Toshiba has reinforced their memory card line-up with the launch of a 16GB microSDHC card. Toshiba further announced the addition of ultra fast read/write 8GB and 16GB SDHC cards to its line-up.

Weighing 0.4g, the 16GB microSDHC card supports class 2 SD speed with a maximum write speed of 6MB per second. It can store 270 hours of music at a bit rate of 128kbps.

All of the new SDHC memory cards comply with the SD memory standard Ver. 2.00. The two new SDHC cards support class 6 ultra fast read/write speed with a maximum write speed of 20MB per second.

Toshiba says the mass production of the new SDHC cards will start in December, while the production of new microSDHC card is slated to start in January 2009.

Samsung has announced that it has started mass producing 256 GB solid state drives for use in notebooks and desktop PCs.

With sequential read rates of 220MB/s and sequential write rates of 200MB/s, these 256 GB SSDs offer highest overall performance in the personal computer industry. Erase cycles are a rapid 100GBs per minute, allowing the whole drive to be re-written much faster, when needed.

The new drive consumes 1.1 watts of power versus two or more watts for a comparable HDD, while delivering outstanding reliability and durability. Samsung claims the 256GB SSD launches applications ten times faster than the fastest 7200rpm notebook HDD.

"Getting our exceptionally high performing 256GB SSD in a notebook is analogous to having a 15,000rpm drive, without all of its size, noise, power and heating drawbacks," said Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.

Samsung says the 256GB SSD's advanced performance can be attributed to a new, optimized, single platform design consisting of a chip controller, NAND flash and special drive firmware developed by Samsung.

Link: Samsung

Toshiba Storage Device Division has introduced a half-terabyte HDD, the flagship model in MKxx55GSX series of 5,400 RPM, Serial-ATA (SATA) 3.0 Gb/s 2.5-inch HDDs.

Available in capacities from 500GB to 120GB, the super-quiet and durable series is targeted for integration into notebook PCs, sub- notebooks, small form factor and energy star PCs, game consoles, printers and external storage devices.

Toshiba claims the MKxx55GSX drives are nearly inaudible during operation, with some models performing close to the threshold of human hearing, due to advanced servo techniques combined with mechanical design of the drives.

"The acoustic performance renders these HDDs nearly inaudible, which is ideal for home entertainment applications, while the durability features appeal to mainstream mobile PC users. This family of products offers a comprehensive storage solution for integration into a wide range of applications," said Maciek Brzeski, vice president of marketing at Toshiba Storage Device Division.

The 500GB MK5055GSX achieves a 20 percent improvement in energy consumption efficiency during operation over previous generation 2.5-inch products. The new MKxx55GSX series also offers free-fall sensor (FFS) options to enable the HDD to respond to drop events, providing additional protection to mobile devices if they are disturbed during operation.

The pricing has not been revealed yet but Toshiba expects to begin shipping in production volumes to OEMs and distributors in December 2008.

Link: Toshiba

Lenovo has announced the ThinkPad USB Portable Hard Drive so secure you know it when you see it. The drive uses a numeric keypad allowing users to type in their password to access their data.

The new secure hard drive offers the 128-bit advanced real-time encryption security to help ensure your information remains secure. The 3 x 5 inch unit, designed to pair up with ThinkPad laptops, features full-disk encryption for up to ten unique user ID’s and one administrator.

The self-powered hard drive eliminates the hassle of keeping up with power cords, as the built-in USB cable makes transferring data simple.

The ThinkPad USB Portable Secure Hard Drive will be available by month’s end at $179 for the 160 GB model and $219 for the 320 GB model.

Link: Lenovo

Hitachi has introduced the Travelstar 5K500.B, a mobile hard drive that combines advanced data encryption technology with eco-friendly features.

The Travelstar 5K500.B uses the industry’s latest 250GB-per-platter technology to deliver a half terabyte (500GB) of capacity in an industry-standard 9.5mm mobile form factor. According to Hitachi, its new drive features a halogen-free design. The drive features a read/write power specification of 1.4W, which is lower other drives of the same type. The drive’s low-power profile results in more energy-efficient notebooks that run cooler and have longer battery life.

Another key feature of Travelstar 5K500.B is the optional Bulk Data Encryption (BDE) for hard-drive-level data security. BDE encrypts data using a private security key as it is written to the disk and then decrypts it with the key as it is retrieved, giving users the highest level of data protection available. The company added an interesting feature by automatically rendering data on a hard drive unreadable when the encryption key is deleted. The new drive is also expected to meet the forthcoming Storage Security specification established by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG).

The Travelstar 5K500.B operates at 5400 RPM and is available in capacities ranging from 120GB to 500GB. According to Hitachi, the new drive will be shipping worldwide in December.

