Warehouse 1.0 offers Unix-based Mac backup, folder sync
Alchemist Guild has launched a new backup application for the Mac, Warehouse 1.0. The tool is built on Unix utilities and relies on a single-window interface for backing up files, whether to external hard drives, USB memory sticks or other Macs on a network. Any number of assigned tasks can be set, with options source folders, destination locations and up to four different backup modes....
published on Tuesday, the 9. March 2010, macintosh-news-network
DealNN: 1.5TB Samsung Story Station, now $99
Today's deals from DealNN include a variety of items from iPods to portable storage devices. Newegg.com's Shell Shocker deal of the day for today is on the Samsung Story Station 1.5TB USB 2.0 external hard drive, now $99.99 after a $40 price cut. The Samsung Story Station features 1.5TB of storage space with two ways of backup; scheduled or in real-time SecretZone....
published on Tuesday, the 9. March 2010, macintosh-news-network
Apple wants to extend its cloud storage to films, television
Apple's recent affair with cloud computing appears to be far from a dalliance: Apple has supposedly spoken to some of the major film studios about allowing iTunes users to store their purchased content on the company's servers, according to unnamed sources speaking to CNET. The content, including TV shows and music, would be accessible from all Internet-connected devices. Since Apple doesn't comment on anything before it's final, we're left to speculate on the reasoning behind such a move. Some analysts say that sales of digital movies and music may have declined between 2008 and 2009 because users are becoming wary of how much hard drive space they devote to these files. This may be a bit of a reach, but HD movies can indeed add up pretty quickly for those who haven't gotten around to upgrading their computers or getting a beastly sized external drive. Before Apple can enact cloud storage, though, it will need the approval of content creators and studios to do so. Unfortunately for Apple, many media companies have been joining forces to exert some control over digital media standards. One such group is the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, which counts among its members Twentieth Century Fox Film, Netflix, and Sony. Nonetheless, Apple is building a new data center in North Carolina that is speculated to be the future home of Apple's streaming headquarters, with streaming technology provided by Apple's recent acquisition of Lala. John Gruber of Daring Fireball speculates that the cloud storage could mean one of two things: Apple may want to provide a sort of backup or sync point for users' media, or it wants to remove local storage for the customer entirely (thereby exercising even more control over the user's content). Removing local storage would bring the iTunes Store model dangerously close to that of Netflix and other streaming services; at a minimum, customers would no longer be able to claim even the limited ownership they have of their media in the current format. A backup, on the other hand, might be more appealing if it's pitched the right way. As it stands, recovery of iTunes Store-purchased media is far from difficult— often a note to customer service will do the trick— but being able to get whole seasons of TV shows off a cramped hard drive without this extra step to get them back indicates that a cloud-based library- or backup-type solution might actually be helpful to some users. Read the comments on this post
published on Wednesday, the 3. March 2010, ars-technica
Active Media ships external SSDs with USB 3.0
Active Media Products this week introduced two 2.5-inch external SSD drives with USB 3.0 connections. The Aviator-2 SuperSpeed SSDs are said to have performance theoretically four times faster than hard drives that rely on the USB 2.0 connection and has the headroom of the spec's full 4.8Gbps. Residing inside the USB 3.0 Aviator-2 case is Active's 64GB or 128GB Predator X7 SSD, which are rated at transfer speeds of up to 200MBps....
published on Friday, the 19. February 2010, macintosh-news-network
LaCie's rugged external drive gets eSATA port
LaCie on Thursday introduced an upgraded product into its fold, with the Rugged eSATA external hard drive. Billed as the first rugged portable hard drive on the market with an eSATA port, it's considered fast at 90MBps transfer speeds when connected to the newer port. It can also run entirely bus-powered when attached to a USB-eSATA combo port and bundles an adapter cable that can use a USB port to provide the remaining energy....
published on Thursday, the 11. February 2010, macintosh-news-network