Samsung today announced the STORY Station Plus, its new line-up of 3.5-inch external hard drives featuring an external serial ATA (eSATA) interface to allow fast data transfer.

The addition of the eSATA interface raises the data transfer speed of the STORY Station Plus series by more than six-fold when compared with models using a USB 2.0 interface, the standard connector for most external hard drives. Offering greater flexibility, STORY Station Plus users can utilize either the 480 megabit per second (Mbps) USB 2.0 or the 3.0 Gbps eSATA interface.

The STORY Station Plus line-up will also feature Samsung?s low standby power design that reduces the standby power by 96 percent to 0.1 watts (W) from the conventional 2.5W. The reduced standby power level meets requirements for the forthcoming European Union EuP (Energy Using Products) Directive for Standby Regulation, effective January 2010.

Samsung?s 3.5-inch STORY Station Plus external hard drive is available in densities ranging from 1TB to 2TB. The aluminum outer casing provides a chic design while it also contributes to effective heat dispersion. Key features include Samsung Auto Backup for ongoing data preservation, SecretZone software for personal data encryption and SafetyKey for password protection.

The STORY Station Plus drives will be available globally by the end of November 2009. It features a three-year limited warranty and the 2TB version has a $299 MSRP.