Articles about Storage

microSD cards still blow my mind. It remains amazing to me that so much storage can be offered on a card smaller than a postage stamp. They come in very handy for devices like smartphones, tablets, and drones, to name a few.

The SD Association is continuing to push the envelope, however, making these diminutive cards even better. No, the cards are not getting physically smaller -- thank goodness. Actually, they are getting faster. Joining the existing SD Express, the micro cards are also getting the speedy "Express" treatment. Yes, microSD Express cards are on the way.

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It is a few months since Flickr announced major changes to its free accounts, and today is the day the impact starts to be felt.

Users unwilling to upgrade to a Flickr Pro account are now limited to storing 1,000 photos online, and any images above this number will be deleted starting today. Anyone who hasn't downloaded or backed up their photos risks losing them forever.

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There are many companies producing quality solid state drives these days in various capacities, speeds, and form factors. SATA variants are perfectly fine, but NVMe models are significantly faster. With all brands considered, one company's offerings have stood out among the rest thanks to speed and reliability -- Samsung. Remarkably, the wildly popular company's storage drives are competitively priced too, making them an absolute no-brainer.

Today, Samsung launches its latest solid state drive. The "970 EVO Plus," as it is called, is an upgrade to the standard 970 EVO. Not only do you get increased speed, but improved power efficiency too.

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Goodness gracious -- we have come such a long way with storage. Floppy disks, which were still prevalent in homes and universities less than two decades ago, held just 1.44 MB of data. Flash storage changed everything, however, as diminutive USB thumb drives and storage cards offered ever-expanding capacities. Quite frankly, it is unreal to see how many files can be held on a card that is smaller than a postage stamp these days, such as micro SD.

For photographers, full-sized SD cards still reign supreme, and today, Lexar unveils a new card with an insanely large capacity -- 1TB. Yes, folks, you can hold an entire terabyte of data on a tiny SD card. The dream of many is now a reality. It offers 95MB/s read and 70MB/s write.

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Previous feature updates for Windows 10 tended to fail if you didn’t have enough free storage for the task. The onus was on users to free up the required space manually before the update could go ahead, but that’s about to change.

In the next big feature update, version 1903 (codenamed 19H1), due out in the spring, Windows 10 will automatically reserve enough space to ensure the update can complete without problems. This might be 7GB, but it could be more, "based on how you use your device".

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As consumers use less and less local storage because of the cloud and streaming media, you would expect manufacturers to stop focusing on massive hard disk drives. After all, solid state drives are faster, albeit much more expensive from a capacity standpoint. And yeah, long gone are the days where PC manufacturers touted massive local disk capacity as a selling point. But still, there is a need for cost effective hard drives for data centers, servers, and more. Hell, there are professionals -- such as media creators -- that can benefit from a roomy hard drive as well.

Thankfully, companies are still pushing the boundaries of what is possible with a 3.5-inch form factor. Toshiba, for instance -- with the help of helium -- has reached yet another milestone for its traditional hard drive portfolio. Its new MG08 drive is a 3.5-inch conventional magnetic recording hard disk drive with an impressive 7,200 RPM speed and a massive 16TB of storage capacity -- making 12TB, 14TB, and 15TB models look like "old hat."

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For home computer users, it is crazy not to use a solid state drive -- especially when coupled with a good cloud backup plan. With that said, data centers are an entirely different beast. When you are looking to maximize storage on a budget -- and with physical constraints -- a hard disk drive still reigns supreme. That's why its so important for companies to continue to innovate when it comes to mechanical hard drives.

For example, last year, Western Digital released an impressive 14TB SMR HDD for data centers, and today, the company kicks it up a notch. The 3.5-inch Ultrastar DC HC620, as it is called, gets a slight 1TB bump. In other words, this new data center drive features a very spacious 15TB of storage. And yes, as the SMR in the name implies, the drive uses the innovative shingled magnetic recording.

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These days, it can be quite scary storing important data in the cloud. We were sold a bill of goods that the cloud was safe and secure, but with so many data breaches, it’s only a matter of time before your data is exposed. Sad but true.

