Tag Archives: hard disk

ASUS Zenbook Prime faces teardown, affords a little expansion in an even smaller space

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ASUS Zenbook Prime faces teardown, affords a little expansion in an even smaller space

We often assume that Ultrabooks scarcely have any room to budge on the inside, and that's usually true. An iFixit teardown of ASUS' Zenbook Prime has proven that there's always an exception to the rule. Looking at a UX32VD with the same base layout as the UX31 we reviewed, the repair outlet finds that the upgraded Zenbook has both embedded and removable RAM: provided owners are still willing to perform some surgery, they can upgrade past the 4GB of included memory on their own terms. The repair team is a bit dismayed that there's a 5,400RPM hard drive spinning near the mini SSD -- how very 2011 -- but notes that it's equally swappable by those who want something faster. Whatever you think of the fully pieced-together ASUS PC, it's apparent there's a reward for those willing to take it apart.

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ASUS Zenbook Prime faces teardown, affords a little expansion in an even smaller space originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Seagate completes purchase of LaCie in quest to become king of the hard drive hill

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Seagate completes purchase of LaCie

The final price may end up being more than the initially proposed $186 million, but Seagate has successfully acquired a controlling share of LaCie stocks. The provisional price of €4.05 per share could increase to €4.17 if Seagate manages to accumulate 95 percent of the company's stocks in the next six months. As of now, however, it hold just shy of 65 percent, enough to take control of the French manufacturer. With LaCie and its valuable consumer business under its belt and Samsung's SSD expertise, the move to reject a Western Digital take over is looking better and better. After all, consumer choice is the engine of capitalism and now Seagate has more than enough ammunition to take on WD and its Hitachi properties. Check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Seagate completes purchase of LaCie in quest to become king of the hard drive hill

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Seagate completes purchase of LaCie in quest to become king of the hard drive hill originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Aug 2012 23:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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France’s ANDRA developing a million-year hard drive, we hope our badly-written blogs live in perpetuity

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France's ANDRA developing a millionyear hard drive, we hope our blogs live in perpetuity

Us humans have been quick to embrace digital technology for preserving our memories, but we've forgotten that most of our storage won't last for more than a few decades; when a hard drive loses its magnetism or an optical disc rots, it's useless. French nuclear waste manager ANDRA wants to make sure that at least some information can survive even if humanity itself is gone -- a million or more years, to be exact. By using two fused disk platters made from sapphire with data written in a microscope-readable platinum, the agency hopes to have drives that will keep humming along short of a catastrophe. The current technology wouldn't hold reams of data -- about 80,000 minuscule pages' worth on two platters -- but it could be vital for ANDRA, which wants to warn successive generations (and species) of radioactivity that might last for eons. Even if the institution mostly has that pragmatic purpose in mind, though, it's acutely aware of the archeological role these €25,000 ($30,598) drives could serve once leaders settle on the final languages and below-ground locations at an unspecified point in the considerably nearer future. We're just crossing our fingers that our archived internet rants can survive when the inevitable bloody war wipes out humanity and the apes take over.

[Image credit: SKB]

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France's ANDRA developing a million-year hard drive, we hope our badly-written blogs live in perpetuity originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fujitsu starts build-it-yourself PC service, lets you go homebrew without the electrical shocks

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Fujitsu starts buildityourself PC service, lets you go homebrew without the electrical shocks

Big PC companies are often seen as being at odds with the concept of custom-built computers: apart from letting us tick a few checkboxes before we order, they'd rather we not fiddle with the internals. Fujitsu is breaking the mold and embracing some of that DIY culture with its upcoming Hands-on Custom PC Assembly Service. The Japanese can take classes that teach them how to install their picks (from a limited range) of processors, hard drives and RAM. While the program doesn't start completely from scratch -- the motherboard is already installed -- it takes would-be assemblers through many of the experiences of building their own PCs from the ground up. Builders can choose how many components, if they're not quite so ambitious, and learn smart practices like wearing anti-static wristbands. While there won't be as many unintentional jolts of electricity as the real deal, the courses should help PC owners feel comfortable working inside a computer -- not to mention save Fujitsu a few technical support calls. The variable-price courses start in Japan on August 9th for multiple Esprimo desktops and a LifeBook portable. We can only hope that American PC vendors take a few hints and encourage everyone's inner technician.

Fujitsu starts build-it-yourself PC service, lets you go homebrew without the electrical shocks originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed

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GTechnology kicks out USB 30 GDrives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro wellfed

If you've just picked up a MacBook Pro with Retina display or a 2012-era MacBook Air, you may be jonesing for a matching external hard drive to take advantage of that much-awaited USB 3.0 support. G-Technology has you covered -- and how. Updated versions of the laptop-oriented G-Drive Mini, Mobile and Slim (you're looking at the Mobile up top) all roll in the higher peak speeds and progressively trade raw speed as well as 1TB capacities for sleekness, while the twin-drive, 1.5TB G-RAID Mini will tax that 5Gbps bandwidth without becoming too ungainly. Not taking your external storage on the road? The single-disk G-Drive now climbs to 4TB in addition to jumping on the USB 3.0 bandwagon, and the dual-drive G-RAID will serve up as much as 8TB at the newly brisk speeds. All but the G-Drive Slim support FireWire to ease those jitters over transitioning from old to new, although they won't all arrive at the same time. Most of the G-Drive and G-RAID gear will be showing up in August at prices between $110 and $810, but the two Mini-labelled drives could be a bit late to the party with a less defined summer target. You can get the full scoop after the break.

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G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SATA-IO unveils USM Slim external storage jack for ultrabooks, tablets and ‘other portable devices’

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SATA-IO unveils USM Slim external storage jack for ultrabooks, tablets and 'other portable devices'So, how do you best improve upon the USM standard and boldly take it to new frontiers? Well, as with most tech, simply shrinking it down never seems to hurt. The new USM Slim standard has just been announced by the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) as part of the SATA 3.2 Revision. It takes the ability to plug in powered, external storage with on-board SATA and slims down the port from 14.5mm to 9mm. By trimming the jack by of a third of its bulk the SATA-IO have prepped the standard for the next generation of products, including ultra-thin ultrabooks, svelte tablets and "other portable devices." What might those other devices be? Well, we can't help but hope for a smartphone that boots to Ubuntu when docked (or Ubuntu TV) and can connect to a sizable external hard drive... ah, pipe dreams. Check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading SATA-IO unveils USM Slim external storage jack for ultrabooks, tablets and 'other portable devices'

SATA-IO unveils USM Slim external storage jack for ultrabooks, tablets and 'other portable devices' originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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