5 New USB 3.0 Hard Drives From CES

Every tech guy I know anxiously awaits the CES trade show at the start of each year.  I think it’s the only help for getting us through the vacation blues after a long Christmas break.  I’ve seen a bunch of news about USB 3.0 gear from CES 2011.  Many of them are USB hard drives and here are the most recent five we’ve read about.

Buffalo

Buffalo launches a complete line of USB 3.0 storage devices.  The DriveStation Quad USB 3.0 is a four drive, high speed RAID enabled storage solution offering transfer speeds up to 235 MB/s, twice as fast as USB 2.0. Equipped with four hard drives configured in RAID 5, DriveStation Quad USB 3.0 also supports RAID 0, 10 and JBOD modes for flexibility between data redundancy and available storage capacity

Seagate

Seagate introduces some new ‘super slim’ USB 3.0 hard drives.  Seagate’s new ultra-portable GoFlex drive comes in a metal case that’s only 9 millimeters thick, which Seagate says is a full 38% thinner than their previous generation. This is made possible by some 7 millimeter thick 2.5″ drives that still manage to deliver 7200 rpm performance via USB power, and you get a solid 340 gigs for $99.

Samsung

Samsung is throwing their hat into the ring for USB 3.0 as well.  They have launched three new USB 3.0 external hard disk drives to the market- a basic portable external HDD, a premium version which comes with enhanced backup and security software, and a desktop version that can store up to 2TB of data. The drives have a unique sheen in their external case which is available in a variety of colors, the Samsung USB 3.0 drives will be available through US retailers by April.

Lacie

Although LaCie announced their USB 3.0 product about one month ago the 1TB drive is still making waves at CES.  You’ve got the power and performance of USB 3.0 combined with an ultra-compact size and classy design of LaCie products. Compared to other desktop drives, it’s the smallest on the market with a size of 4.4 x 1.2 x 6.8 in.  Cost isn’t much either at just $115 1TB and $165 2TB.

Rocstor

Rocstor introduces several USB 3.0 hard drives, first is the Blazer B7 [pictured] which comes in an aluminum case and weighs only .5 pounds.  The other product is a encrypted hard drive named the Commander 2U3 which has a capacity of 750GBs and connects via USB 3.0 or FireWire.  Pricing for the Rocstor products will be announced at CES…and did you know Rocstor products can be purchased right on the Apple store?

There are still several days left at CES 2011 and we’ll see what other USB 3.0 hard drives pop out in the press release kits.