Storage Essentials
 Hard drives, network-attached storage, solid-state disks (SSDs) and plain-old USB thumb drives -- there's never been more storage options available for the PC user than today. Fortunately, Hardware Central's there to walk you through the basics.
Be sure also to check out the Hardware Central Forums' subforum on Storage and Peripherals
And for those interested higher-end storage, take a look at our sister site, Enterprise Storage Forum. |
Failure is not an option -- it's an eventual certainty when it comes to hard drives, so regular backup is more than essential, it's imperative. Happily, today's external hard drives and other solutions make data protection painless. Here's what you need to know before you buy.
Network servers running out of storage space? Don't add more servers -- add a smart appliance for business storage. This introduction will help you understand and shop for network attached storage (NAS).
A couple of years ago, the advent of perpendicular magnetic recording kicked the storage industry's race for ever-higher capacity into overdrive, but Western Digital's cramming two terabytes into one desktop drive is still an eyebrow-raiser. So is the growing sophistication of the hard disk market, with lower noise and power consumption starting to count as much as size and speed.
One and one-half terabytes, people! Most of us remember when such storage capacity stretched the limits of a server RAID array, but next month Seagate will ship a 1.5TB desktop hard disk. Meanwhile, both old-fashioned and newfangled storage tech heats up the notebook market -- and PC enthusiasts and upgraders are getting their hands on the speedy solid-state drives once reserved for the most exotic, elite laptops.
Just as ever more powerful CPUs continue to stretch Moore's Law, PC hard disks keep breaking what surely seems the storage-capacity ceiling. Today, areal density has become surreal density as desktop drives enter the terabyte zone -- but no-moving-parts alternatives are attracting attention in the form of speed-boosting, power-saving hybrid and solid-state drives. Can prices keep going down as storage goes up?
Network attached storage sounds scary, but nothing could be friendlier than Seagate's set-and-forget wireless file-sharing and backup solution for home or small office.
A world leader in storage embarks on a new mission: get the content stored on its hard drive to your TV, wherever it may be.
The computer peripheral specialist offers 2TB and 4TB versions of a two-drive RAID storage array for Gigabit Ethernet LANs.
This compact USB-to-Gigabit Ethernet adapter turns any USB drive into network attached storage or makes it simple for LAN users to share a peripheral.
Network attached storage doesn't get much easier than WD's plug-and-play backup appliances. Besides automatically saving the latest versions of documents on both PCs and Macs, the 1TB and 2TB drives offer media streaming and secure, browser-based remote access.
Kingston rolled out its latest entry in the fast-growing solid state drive (SSD) market today.
Inside Western Digital's new external drive's sleek aluminum case is 1TB or 2TB of hardware-encrypted automatic backup. Outside is a digital label that shows its contents even when the drive's off.
The computer upgrades specialist combines the fastest mass storage technology with the fastest new interface in yet another good reason to get a USB 3.0 port.
The 256-bit hardware-encrypted Defender V2 from Kanguru Solutions is ready for industry regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA.
Big Blue's first commercial tape storage product shipped almost 60 years ago. Its latest lab project has somewhat higher capacity, by a factor of oh, 17.5 million or so.
SuperSpeed USB strikes again as Seagate bundles a 500GB external drive with a USB 3.0 ExpressCard adapter to bring the new standard's ultra-fast data transfer to existing notebooks.
Supermicro expands its server-building-block line with several formidable 4U 3.5-inch drive chassis.
Storage and data backup for small businesses just keeps getting easier and more affordable. Iomega's StorCenter offers big capacity, features and peace of mind at great price.
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