Storage

Get a 32GB flash drive for $9.97

The other day, as part of a bonus deal, I wondered aloud how long it would be before 32GB flash drives dipped below $10.

Not long, apparently. While supplies last, TigerDirect has the Patriot PSF32GFXUSB Xporter Flex 32GB Flash Drive for $9.97 shipped. That's your post-rebate price (PDF); it'll cost you $19.97 to get out the door.

Assuming you don't have a deep-seated hatred of rebates (many people do), that's an incredibly low price. It was scarcely six months ago that I was crowing about piddly 8GB drives for under $10.

The PSF32GFXUSB -- … Read more

Seagate's SSDs to be powered by DensBit's Memory Modem controller

Despite the proliferation of solid-state drives (SSDs) with vendors, such as Samsung, OCZ, Plextor, or RunCore, regularly releasing new drives to the market, Seagate, a major storage vendor, has been for the most part missing from the party until now.

The company announced today that it and DensBits have entered a strategic agreement for development of SSDs for consumer and enterprise markets. DensBits is an Israeli-based developer of the world's first Memory Modem controller for SSDs. In SSDs, the controller is one of the most important parts since it determines the performance, life span, and reliability of the drive.… Read more

Top five affordable portable drives that ain't cheap

When it comes to storage, you definitely don't want to risk getting stuck with a lemon. That's because, unlike other commodities like a car or a TV, when a storage device breaks down, chances are you lose a lot more than just the drive itself. It's a painful experience to see your invaluable data vanish. Take my word for it on this.

But you likely don't want to spend too much, either, and want your storage device to be easily accessible, especially on the go since there's not much use for your data if it always has to stay at home.

Bearing that in mind, compact and portable external hard drives are arguably the most popular form of storage. They have room to hold lots of data, often more than your laptop or ultrabook can, without being big or heavy. Following is the list of the top five portable USB 3.0-based drives that are the best among their peers, offering great performance, large storage space, compact design, and sometimes even the kind of toughness that will withstand drops and submersion in water. Most importantly, you can easily find them for less than $100. Have more to spend? You can get larger capacities that cost more.

Note that these drives also work with USB 2.0 (MacBook Air owners, you're included here) and they are all bus-powered, so you don't need a separate power adapter to use them.… Read more

Get a 1TB Seagate USB 3.0 hard drive for $82.99

Greetings from 34,000 feet! Even while hurtling through the sky, I'm on the lookout for cheap deals. (They're easier to spot from up here.) Isn't technology amazing?

USB 3.0 is finally starting to take hold, with at least one compatible port appearing on the latest laptops and desktops. Of course, that high-speed interface is no good if you don't have devices that can take advantage of it.

Like this one: for a limited time, and while supplies last, Dell Home has the 1-terabyte Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex USB 3.0 external hard drive for $82.99 shipped. … Read more

Drobo hooks up Thunderbolt with USB 3.0, data cable

The time when you could only use Thunderbolt storage devices with Thunderbolt-enabled computers is about to be over.

Drobo announced today two new Thunderbolt storage drives, its first that, on top of the traditional two Thunderbolt ports, also come with a USB 3.0 port. In fact, these are among the first Thunderbolt storage devices from any vendor that also support USB connectivity. This means you can use the drives with your existing computer, be it a Windows PC or a Mac, and keep them for use with future systems that support the Thunderbolt standard.… Read more

Subscribe to Pogoplug Family for $19.95, get a free Pogoplug

For the past year or so, Pogoplug has been steadily reinventing itself. After earning raves for its eponymous network-storage adapters, the company moved into consumer cloud storage, then introduced team-storage solution aimed at small and medium businesses.

Along the way, Pogoplug devices have been introduced and discontinued, and the aforementioned consumer storage service, Pogoplug Cloud, seems to have disappeared. As someone who's been following the company closely, I'll admit to being occasionally confused by Pogoplug's strategy and lineup.

But there's no confusion here: through Sunday, and while supplies last, you can get a free Pogoplug Classic device when you sign up for the new Pogoplug Family backup service.… Read more

Thunderbolt storage roundup: It's a PC world after all

Editors' note: This roundup was originally posted on March 23, 2012, and updated April 16 and June 15. It will be updated on a regular basis as more devices are reviewed.

Those days of the "I am a PC" and "I am a Mac" guys have long gone, mostly because the two have married into one, so to speak. The truth is Mac and PC are now one -- they are both personal computers anyway -- sharing the same Intel chipsets and processors. In fact, you can install Windows on an Intel-based Mac, and, if you … Read more

Dropbox to kill off public folders?

Dropbox's public folders might soon be a thing of the past.

According to German site Mobiflip (Translate), Dropbox has e-mailed developers, informing them that as of August 1, public folders will no longer be supported by the service. Public folders will be officially replaced by a new Link feature the company announced in April, according to the e-mail.

"After July 31, we will no longer create Public folders in any new Dropbox accounts," the e-mail reportedly reads. "If your app depends on Public folders, we recommend switching to the /shares API call. Public folders in existing … Read more

WD joins networking with My Net router family

Once in a while there's a big change, and Western Digital is having one of its own.

The major storage vendor today unveiled not a new hard drive or NAS server, but its very first networking devices in the My Net family. There are five routers and one Gigabit Ethernet switch, enough to challenge other major home-networking vendors, such as Cisco, D-Link, Trendnet, and Netgear.

Unlike other networking vendors whose lineups tend to start with a budget single-band router, WD starts with the My Net N600, a true dual-band router that offers 300Mbps on both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands. The next step is the My Net N750, which also offers the 450Mbps speed on the 5GHz band, and finally there's the top-tier My Net N900, which offers the 450Mbps data rate on both bands. The My Net N900 also notably comes with seven Gigabit LAN ports (as opposed to the four ports found in most wireless routers). All of these routers work with any existing Wi-Fi clients.… Read more