Samsung Showcases 3.5-inch 2TB and 2.5-inch 640GB External HDDs

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced two new editions to its S Series external hard drive line up, the 3.5-inch 2TB (Terabyte) S3 Station and the 640 Gigabyte (GB) 2.5-inch S2 portable. These two new family members strengthen Samsung’s external drive portfolio of 1.8”, 2.5” and 3.5” drives, thereby widening the choice of reliable portable storage solutions for customers. Samsung’s hard drive line up, including S2 Portable 640GB, S1 Mini and STORY Station will be demonstrated in Hall 20 at IFA.

“As consumer demands continue to escalate for storing personal data, music and video files, Samsung has expanded its extensive family of external hard drives to support the growing personal storage market,” said Cheol-hee Lee, vice president of marketing, Storage Systems Division, Samsung Electronics. “The new drives provide users with a sleek design and high-density choices in both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch form factors.”

Originally only available in capacities up to 500GB, the new edition to the S2 Portable lineup at 640GB capacity can store data equivalent to 128,000 digital images, 160,000 MP3 music files, or 77 hours of high definition movies. According to IDC, 500GB and greater densities will comprise more than 50 percent of 2.5-inch external drives in 2010. Samsung now provides a broad choice of 2.5” drives spanning from 160GB to 640GB densities.

Designed for large data file back-up of desktop PCs, the 3.5-inch S3 Station is available in up to 2-Terabyte (TB) data storage capacity and comes in a classic piano black glossy casing with a space-saving footprint to conserve desk space. Pointing to the increasing popularity of 3.5-inch high density drives, IDC reported that the 1/1.5TB 3.5-inch drive was the mainstream density in the first half of 2009, as the 500GB market contracted.

Both new hard drives offer the same security features in other S2 Portable and S1 Mini drives, such as Auto Backup, SecretZone, and SafetyKey.

The high 640GB density S2 Portable features a high-speed USB 2.0 interface and receives power supply through its main USB port for added user convenience. By eliminating the additional circuit board on the hard drive when implementing the USB interface, Samsung 2.5” external drives offer an optimized footprint which is 17 percent smaller than conventional 2.5” external hard drives. Furthermore, the new compact design results in reduced failure rates and less power consumption owing to simplified electrical hardware.

The 640GB S2 Portable is available in September and the S3 Station will be available early next year.