Verbatim Rolls Out Always-On Portable USB Drive
The data storage company designed the device for Windows Vista, XP or 2000 and Mac OS 9.x or higher systems. The suggested retail price is $119.99 for the 320-GB drive and $149.99 for the 500-GB drive, and it will be sold through retail partners such as Best Buy.
The portable hard drive is compatible with all USB connections, and includes a USB 2.0 cable, a Quick Start guide and Nero BackItUp software that provides full-system backup and restore functions and optional password security.
The palm-size device weighs in at less than 6 ounces and measure 6 x x 3.4 x 0.63 inches. The 2.5-inch drives have a 5,400-rpm spindle speed and 8 MB of cache memory and can achieve high-speed transfer rates of up to 480 MBps.
"Users have the option to personalize their drive's name, e.g., TUNES&PICS, which, along with the free space, shows on the 32 x 128-pixel display even when the drive is unplugged from the user's computer," said Charles Klinker, Verbatim's director of marketing, HDD Products, in a statement. "The ability to quickly glance at several drives and identify the one that has pictures of the kids, your music collection or video library, for example, adds a level of convenience not previously available in portable hard drives."
Verbatim Americas is a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. and is based in Charlotte, N.C.