Link: Hitachi

SanDisk Corporation and Veoh Networks have announced the Veoh Web Player for SanDisk, a portable video player. Available only on SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drives, it allows viewers to browse, search, and enjoy millions of videos available through Veoh.com on any computer, without installing the application..

With the Veoh Web Player’s Library and Import features, users can easily manage their personal video collection, both online and offline. Users can schedule downloads of videos to their library to watch later. Password protection on SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drives prevents any unauthorized access to personal video files in case the drive is lost or stolen.

“The Veoh Web Player is a perfect companion for SanDisk’s Cruzer USB flash drives because our customers often want to watch videos when they’re away from home and it often isn’t possible to install software on the computer itself,” said Yaniv Lavi, Director of Product Marketing for the consumer retail business unit at SanDisk.

The Veoh Web Player for SanDisk will be available as a download for SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drives with U3 smart drive technology. U3 technology allows applications to run from a SanDisk Cruzer USB flash drive, without having to be installed on a computer.

Link: Sandisk

According to the United States FBI, a notebook computer is stolen every 53 seconds and 97% are never recovered. Seagate has now announced ‘sweeping advances’ to help secure laptop information from theft or loss with self-encrypting notebook PC hard drives.

Seagate has introduced the new Momentus FDE (full-disk encryption) notebook hard drives with up to 320GB of capacity. McAfee is to provide the software for the enterprise-wide management of notebooks with Seagate Secure hard drives.

The Momentus FDE drives feature a fast Serial ATA interface and built-in AES encryption, an AES government-grade encryption used to encrypt all hard drive information transparently and automatically.

“Delivering easy-to-use notebook security that also is cost-effective requires leading partnerships and technologies,” said Tom Major, vice president of the Personal Compute Business Unit at Seagate.

“McAfee provides leading enterprise-class, powerful encryption and strong access control technologies,” said Tony Jennings, vice president Strategic Partnerships at McAfee. “By teaming with Seagate on its new encrypting Momentus drive, we are extending additional protection tools to our customers.”

The new 320GB Momentus laptop drives are now available in 5,400-rpm and 7,200-rpm models, with the 500GB model shipping early next year.

Link: Seagate

OCZ has launched its new Solid Series of solid state drives offering consumers the latest storage technology at an affordable price. Solid series SSD drives are available in capacities of 30GB, 60GB, and 120GB. The drives feature a 2.5" design, measuring 100 x 70 x 9.3mm and weighing 77g.

With 155 MB/s and 90 MB/s read/write speeds and seek times of less than 0.35ms, OCZ claims it makes Solid series up to 10x as fast on a seek-time basis than the best performing 2.5” HDDs on the market.

The new Solid Series supports RAID and are shock resistant. The addition of a mini-USB port also makes it possible for customers to update firmware when the new version becomes available. This ensures compatibility with future platforms.

All Solid Series SSD drives are backed a two year warranty. These are not recommended for use in laptops models purchased prior to 2007.

Link: Fudzilla

LaCie today announced Internet Space, a network hard disk accessible through the Internet anywhere, anytime, even when the local computer is turned off.

Designed by Neil Poulton, the Internet Space features a discreet, minimalist form with a mirror-polished white finish and a cool, blue LED strip that casts an ambient glow. The Internet Space provides shared storage for home computers and UPnP or DLNA certified media players. It also acts as a personal web portal for remote access and content sharing.

With easy setup that takes just minutes, users can access their information from any computer from anywhere, by logging on to www.homelacie.com. This exclusive web portal allows authorized users to access stored content, download it or even upload new files from anywhere.

It comes with HipServTM DesktopMirror software to safely backs up and restores files, along with a USB 2port to connect any USB hard drive. Available in capacity of 500 GB and 1 TB, it allows users to centralize their entire multimedia library.

The LaCie Internet Space is currently available in Europe at a starting price of 179€ at LaCie Online Store and LaCie Storage Partners.

Link: LaCie

SanDisk has unveiled ExtremeFFS, an advanced flash file system for solid-state drives (SSDs) that yields dramatic improvement in performance and reliability for computing applications. Sandisk says this patented flash management system has the potential to accelerate random write speeds by up to 100 times over existing systems.

ExtremeFFS operates on a page-based algorithm, which means there is no fixed coupling between physical and logical location. When a sector of data is written, the SSD puts it where it is most convenient and efficient, resulting in an improvement in random write performance - by up to 100 times.

ExtremeFFS incorporates a fully non-blocking architecture in which all of the NAND channels can behave independently. Another key element of ExtremeFFS is usage-based content localization, which allowing it to ‘learn’ user patterns and dynamically writes and alters the position of data to maximize the product’s performance and endurance.

The company expects the SSD net performance next year will be four times faster than the current generation of SSDs and nearly six times that of the latest 2.5-inch HDDs.

Link: Sandisk