Samsung Unveils USB 3.0 External Hard Disk Drives
By Rajani Baburajan, TMCnet Contributor
Samsung Electronics America, a digital consumer electronics and information technology company, announced three new lines of consumer external hard disk drives, including two new portable drives and a new desktop drive.
The new drives feature SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interfaces that provide data transfer rates of up to 5 gigabits per second. The 3.0 version allows users to transfer a 25-gigabyte high-definition movie in four minutes, compared with 13 minutes for previous USB 2.0 interface drives.
All three new external storage lines will be available through leading U.S. retailers in April. Pricing will be announced at that time.
“These new external drives offer outstanding performance and style,” said Reid Sullivan, senior vice president of mobile entertainment marketing, Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics America, in a statement. “With their wide range of capacities, features and price points they offer a variety of attractive choices for today's storage-hungry consumers looking for mobile and backup solutions.”
Samsung's new portable external drives offer up to 1 terabyte (TB) capacity in a compact, easy-to-transport format with curved sides for a comfortable grip and sleek, Scandinavia-inspired styling.
Samsung's premium portable drives, which are available in four colors—brown black, noble beige, clay orange and mist gray—offer up to 1TB capacity, enhanced backup and security software, the company said.
Samsung’s second-generation software offers a suite of tools with an easy-to-use graphical user interface. The newly implemented 256-bit full disk encryption provides additional security on a hardware basis.
Auto backup software supports both automatic and continuous data backup. Users' files are backed up automatically every time they are changed or newly created. SecretZone allows users to create a secure virtual drive, and SafetyKey software provides encrypted data backup and password-setting.
A convenient USB docking station will be sold separately for both the basic and premium line products, allowing users to easily connect and transfer data to a PC.
Samsung's new external drives for desktop PCs offer up to 2TB capacity in simple and refined cases. With 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB storage capacities, the new desktop drives will be available in brown black and noble beige.
A major recent develop came when Samsung Electronics and Google announced Nexus S—the world’s first handset to feature the latest version of Google’s Android platform.
According to Omar Khan (News - Alert), chief strategy officer of Samsung Telecommunications America, Nexus S integrates Samsung’s best-in-class hardware and technology with the exciting new features and upgrades of Android (News - Alert) 2.3 Gingerbread to give consumers a breakthrough smartphone experience.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.