, belt, etc. The COB packaging helps achieve such a small dimensions of 7 mm x 16 mm x 31 mm and just 4.2 grams, thus giving it ultra-portability.

Even though it appears tiny, it comes in sizes as large as 32 GB.  Thanks to its large capacity, you can share and transfer your digital documents, pictures, video clips and music files. With a USB 2.0 interface, this drive sports read speeds up to 18 MB/s and write speeds up to 8 MB/s. The drive is compatible with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7, and even on Mac OS 10.3 and above.

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Three Korean Hitachi-LG Data Storage Inc. (HLDS) executives have agreed to plead guilty and to serve prison time in the United States for their participation in a series of conspiracies to rig bids and fix prices for the sale of optical disk drives, the Department of Justice announced today.

According to the felony charges filed today in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Young Keun Park, Sang Hun Kim and Sik Hur, aka Daniel Hur, conspired with co-conspirators to suppress and eliminate competition by rigging bids for optical disk drives sold to Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) and/or fixing prices for optical disk drives sold to Microsoft Corporation. The three HLDS executives participated in the conspiracies at various times between approximately November 2005 and September 2009. Under the plea agreement, Park and Kim each have agreed to serve eight months in prison and Hur has agreed to serve seven months in prison. Each has also agreed to pay a $25,000 criminal fine. HLDS is a joint venture between Hitachi Ltd., a Japanese corporation, and LG Electronics Inc., a Republic of Korea corporation.

“Today’s plea agreements demonstrate the Antitrust Division’s continued commitment to protect competition in the high tech industry,” said Sharis A. Pozen, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “The division will continue to pursue and prosecute those who participate in bid-rigging and price-fixing conspiracies that harm businesses and consumers in the optical disk drive industry.”

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One month after launching its new Pogoplug Cloud service, Pogoplug has announced the next generation of its flagship cloud expansion device: Pogoplug Series 4.

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Pogoplug's free Pogoplug Cloud service gives users 5GB of online cloud storage optimized for mobile phones and tablets. New users can sign up directly from their phone to create their free Pogoplug Cloud account.

Pogoplug Series 4 allows users to add unlimited cloud capacity to their Pogoplug account by hosting their own storage, with no monthly fees or limits. The high-performance Pogoplug Series 4 model provides plug-and-play support for Seagate® GoFlex™ external drives and other storage products that have adopted the new Universal Storage Module standard (USM), as well as the following inputs:

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PQI, a leading manufacturer of storage and memory devices, has announced a aesthetically pleasing USB flash drive - i817L - with the exclusive intelligent stick interface featuring a auto-closing protective shield to provide data safety.

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The stylish i817L's body mimics the sleek, clean cut form of a surfboard while maintaining the durability to handle the accident-prone ruggedness of day to day usage.  The smooth yet sturdy intelligent stick interface of the i817L is easily pulled back with the thumb so to be inserted into a USB port.  Just as simply when the i817L is removed this innovative barrier automatically springs back into place providing safety and eliminating any concern of losing the cap.  Thanks to i817L's intelligent stick design and chip-on-board(COB) technology, waterproof, dustproof, and anti-shock capabilities are ensured. Along with the fully plug and play feature, the i817L is no doubt simple, safe, and easy-to-use.

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Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced that it is now shipping its new Ultrastar C10K900 enterprise drive family.  Continuing its quality and performance leadership, the Ultrastar C10K900 leads the industry with 18 percent faster sequential and up to 17 percent faster random performance than the nearest competitor. It also features a high-performance SAS 6Gb/s interface for reliable data throughput and packs a 64MB cache buffer to optimize the read/write response time.  The new Ultrastar drives feature average seek times as low as 3.8 milliseconds, and its fast rotational speed reduces average latency time to below 3.0 milliseconds, enabling customers to access data more quickly and efficiently.

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As the company’s fourth-generation, small form factor enterprise hard drive, the Ultrastar C10K900 also hits the industry’s highest 10K capacity point at 900GB, delivering more capacity for less space for greater configuration flexibility. The new Ultrastar C10K900 family is available in 900GB, 600GB, 450GB and 300GB capacities.

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LaCie announced today the launch of its MyNAS iPhone/iPad app and remote access capability, which gives users instant access to files on their home network from anywhere. Compatible with the LaCie Network Space 2 and Network Space MAX network-attached storage (NAS) devices, MyNAS is simple and easy to use. A 30-second setup is all it takes to access music, photos and video while away from home.

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The free LaCie MyNAS app for iPhone and iPad gives convenient, instant access to files stored on a home network. Users are no longer limited to what is stored on their device; they now have access to terabytes of files and storage at home, too. Already filled up an iPhone with vacation photos and still have three days left on the trip? With the MyNAS app, simply move the files from the device onto the NAS to free up space.

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Pioneer Japan sent out a press release this morning, announcing the its new BDXL compatible Blu-ray Disc writer, the BDR-207JBK. Along with the ability to playback BDXL discs, the drive can write to triple- (100GB) and quad-layer (128GB) BD-R media at 6x and triple-layer (100GB) BD-RE media at 2x. The BDR-207JBK is also capable of 12x BD-R, 12x BD-R DL, 6x BD-R LTH, 2x BD-RE and 2x BD-RE DL writing speeds and includes features like Pioneer's PowerRead and PureRead2 technologies and a new power-saving mode. Pioneer rounds all this out with a software bundle from CyberLink that supports BDXL recording as well as Blu-ray 3D playback.

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The BDR-207JBK is scheduled to ship in early January and is expected to retail for about 18,000 Yen ($231US).

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adata_s396_ssd.jpgADATA Technology Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in DRAM memory and Flash application products, today introduced the S396 Solid State Drive (SSD), providing a needed cost-effective entry solution to what is often seen by consumers as a high-priced component market. Now, consumers who have been hesitant to upgrade their machines are provided with an appealing incentive.

After extended periods of use, many computers see a marked decrease in system speed. A common method seen to eliminate this problem is to upgrade the hard drive to a SSD. Because the method by which SSDs transfer data is entirely different from that of conventional hard drives, SSDs provide markedly higher speeds. In addition, SSDs have further advantages of low heat-discharge, low power-consumption, lightweight structure, and high impact resistance.

The S396 utilizes optimized firmware, allowing for appreciably increased performance. In normal situations, 90% of computing tasks involve transfers of data packets 4KB in size. This means that the performance of 4KB file transmission plays a critical role in users’ experience. The S396 runs 44K IOPS of 4KB random write and 280/250 MB/s of sequential read and write.

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