Toshiba unveils 500GB portable hard drive

Joining the likes of Western Digital, Seagate and others, Toshiba has introduced a new portable hard disk drive solution that packs half a terabyte of storage capacity. Weighing in at 6 ounces, this palm-sized device uses the USB 2.0 interface for both data and power, and comes preloaded with NTI Shadow backup software for real-time file backup.


While the company is not sharing many details regarding the drive’s performance other than saying it has an 8MB buffer, if previous launches and the “ultra-quiet operation” claims are anything to go by, we are probably looking at 5,400rpm spindle speeds. The new product will retail for around $180 and joins a family of portable drives that include an “electric blue” 400GB model, a “carbon gray” 320GB version and a “hot rod red” 250GB model. It works with Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later, and is available now through Toshiba’s website and major retailers.