Who says data storage devices have to look dull and boring? Here are twelve external hard drives that make more of a statement than simply how many gigabytes they store.

1. LaCie Starck Desktop/Mobile hard drives

Desgned by Philippe Starck, these cool hard drives (one for the desktop, one for mobile users) look amazing, are made from thick aluminium casing, have a touch sensitive surface for quick launch of applications, and come with auto-backup software.

Lacie UK

2. Buffalo SuperSpeed USB 3.0 hard drive

Not only does Buffalo’s hard drive use the cutting edge USB 3.0 high speed interface offering up to 125MB/s data transfer rates, but its black curvy body is well worth showing off as you transfer high definition movies back and forth in mere seconds.

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The Buffalo 1TB DriveStation

Here’s the blurb:
Buffalo’s DriveStation with TurboUSB offers unprecedented USB performance enhanced by TurboUSB. An innovative, fan-less design and power-saving mode make this DriveStation a dependable, economical and silent solutuion. Auto installation and easy operation let you quickly store, access, and transfer files, digital images, documents, and backups. Just plug it in to a PC or Mac and it works!

Other features include:
The Power Saving Utility constantly monitors data access to the hard drive and automatically reduces power consumption when the unit is idle. TurboUSB software increases data transfer speeds via USB. Secure Lock Ware software encrypts and protects your important personal data from theft and unauthorised access. With Auto Power On/Off Function, the DriveStation automatically turns on/off with your Windows PC.

Overall, the DriveStation is an excellent bit of kit, made all the better by the fact that it is silent, so no annoying humming in the background! It is now available for only £79.99 which is great value for so much space.

Although 1 Terabyte drives aren’t as “exciting” as they were a few months back, this is the first one that has been announced with native AES encryption, which is the strongest commercially available encryption method.

This new drive uses Seagate’s perpendicular magnetic recording which was first used in their 750GB Barracuda drive last year, and can reach speeds of up to 7500rpm. Additionally, Seagate also announced a new 250GB drive for laptops, with 5200RPM which will be available in this year’s final corner, but don’t expect too many laptops to come out with such capacity.

The 1TB will be released next year, but Seagate hasn’t announced a price or a date for it’s availability.

[Via DailyTech]

Trekstor has recently introduced its 1TB storage system entitled DataStation duo w.u.

Unlike what happens with other external hard drives that have the big number – 1GB – with only one hard-drive, the DataStation duo w.u. is different and has two 500GB hard drives.

The $430 portable drive comes with Nero BackItUp 2 software for all the “backing up” necessities, which includes features like password protection for the important and personal files, or a fly compression support to make the files smaller.

I wonder how much time and how many files does it take to occupy 1TB? I know that hardcore computer users that edit video needs lots of space, and taking in consideration what they are using it for, all the storage capacity can be gone in… hours? days?

Just because Samsung announced new higher capacity hard drives for laptops, PC owners shouldn’t feel left out because, yet another company, Buffalo, has just released a 1 Terabyte SATA II hard drive.

The drive spins at 7200rpm and has a transfer rate of 3GBps. It should be available soon in Japan  for about $500, but unless you can fly over there, it will still be a while before such hard drives become common in the European and American markets.

Although 1 Terabyte hard drives aren’t really new (Alienware and Dell already offer 1TB options for their systems), they are certainly becoming more common. At approximately €315 (more or less $420), this new Deskstar 7K1000 Toshiba hard drive offers a pretty ratio between capacity and price.

It spins at 7200 rotations per minute, has 32MB of cache and uses SATA as it’s interface. Considering that my 300GB HDD cost almost a third of that price, I think that this is a pretty good deal for anyone looking for a new Hard Drive.

I don’t know about you readers, but I’ve felt a bit tempted a few times to update my VCR to be able to have a more modern way to record shows from my television. And I wouldn’t mind putting my hands on this 1TB Media Recorder, complete with HDMI, DVD Burner and Playstation 3 looks (oops, did I just say that out loud?).

This recorded will be available in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB sizes (if only iPods came with those capacities also), and in three colors: black, cream and silver. Though I have to admit that the later two colors look nowhere as good as the first one.

Yet Another Update
Use the code SAVE90YEAR to save $90 on any level 1- or 1-year hosting plan at Dreamhost. Probably one of the better deals I have found.

Does anyone know if any of the codes below are no longer valid? I know this post gets a good bit of traffic from search engines, so I want to keep it trimmed down as much as possible.

