Tipster Hitori Futari has come through for us once again, with new info on the PhotoFast PSP dual adapters, and new pics and benchmarks for the new CR-9000 hard drive enclosure. Details, info, and pics, all in the full article.

And of course, a hearty thanks to Futari!

If you plan on using your laptop in the car or just have a need for a lot of data storage space but have a problem with the size of standard hard drives, then Samsung may have a solution for you. The company has revealed that they've developed a 256 gigabyte multi-level cell (MLC) solid state drive (SSD) which uses a SATA 2 interface. To find out more, check out the full article.

Verbatim has announced its plans to release a new 500 GB portable hard drive for later this year. Aside from carrying some of the more standard features of the SmartDisk line, this new drive will also carry a reasonable price tag. Details are available in the full article.

OWC has added a 500 GB model to their Mercury On-The-Go series of portable hard drives. This new hard drive sports quite a number of features that any PC user on the go will definitely appreciate. To find out what this product has to offer you, head on over to the full article for more information.

Leading hard drive manufacturer Seagate has just unleashed its next-generation hard drives which are supposed to herald a revolution in the industry. The line is headed by the Momentus 5400 PSD (Portable Savings Drive) which runs faster with less power.

The Momentus 5400 PSD targets the fast-growing mobile computer industry with its revolutionary hybrid mode which allows the battery life to last longer without compromising disk performance.

The secret behind the Momentus 5400 technology lies in the combined capabilities of the traditional fast hard drive platters working with 250 MB of solid state memory. This allows commonly used files to be stored on the cache, allowing the RPM rate to take a break.

The fast solid state memory doesn't just benefit normal disk operations, it also improves the boot process by speeding it up using stored boot files in the cache. In traditional booting conditions, hard drives had to spin up, making users wait for the operations to optimize. The Momentus 5400 PSD allows the boot process to happen from the much faster, non-spinning solid memory, giving the hard drive a chance to catch up without making you wait.

Hybrid drives will be immediately compatible with the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. Plans of mass marketing this type of storage for desktops are underway to boost business work stations and home PCs alike.

Looks like the game console war isn't the only rough spot in the relationship between Microsoft and Sony. The two giants have recently found themselves in a crossfire regarding the alleged inability of the initial Windows Vista release to support Intel's Turbo Memory technology.

If you're blurry on what Turbo Memory or Robson is, it's often referred to as a "third-stage" memory that boosts computer performance in the areas of start-up and disk-intensive activities. In a manner of saying, it's flash memory designed to add more oomph to your PC.

As a direct effect of their stance, Sony refused to include the optional Turbo Memory feature in their summer range of Sony Vaio laptops, triggering a response of Vista maker Microsoft.

In a statement, the software giant said "Windows Vista supports Intel's Turbo Memory, and Microsoft and Intel have worked together to ensure that Turbo Memory works with Windows Vista technologies that support intelligent NVRAM cache management: SuperFetch, ReadyBoost, and ReadyDrive."

However, the Japanese consumer electronics titan remains firm on its position. David Spaeth, a product specialist from the Vaio wing said that Microsoft's push to get the Vista OS in the market in time caused this problem. "Microsoft sat down and said 'OK, to get Vista into the market, what are the really important parts of the software we need for launch?' They had to cross out or skip some parts of the OS, and one of these things was the support of this third-stage memory," narrates Spaeth.

Ultimately, Sony says that the Japanese mindset in the company's core will prevail. Spaeth said that straightaway consumer satisfaction was the target and in this case, they're willing to bench turbo memory until Service Pack 1 comes along and smoothens things out.

It's nothing new to the forefront in the high definition format wars. Samsung accomplished the same with their own BD-UP5000 - a decent marriage between Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-Ray. But it seems that hybrid drives (or combo drives as the techie world would like to put it) are the safest bet for everyone.

 

Enter Hewlett-Packard, a consumer and business computer solutions provider. They may lead in the printer camp, but they aren't any slackers in the PC camp either...well, not awful slackers, for the most part. According to a report by CNET News, HP will be sporting a HD-DVD and Blu-Ray internal drive for PCs in two models of their Pavilion line.

The Pavilion Media Center m8010y and the Pavilion d4890y will both sport a "triple writer, dual read" drive, come May 9, 2007. The drive is currently being offered as an optional drive for both systems, but there has yet to be a mention of it's model number, pricing and upgrade options for older Pavilions (including laptops) with HD-DVD drives.

Connected over SATA 3.0 interface, this 200 GB, 7200 RPM laptop hard drive was designed with enterprise servers and RAID network storage in mind. But because it's just 2.5 inches high, you could slap it right into your current mobile computing buddy, or (gasp!) your trusty PlayStation 3.

This hard drive hangs on performance, so expect it to deliver only the best in data transfer efficiency, data integrity measures and even a digital free fall meter (just in case you drop the poor thing) to immediately retract the head from the platter before impact occurs.

And while we stare at official press release from the same guys who brought you the world's thinnest LCD, we'd also like to share that this roomy drive sports perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR) for your data writing reliability comfort, a rotary vibration controller (RVC) for the gamers live inside maracas, and native command queuing (NCQ) for excellent hard drive performance.

Utilizing the industry's highest maximum-density-per-disk at 100 GB, the disk can use up to two platters, bringing up your byte storage space to 200 GB and comes in either a 8 MB or a 16 MB cache. It comes in cheaper 80 GB, 120 GB and 160 GB versions, too. The drive is scheduled for mass production this coming May.

Sony "memsticks" get a whole new upgrade as they double the (old?) 4GB Memory Stick PRO Duo to a whopping 8GB of memory. For a piece of silicon that small, to say it was packin' a lot would nominate you for the Understatement of the Year award. Sony Japan dubs this as the "MSX-M8GS," and it's only available to modern Sony products.

What about PSP users? Well, as long as you've got firmware version 2.81 (and above) up and running, you will be able to enjoy 8GB of freedom. Well, actually you get 7.35GB of freedom, after some file allocation and formatting.

Expect the access performance to hit a minimum low of 15MBps. Sony says that Cybershot digital cameras and Vaio laptops won't be able to handle this puppy unless they were released in 2007.

New launches reports that the 8GB package will be sold in Japan starting March 9, 2007 for ¥ 38,000 or (get ready for it) US$ 325.63. 326 smackeroos! Hells bells!

Taking a cue from its competitors, Fujitsu's now updating their laptops with an upgrade available for their B-series (late October) and Q-series machines (early November): the option of replacing their hard-disk drive with a flash drive system.

The flash drive was chosen due some of its advantages over hard-disk based systems, including lower power requirements reduced weight, higher impact resistance, and faster start up time.

Flash drive-equipped B-series laptops will have an extra 15 minutes of runtime, with the Q-series laptops having an extra 30 minutes. The flash-drive option also cuts the Windows XP Home Edition start-up time down from 32 seconds to just 19 seconds in both machines.

The flash drives are made by competitor Samsung, and can also be found in Samsung's Q30 laptop and Q1-SSD ultra-mobile PC machines. Another noted flash-drive release is Sony's UX90; the 16GB flash drive is an optional replacement for its hard-disk drive.

Fujitsu will be releasing two options for the upgrade: a 16GB pack for ¥80,000 (USD$670), and a 32GB pack for ¥160,000 (USD$1,340).