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First Lite-On Manufactured Plextor Drive Coming Soon

While once the top dog in the optical storage industry, Plextor is now a shadow of its former self. It's parent company, Shinano Kenshi Co., Ltd., has scaled back its operations and partnered with companies like LG and Pioneer to provide its drive designs.

In early 2007, we reported that Plextor had turned to Lite-On to fill at least some of their orders. These Lite-On manufactured drives never materialized and reports of their existance eventually ceased. Thanks to an unnamed source, we've learned that Plextor's first Lite-On manufactured DVD writer is finally on the way.

Based on the Lite-On DH-20A6S (iHAS120), the Plextor PX-806SA features an SATA interface and is capable of 20x DVD±R, 8x DVD±R and 12x DVD-RAM writing speeds. By itself, this isn't very exciting. However, Plextor is trying to recapture some of the enthusiast market by offering a new utility that will allow users to tap into the drive's more advanced features. Like PlexTools, this utility will perform various write quality tests and can measure things like FE/TE and jitter rates. Most likely, it will also control Lite-On's SmartWrite and SmartErase functions, which are already very similar to Plextor's own AUTOSTRATEGY and PlexEraser technologies.

No word yet on pricing or availability. However, our sources indicate that the PX-806SA is ready to go into mass production and will be shipping very soon. We'll keep you posted as we find out more.

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Western Digital Increases Capacity Of My Passport Drives To 500GB

Western Digital announced this week that its family of My Passport portable drives are now available in 400 GB and 500 GB capacities. Like previous versions, WD's new My Passport Elite and Essential drives are USB-bus powered, weigh less than 7 ounces and are small enough to fit in a pocket or backpack.

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Catering to consumers on-the-go with the world's most popular portable storage offerings, WD® (NYSE: WDC) today introduced its new 500 GB capacity My Passport™ Portable USB Drives which are designed to make it easy to store a half a terabyte of music, videos or photos and carry them in the palm of your hand. Available now at WD's online store (www.shopwd.com), the new 500 GB capacity is offered on the My Passport Elite™ and My Passport Essential™ portable drive models.

A recent consumer study conducted by WD of 1,559 external hard drive users revealed that 54 percent of survey respondents wished that there was an automatic way to back up their computer without having to think about it. My Passport Elite portable drives are equipped with software to automatically back up consumers' ever-growing collection of personal media and digital files.

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Imation Atom USB Flash Drive

CDRLabs has put together a brief review of Imation's new Atom Flash Drive. Roughly the size of a paperclip, the drive is less than 1.5 inches long and weighs in at less than an ounce. The Atom also includes password protection and drive partitioning software and is enhanced for Windows Vista ReadyBoost.

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Dell Premiers First Industry-Approved Burn-to-DVD Downloads

Dell announced today that it has partnered with Sonic to bring the first Qflix-enabled drive to market. The Qflix drive is available today as a $120 option on Dell's Inspiron, Studio and XPS laptops as well as through the company's Entertainment, Software and Accessories online store. With this drive, consumers are able to download movies from CinemaNow, transfer them to digital devices in their home and then create a permanent copy on Qflix DVD media.

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Dell and Sonic Solutions have teamed to make downloading and recording DVD movies easy with the first PC-based Qflix™ drives. Using an intuitive application, Roxio® Venue, movie collectors can search and select from a variety of major Hollywood hits available from CinemaNow, download them on their PC, transfer them to multiple digital devices in their home, and then create a permanent and portable DVD-format copy on Qflix DVD media.

The Qflix drive bundle is available in the U.S. today as an option on most Inspiron, Studio and XPS laptops for $120, as well as through Dell’s Entertainment, Software and Accessories online store, and will be available soon as option on select consumer desktops. The bundle includes an external Qflix-enabled drive, which also supports standard DVD read/write functions, two recordable Qflix DVD discs, Roxio Venue and CinemaNow software and a USB cable.

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Seagate Debuts New FreeAgent External Hard Drives

Seagate sent out a press release this morning, announcing the Fall 2008 lineup of its FreeAgent external hard drives. Along with its new 3.5-inch FreeAgent Desk and Xtreme drives, the company has introduced an updated version of the Go that fits in a docking station. Seagate will also be offering special versions of the Desk and Go that are formatted for use with Mac OS X and are Time Machine ready.

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Seagate, the world leader in storage solutions, today announced the Fall 2008 lineup of the company’s award-winning FreeAgent™ external hard drives. This new generation of the Seagate® FreeAgent™ family includes attractive desktop and mobile options, for both Mac® and Windows® operated PCs that make it a breeze to back up, share and protect valuable digital content like photos, videos and music.

Seagate’s flagship offering, the FreeAgent Go portable storage solution, is the slimmest external drive available today. At a height of only 12.5mm, the new FreeAgent Go easily fits in a pocket while still including all the advanced shock and vibration protection people have come to expect from Seagate. Another industry first, the new FreeAgent Go is the first external hard drive to offer a docking option, providing a practical way to move from the desk to the road, while leaving the hassle of fumbling with cables and locating USB ports to the history books. With up to 500GB of capacity, the FreeAgent Go bridges the gap between standard portable solutions and desktop solutions with enough storage to carry entire libraries of movies, pictures and music. No longer does one need to sacrifice capacity for portability, Seagate FreeAgent Go provides the benefits and convenience of both in a truly seamless on-the-go package.

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