Another Update: Dreamhost: Use code DHRULES to get $70 off any level 1- or 2-year hosting plan, or 50% off any monthly plan.

UPDATE – MORE CODES

More codes from the comments. I can’t verify the validity of these codes. Try them out at Dreamhost.

• sales – gets cheapest rates on any plan
• DMH – 93% discount
• MADDNESS – $85 off
• 123DREAM – half price savings deal

So, aside from Promo Codes, Dreamhost has just activated a sale on all their shared hosting plans. Still the same prices, but with more for the money now.

• L1: 20GB Storage, 1TB Transfer, 3000 Mailboxes
• L2: 40GB Storage, 1.2TB Transfer, 6000 Mailboxes
• L3: 60GB Storage, 1.6TB Transfer, 12000 Mailboxes (Still with 50% off forever)
• L4: 90GB Storage, 2.2TB Transfer, 24000 Mailboxes

Honestly though, who needs that many mailboxes?

Good hosting deals are always worth posting about. Here is one for Dreamhost that saves you $50 on a one- or two-year L1 plan.

1. Go to Dreamhost.com
2. Select the 12-month or 24-month Level 1 “Crazy Domain Insane” plan.
3. When you get ready to make your payment, enter the following code: 79JF6574

That’s it! Aside from this promo code, they are also offering their L3 plans for as low as $15.95 a month for as long as you own the account if you sign up for a 24-month option.

I have been using Dreamhost for about a year now, and have really enjoyed my experience there. There are a few horror stories out there, but I think those are few and far between. I have learned a few things since hosting there that I thought I might share here for anyone that is currently hosting with them or may host with them in the future.

BTW, there is a post here on FG with lots of great promo codes in it for a great deal on Dreamhost.

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Lifehacker has a great article on setting up your computer to automatically back up your hard drives, even uploading them to an FTP site for off-site backup.

Don’t expect yourself to remember to back up your data, or stack your closet full of burned CD’s or DVD’s. Today we’re going to set up automated nightly, weekly, monthly local and off-site backups for your PC using free software. Once you get this up and running, you’ll never have to worry about losing data again.

Combine this with a Dreamhost account with mega storage and bandwidth and you have the perfect off-site storage solution. The L1 plans have 20GB of storage and 1TB (yes, that’s TERABYTE) of bandwidth. Perfect for storing those backups.

I just recently got another hard drive for my computer, bringing my total space to 370 gigs. That means I have one third of a terabyte in my living room. Maxtor of course is soon launching a one terabyte drive, or 1000 gigs for home and home office users.

Maxtor has launched a new backup drive that promises capacities up to one terabyte (1TB or 1,000GB) for people who feel they never quiet have enough space for backup.

The new drive, called the Maxtor OneTouch III, Turbo Edition integrates Maxtor’s automated backup and restore capabilities for Mac and PC users as well as allowing users to easily configure the solution for either RAID 0 or RAID 1.

Toshiba has decided to invested in Optware, which is only one of the companies that Optware is talking to as it tried to gain more US venture capital.

Optware is currently working to finish development of its HVD (Holographic Versatile Disc) technology that would enable DVD sized discs or blocks to store upwards of 1TB (1000GB) of data. The HVD technology stores data inside a disc as holographic patterns.

HVD player/recorder machines and first-generation writeable discs that will be able to store 200GB will go on sale sometime next June for the enterprise storage market, and HVD players accompanied by 100 gigabyte read-only HVD discs should be available for the consumer market sometime in 2007.

This may be the relplacement to the HD-DVD standard that has been taking a bit of a beating in the standards war lately and a great competitor for the Blu-Ray DVD technology that many companies have signed on to use.

Okay, Google’s Gmail is pretty cool, I’m sure you’ll agree. But it does have only 1GB of storage space for each account. What if you need more capacity?

Enter Hellacious Riders – with a massive 1TB of storage space for each user. Each account also supports 500MB attachments. Hoorah!

Why?

The answer is simple to help people store large amounts of information in a safe and secure environment…

We decided that yes a terabyte of space may sound rather extreme to some, others will not think so.

I don’t think so either. Hurry on over to Hellacious Riders and grab an account while you can.

Don’t know if this is a mistake or not, but it looks as thought Google has upped the GMail limit to 1 Terabyte! If this is true, pretty much every online email competitor can no longer even be considered a competitor. Google will soon control all the data in the world and change their name to Godd.