Toshiba throws down trio of external, portable HDDs

Toshiba Storage Device Division (SDD), the industry pioneer in mobile storage products, will capitalize on its 2.5-inch hard disk drive (HDD) technology expertise and consumer brand leadership with a new line of USB 2.0 portable external hard drives in 100GB, 120GB and 160GB¹ capacities. Available in North America, Toshiba's new personal storage line of 2.5-inch HDDs provides a unique solution for data back-up by enabling automatic power-on and save capabilities for worry-free content management.

As consumers are embracing a digital lifestyle, the importance of easy-to-use back-up solutions for personal memories and other entertainment content is critical. Toshiba's USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive line provides a worry-free solution for back-up of cherished photo, video, music and data files for the growing digital home and home office.

“The need for backing up and preserving digital data is increasing quickly among the massive consumer base,” said Dave Reinsel, director of storage hardware research at International Data Corporation (IDC). “In 2006, more hard disk drive terabytes shipped into personal storage devices worldwide than in the enterprise storage market. This important inflection point exemplifies the critical need for companies to offer reliable and easy-to-use backup solutions that will help the masses protect and preserve their digital memories.”

Don't look now, but Toshiba's gone and hopped into the portable HDD storage market, and has a trio of drives set to debut at next week's CES. The latest products to come flying out of the firm's Storage Device Division is the USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive, which sports a sleek, black aluminum housing, blue indicator LED, and an all-powerful USB port. Coming in at 5.6- x 3.5- x 0.93-inches, this portable unit is entirely powered by USB, automatically powers up / down with your PC, and comes in 100GB, 120GB, and 160GB flavors. While that oh-so-spacious 200GB perpendicular drive didn't quite make the cut, Tosh did manage to includes its buttonless backup system, dubbed NTI Shadow, which runs in the background and captures updates to files without ever troubling you. Although prices for the more capacious versions aren't yet available, the 100GB unit will run you $139.99, and expect the trifecta to hit shelves later this Spring.

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