Toshiba 200GB Portable HDD

Toshiba is going to start selling portable hard drives in addition to laptops and DVD players. The USB 2.0 external hard disk will be available in capacities ranging from 100 GB to 200 GB – the largest capacity yet available in a portable, compact form factor.

The device itself is less than 2.5 cm thick and smaller than a 10×15cm photo. It is designed to be used as a back up for computer documents, photos, videos, and music files. With its size, it is also rugged enough to be able to carry on business or leisure trips.

The price is thought to be around $130 for the 100 GB up to $230 for the 200 GB model. The previous top capacity for a portable hard disk was 160 GB.

Toshiba is already the 5th leading manufacturer of hard drives, and while the 200 GB disk makes it have the largest portable, it certainly won’t be long before capacities reach and surpass it.

Portable hard disks are a growing specialized market niche – 3.8 million units were sold in 2006, with over 6 million predicted to be sold in 2009. Then so much more in 2010. Stay tuned for the latest portable hard drive figures as soon as we get them.

Related posts:

1. Seagate Encrypting Hard Drives Offered By ASI

Last year, a number of high-profile cases brought the issue of data encryption in the limelight. Laptop thefts resulted in the release of personal information from more than 540,000 N.Y. state workers, 13,000 Washington, D.C., ING retirement plan participants, 196,000 Hewlett-Packard employees in a Fidelity benefit and defined contribution plan, and 17,000 patients of Mount St. Mary’s Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y. Perhaps the most notorious was the lost of a U.S. Veterans Administration USB hard drive and a laptop with more than 26 million records.

Thus far, only ASI has announced use of Seagate’s encrypted hard disks. The hard drives are expected to cost 30-40% more than the non-encrypted ones.

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