Western Digital today starting shipping its new desktop 7200 RPM 2TB hard drive to OEMs and becomes the second manufacturer to offer the high spindle speed and capacity combination (Hitachi being the first).

As part of the WD Caviar Black series, the 2TB model is based on the company's 500GB-per-platter technology. Other features include a heaping 64MB of cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 3Gb/s, an integrated dual processor, and NoTouch ramp load technology, which ensures the recording head never touches the disk media and, according to WD, results in significantly less wear and tear on the drive.

Western Digital's speedy 2TB drive is available now with an MSRP of $299.

Iomega has announced a quad-drive desktop NAS appliance (StorCenter ix4-200d) aimed at small to medium sized businesses the company promises will offer oodles of storage without thrashing your piggy bank.

On the setup side, Iomega says you can be "up and running in a matter of four mouse clicks and a few minutes." Once configured, you'll have access to up 8TB of networked storage (4TB and 2TB capacities also available).

The StorCenter works with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux PCs and supports a number features. These include iSCSI block-level access, device-to-device replication to network targets (useful for file recovery), various RAID configurations, Windows Active Directory support, remote access and management, IP security camera support, and a new front-panel LCD and QuickTransfer button for one-touch copying duties.

The 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB models are all available now for $700, $900, and $1,900 respectively.

We've seen a plethora of new SSDs come to market this past year, some of which have been geared towards upping the performance ante while others have attempted to make the price-per-GB ratio a bit more appealing. Corsair's new Extreme Series X256 focuses solely on the former and turns a blind eye towards the latter.

"The new 256GB Extreme Series X256 is a response to the growing popularity of high-capacity SSDs, and it joins our Performance Series P256 at the top of its range, for enthusiasts who want the fastest speeds and plenty of space available for their pictures, music, and videos."

The new drive combines the Indilinx Barefoot controller with Samsung MLC NAND flash memory and is aimed at "enthusiasts who don't want to compromise on speed or capacity." To that end, the 256GB drive boasts read speeds of up to 240MB/s and write speeds of up to 170MBs, 64MB of cache to help prevent stuttering, and user-upgradeable firmware.

Only those with a healthy bank account need apply, as the 256GB SSD will set you back 700 smackers.

All of a sudden we feel woefully inadequate waving around our 16GB and 32GB thumb drives. That's because Corsair on Thursday launched what it claims is the the world's fastest high capacity USB flash drive, the 128GB Flash Voyager GT.

"High performance is a key requirement for super-high capacity flash drives, such as the 128GB Voyager GT, simply because it is able to store such a large volume of data," said John Beekley, the VP of Applications at Corsair. "The 128GB Voyager GT is nearly twice as fast as other high-capacity flash drives, which means less time waiting for your music, video, or office files to copy to and from the drive."

According to Corsair, the MLC-based drive can hit read speeds of up to 32MB/s and write speeds of up to 25.6MB/s thanks to the Voyager's dual-controller architecture. The company also says you're more likely to run into bottlenecks with your USB 2.0 bus or OS system overhead before the drive loses its pep.

All that speed and capacity doesn't come cheap, however. The 128GB Voyager GT is available now with a street price of around $400.