April 7, 2010

WD recently introduced the My Book Elite desktop external drives featuring a customizable e-label that’s always visible, even when the drive is unplugged, making it easy to know what’s on the drive and how much space is left. The new My Book Elite also features automatic and continuous backup with WD SmartWare™ software and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. Available now at select retailers, the new My Book Elite drives are offered in capacities of 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB.

The new My Book Elite drives come with integrated WD SmartWare software. When the My Book Elite drive is plugged in for the first time, the simple and intuitive first backup process launches automatically. The real-time visual interface of WD SmartWare software gives users a reassuring view of their backup as it happens. After the first backup, users’ files are backed up automatically every time they change or add a file.

My Book Elite drives also feature user-selected password protection combined with 256-bit hardware-based encryption, which scrambles files before they are stored. Typically found only on much more expensive drive systems, the encryption acts as a virtual padlock to keep users’ data safe.

March 15, 2009

Samsung HM320JI
By Carlo C. Gutierrez
Published in the December 2008-january 2009 print edition of PC World Philippines

www.samsung.com.ph

The Samsung HM320JI comes with a 320GB and 5400rpm hard drive. It has support for both Serial ATA 3.0 and 1.5 interfaces.

Similar to other hard disks we received, we used HDTach RW 3.0.1.0 to gauge the HM320JI’s performance. It finished with an 18.7ms random access time with an average read and write speed of 55.9MB/s and 45.2MB/s correspondingly. Uploading and downloading 1.66GB of random files took 70.22s and 120.22s in that order.

Samsung HD103UJ

The Samsung HD103UJ sports a massive 1TB worth of storage, a 7400rpm hard drive motor, and a Serial ATA 3.0 interface support. It has an areal density of 334GB per platter, storing data on a three-platter array for faster seek times.

Testing the hard disk with HDTach RW 3.0.1.0 proved to be of no surprise. The HD103UJ had a random access time of 13.8ms along with an average read and write speed of 99.6MB/s and 94.3MB/s respectively. Uploading and downloading 1.66GB of random files clocked at 54.34s and 77.50s. Though it has a slower random access time compared to the Samsung HA101UJ, it dominated every other aspect with plenty of time to spare.