If you want to store important files locally, a drive with hardware encryption is ideal. Keypad variants are quite convenient, as they can easily work on all operating systems, such as macOS, Windows, and Linux distros. Today, DataLocker Inc. announces a beautiful such drive with a unique feature -- an OLED screen.

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When it comes to external storage, solid state drives are ideal. Since they have no moving parts, they won't be damaged by being jostled about in a bag. Not to mention, they are significantly faster than mechanical hard disk drives too. The problem? Solid state drives can be rather pricey compared to hard drives when cost per gigabyte is considered. And so, some people still leverage HDDs when on the go.

Looking to mitigate the potential dangers of using an external hard drive when out and about, ADATA today announces an extremely rugged model. Called "HD830," the aluminum body has an internal anti-shock coating and an external silicone casing. Yeah, this turns a typically slim 2.5-inch hard drive into a chunky monstrosity, but if protecting your data is important, the added thickness and heft could be worth it. Even the USB port is protected by a cover, although it is not USB-C sadly. Instead, it utilizes the awkwardly shaped micro USB 3.0. The drive exceeds IP68, and ADATA claims it can be submerged in 6.5 feet of water for up to two hours.

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When you think of SD cards, your mind probably goes to brands such as SanDisk and Kingston. While both of those companies make great storage products, they aren't the only game in town. In fact, Sony actually sells both storage cards and USB flash drives that are quite good.

Sony's latest SD card is very intriguing. Called "SF-G TOUGH," it is designed to be extremely rugged -- it is IPX8 waterproof, IP6X dust-proof, and will survive drops from up to 5 meters. By design, it has no write-protection switch, as that part that can be prone to failure. In addition, Sony says these TOUGH cards are "X-ray proof, magnet proof, anti-static, temperature proof and feature UV Guard." Its durability is only half of the equation, however.

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If your laptop is low on storage space, adding an external storage drive is a great way to easily increase it overall. These USB drives are great for backup too. If anything happens to your computer's internal storage drive, it is nice knowing your important files are also stored on a separate external drive for peace of mind.

Thanks to solid state storage, these external drives are better than ever, as they have no moving parts. Compared to an external hard disk drive, the SSD is faster, uses less energy, and is less prone to breakage. Today, Fantom Drives launches its latest such portable SSD. Called "G-Force 3.1," it leverages USB 3.1 gen 2 and the Type-C connector. Best of all, the drive is extremely durable -- important when taking a drive on the go. 

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For PC builders and enthusiasts, these are quite exciting times. Hardware is faster than ever, making it possible to build some monstrously powerful computers. Solid state drives in particular have made storage blazing fast -- especially since NVMe began replacing the slower SATA drives.

Today, Toshiba unveils its latest NVMe solid state drive and it has some revolutionary technology on-board. You see, the "XG6," as it is called, is the first SSD to feature 96-Layer 3D Flash.

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Throughout June, to celebrate BetaNews’ 20th birthday, we have been giving away some incredible prizes and while the month is drawing to a close now, we still have more giveaways for you enter.

The diskAshur Pro 2 range of portable USB hard drives from iStorage makes it easy to keep your personal files and folders private thanks to the integrated PIN authenticated XTS-AES 256-bit hardware encryption. Unlocking the drive is just a matter of tapping your PIN into the keypad and pressing the unlock button. To secure it again, just press the lock button, or eject the drive.

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Solid state drives keep dropping in price, but unfortunately, they are still too expensive for many consumers. This is a shame, as moving from an HDD to an SSD can provide a huge performance boost. Heck, in some cases, it can make your aging PC feel like a brand-new computer! NVMe variants in particular are blazing fast.

Toshiba is aiming to make NVMe solid state drives more affordable with the launch of its latest such product. Called "RC100," it is available in three capacities -- 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB.

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It's well known that sound at particular levels can cause problems -- we've all seen demonstrations of wine glasses being shattered by high frequencies, for example.

You might not think that's much of an issue for computers, but researchers at the University of Michigan and Zhejiang University in China have shown that sounds can be used to interfere with disks.

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