Toshiba 640GB, 1TB Hard Drives Offer Encryption, Data Backup

Toshiba is now selling a pair of 3.5-inch external hard disk drives that offer 640GB or 1TB of data storage. These configurations, Toshiba said, are what the market has been clamoring for in terms of storage.
"We really got into external hard drive business about 18 months ago, but it wasn't until the last 12 months that we started dedicating teams to growing this category," Michael Cassidy, Toshiba's marketing director for accessories and HDD, told eWEEK.
"We've had some very good success and our retail partners have supported us tremendously," Cassidy added. "But one of the biggest comments we were getting was [that we should] come out with a 3.5-inch solution."
The result is a model designed to be a "centerpiece" on the desktop, with a look and feel reminiscent of a laptop, particularly Toshiba's glossy black Satellite lineup. It offers both USB and eSATA connections, has the ability to back up entire systems, including content on peripherals, and offers two-way sync.
The hard drive's target audience is threefold. The first is "digital families" wanting to back up and save their photo memories, Cassidy said. Another consists of customers with small businesses or home offices that need solid storage and backup systems.
Finally, for professional small businesses without IT staff, it can come in handy to use the scheduler function of the software, which is compatible with both Macs and PCs, and set up automatic data backups as frequently as seems prudent.
The software can be set up to back up or restore an entire computer or just certain types of files; it can restore any point in a backup history; it can monitor the drive's available capacity; and password protection with 128-bit encryption is available for backup sets.
The drive measures 6.6 by 6.8 by 1.34 inches, features a 5,400 rpm SATA (serial ATA) drive and an internal dampening system for shock protection, and is FCC- and RoHS-compliant. According to Cassidy, it also features a power-savings mode.
"After 5 minutes of inactivity, it'll turn itself off," he said.
The drive, available in two capacities, is priced at $129.99 for the 640GB model and $159.99 for the 1TB model.
In January, Toshiba launched a 2.5-inch drive with 100GB, 120GB and 160GB capacities, and in June it introduced 320GB and 500GB USB 2.0 hard drives.