PC World is reporting about Samsung showing off a 32GB flash-based harddrive at CeBIT this week. It’s double the size that Samsung showed off last year. The 32GB flash-based drive fits in the same space as a normal 1.8-inch notebook hardrive.
Yep, you read it right – Seagate has a 12GB 1-inch hard drive on the way, according to TG Daily
How this will affect the ultraportable market has yet to be determined, but it provides a viable alternative to those companies looking to make very small Windows-running notebooks (in the 7-9 inch range) and who were considering loading them up with some kind of flash memory.
James Radcliffe has written an article, Installing Software Without an Optical Drive for Tablet PC Talk that, while it’s about Tablet PCs, applies equally to those smaller ultraportables that don’t have optical drives built-in. This could be of some use to those travelling, and who, for whatever reason, find themselves without some kind of optical drive. He covers three key areas – sharing over a network, external optical drives, and using a disk image.
A week ago, I ran an article about the new 160GB harddrives from Seagate that uses perpindicular recording technology. Among the benefits/additions to this harddrive – better performance, higher capacity, and improved shock protection.
LaptopLogic.com has now gotten their hands on one and posted a review, giving it an overall 4/5. They have good things to say about it, and mention that the price point will be at current market prices once it is widely available for a period of time.
ohGizmo has news of a new “ruggedized portable hdd“. It’s the Qrsima Portable HDD, a 1-inch, USB 2.0 4GB harddrive with a rubberized case and able to handle vibrations and heat up to a point. It requires no external power supply – it draws its power from the USB connection, and it’s going to be priced at around $100.