Seagate Mass producing 5TB HDDs

Seagate has tried its hardest to shrink the read/write heads of hard drives even further, but with the latest 1 TB 3.5-inch platters, the company believes they've hit a physical brick wall: the head simply can't get any smaller. The same goes for the tracks on the platters, which Seagate claims are as close together as physically possible.

USB 3.0-to-SATA Adapter Gives HDDs SuperSpeed

Now here's a nifty little device for those old hard drives stacking up and collecting dust like old nudie magazines. USB peripheral manufacturer Brando has devised of a way to connect those SATA HDDs by way of USB 3.0. via its new Unitek USB 3.0 to SATAadapter (Y-1034). The device can even be used with older IDE-based drives using an extra IDE to SATA docking converter.

What's even better is that not only can the old drives toss around data a "theoretical" speeds of 5.0 GB/s, but they're instantly turned into external HDDs. "Now you do not have to worry about the data in your old hard disk because the he UNITEK USB 3.0 to SATA Adapter (Y-1034) helps to transfer data from IDE/SATA HDD to other devices," the company said.

Of course, the drawback here is that--in addition to paying a meager $48 plus shipping costs--you'll need a USB 3.0 compliant motherboard or PCI-e card installed to use the SuperSpeed connection. The specs reveal that it's still compliant with USB 2.0, so it seems possible to use the new adapter in current, USB 2.0 machines.

According to the company, the adapter supports Windows XP, Vista, the new Windows 7, and Linux. The device also handles HDD capacities up to 2 TB.