Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced the availability of the newly designed SimpleDrive desktop external hard drive with capacities of up to two terabytes (2TB).

In addition, the company announced that all of its 3.5-inch retail drives are now available in 2TB capacities, featuring the Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000, a 2TB 7,200 RPM hard drive that blends performance and high capacity with low power features. New, upgraded solutions include the Hitachi SimpleTech Pro Drive; the two-drive, RAID 0/1 Duo Pro Drive; and the Hitachi Internal Hard Drive Kit for the do-it-yourself (DIY) computer-upgrade market. All products are now available.

New SimpleDrive USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive

The new Hitachi SimpleDrive sits vertically for a non-invasive footprint. With up to 2TB capacity and a plug-and-play design, the SimpleDrive gives both Mac and PC users simplicity and enough capacity to store or backup 665,000 photos, 500,000 MP3s or 4,000 hours of standard video. The drive also features an anodized aluminum enclosure to keep the SimpleDrive cool. Now available at OfficeMax stores in the U.S., the Hitachi SimpleDrive comes in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities, with a manufacturer?s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $99.99, $129.99 and $249.99, respectively.

Extended 2TB Hitachi Family

In addition, Hitachi now offers the following solutions in 2TB capacities:

SimpleTech Pro Drive by Hitachi - With four interface options (USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800, and 3Gb/sec eSATA) and two levels of backup protection. A built-in security lock helps ensure that the drive remains where you left it. Capacities and MSRPs include 500GB ($119.99), 1TB ($169.99) and 2TB ($299.99).

SimpleTech Duo Pro Drive by Hitachi - With two drives in one, the Duo Pro Drive gives you two ways to save your data: RAID 0 (speed) or RAID 1 (mirroring). RAID 0, or striping. If using eSATA in RAID 0, you can receive six times the speed of USB 2.0, ideal for home video editing or working with graphic-intensive files. For added data protection, RAID 1, or mirroring, makes an extra copy of stored files on the second internal hard drive, so you always have two separate copies of your important stuff. Interfaces include eSATA and USB 2.0. MSRP is $199.99 for 1TB, $299.99 for 2TB, and $499.99 for 4TB.

Hitachi Internal Hard Drive Kits - Boost the capacity and performance of your Mac or PC desktop computer in minutes with a Hitachi Internal Hard Drive Kit. Each premium kit features a high-performance drive, easy installation instructions, a SATA cable and mounting screws. Balancing low-power and performance, Hitachi hard drives come in 5400 RPM and 7200 RPM with up to a 32MB cache buffer. The MSRP of the 2TB, 7,200 RPM Hitachi Internal Hard Drive Kit is $249.99.

All Hitachi SimpleTech desktop external hard drives ship with two levels of data backup. Hitachi Local Backup offers simple wizards to guide users in setting up automatic backups on specific days or dates. Automatic file selection provides easy identification of particular file types to back up?for example, photos, emails or documents? regardless of where they are stored on the computer?s drive.

In addition to local backup software, Hitachi?s external drive family comes with 2GB of free online backup space from Hitachi Ultimate Backup. For $4.95 per month, users can access unlimited capacity and back up all of their files and media collections offsite. Users set up Ultimate Backup once, and it automatically and regularly backs up content behind the scenes to a secure offsite location. All data is encrypted for security using 128-bit SSL encryption while in transit, with an option for a private encryption key. Offsite 448-bit Blowfish encrypted servers are housed by a Fortune 500 company.

Hitachi SimpleTech products are Mac and PC compatible, and feature a three-year warranty.