Posts Tagged ‘Digital Storage Solutions’
Freecom Announces the World’s First USB-3 External Hard Drive
Freecom is an award-winning German company known for their state-of-the-art digital storage solutions. They’ve been in business since 1989, and this decade they’re back at it with the world’s first-ever USB-3 External Hard Drive. Freecom first announced their plans for the development of this next-gen external data storage device in the fall of 2009 – just a week before their competitor, Buffalo Technology, made a similar statement. Freecom’s USB-3 ready external hard drive is now on sale; it also goes by the name XS 3.0, and it is available in capacities from 1TB up to 2TB. It is using the USB-3 port, allowing for data transfer speeds of up to 130MB/s.
The rubber-covered product will reduce harmful vibrations and provide good grip to its user. Freecom isn’t using a fan, which makes the XS 3.0 whisper-silent, and weighing less than 900 grams. With a 5 EUR price difference, Freecom will also be selling USB 3.0 controllers to enable your PC or laptop to experience the full potential of USB 3.0’s transfer speeds. With these rates, it may make sense to buy an external XS 3.0, because it could be faster than an internal 10,000RPM drive, which is a lot more expensive than a typical 7,200RPM HDDs!
According to Axel Lucassen, the managing director of Freecom, when you consider the Hard Drive XS 3.0’s transparent security, it blows the competition out of the water:
“Our USB 3.0 solution will have high-speed hardware encryption with AES 256 bit – this not only the fastest but also the safest storage solution on the market. The rapid transfer speeds of USB 3.0 are going to make sharing information easier than ever before, and with the rise of interactive web applications and new media showing no signs of slowing, it’s arrived just in time. From downloaded TV programmes to digital photos and music, data-rich files are abundant both at home and in the office. The Hard Drive XS 3.0 is the first drive in the world to enable users to back up even the biggest files at unprecedented speeds, combining the latest technology with style and practicality to bring a new breed of hard drive to an increasingly demanding market.”
Perhaps it’s the extra security that keeps the XS 3.0 from achieving the new SuperBus’s promised 5Gbps speeds, but 130Mbit/s is certainly an excellent start to boost USB 3.0’s introduction. In fact, USB 3.0 aims to get rid of unnecessary power adapters by supplying more power to existing devices right out of the SuperBus. While many fear facing software-hardware compatibility issues, an estimated 7 out of 10 hard drives will support USB 3.0 by 2012. Freecom will include driver CDs for XP, Vista, and Windows 7 to help their buyers get started right away. It seems like Germany is jumping ahead of the curve by leading the way for future USB 3.0 HDD developments. Still, Freecom USB-3 External HDD can be used with USB 2.0, because it is backwards-compatible; however, you will need a USB-3 port to fully enjoy the blazing data transfer speeds, which are a lot faster than current industry standards. This is German engineering at its finest: the XS 3.0 is one of the tiniest 3.5” desktop and laptop hard drives, which makes it not only spacious but also portable.
To transfer data at USB-3 speeds, you will need the new USB-3 cable. These cables are shown below and allow a data transfer rate of 4.3GBps
Right now, the Freecom USB-3 External XS 3.0 HDD is difficult to come by in the United States; the German manufacturer has introduced the European market to these external drives, but American stores can only remain waiting.
Check out External Drives at Techdna.co.uk for all your gadgets and storage gizmos!
