The MotKey flash drive from Active Media Products was specially designed to resemble that of an actual key, allowing you to use it on your key ring, which means you can carry it with you virtually everywhere you go on another bunch of important keys like that of your home or car. Of course, the downside to this would be losing said set of keys, which means all your information stored there would be privy to other people's eyes when they stumble upon it. It is rather safe to assume that more people lose loose USB flash drives than keys, right? You can choose from 4GB or 8GB capacities with prices not surpassing the $25 mark.

Corsair enhances its computer memory portfolio with a couple of new SSDs in the form of the Nova and Reactor, where the former will come in 64GB and 128GB capacities, while the Reactor series comprises of 60GB and 120GB capacities. The Nova is a 2.5" SSD which will rely on MLC NAND chips and 64MB of cache to get the job done, hitting read speeds of up to 215MB/s on both the V128 and V64, whereas writing speeds are 130MB/s for the V64 drive and 195MB/s for the larger V128. As for the Reactor series, these drives will be equipped with a 128MB cache and read/write speeds of up to 250/110 MB/s for the 60GB model and 250/170 MB/s for the 120GB model. Apart from the standard SATA 3.0Gbps interface, the Reactor series also boasts a mini USB port. Prices start from €151.67 upwards, hitting €303.35 on the high range of things.

Computer performance enthusiasts would certainly welcome the SilverStone HDDBoost into their fold, considering this peripheral touts the ability to boost hard drive performance by up to a whopping 70%! It will hook up from one 2.5" SSD to any 3.5" hard drive. When connected, the hard drive will get to work by creating a mirror of the front end data of the hard drive, copying everything over to the SSD which ought to go a long way in helping your machine access such stored files in a speedier manner. Even better news is there isn't any need for special software to take advantage of the HDDBoost. Currently available in Japan only at the moment, the SilverStone HDDBoost will retail for approximately $50. is required. Just plug the drives in and the hardware takes care of everything automatically. The total price is around $50, although the device is only available in Japan right now. That should change if this thing really does work as advertised. It sounds like the perfect stop-gap between HDDs and SSDs.

With necessity being the mother of all inventions, Alec who required a way to hook up an IDE DVD drive using USB decided to use the circuit board of an old USB hard drive enclosure, connecting it to his DVD drive instead. The results were almost instantaneous - the cobbled-together device was recognized and was up and running in a snap. Sounds like the perfect weekend project for netbook owners who need an optical drive. If you're an avid DIY fan, then this ought to gain your attention for a while before you look at other interesting projects.

Folks living in Japan who own a Sony PS3 will be pleased to know that the company has given its nod of approval for a couple of 500GB external USB hard drives which are meant for console use only. The two are the Buffalo HD-AV500U2 (as seen above) and the HD-CL500U2, where they will hit other markets outside of Japan next month in order to coincide with the PS3's "torne" DVR hardware/software combo launch. Neither drive comes with special features apart from being officially licensed products for the PS3, as these just come with an external label change and nothing else. Not exactly the way to win fans over to your cause, but if you are willing to shell out anywhere from $130 to $165 for either of each device, then be our guest.

Hitachi could potentially achieve a revolutionary breakthrough by increasing hard drive capacity by up to five times, thanks to a new technology that crams in 2.5 Terabits of data per square inch. This is made possible based on a heat-assisted magnetic recording system, which is much more potent compared to current perpendicular magnetic recording technology which achieves 1 terabits per square inch density. No idea on when Hitachi will release such hard drives equipped with this new technology, but if they do, you'll have even more excuse not to delete older but yet unwatched downloaded videos on your computer.

Samsung goes green with their latest EcoGreen F3EG hard drive that comes with 2TB of storage space which spans across a quartet of 500GB platters. Using Samsung’s EcoTriangle technology that comprises of eco-friendly components, low-power and low-noise operation technology, you will get a storage device that will definitely make Greenpeace members smile and stash away their pitchforks, turning their attention elsewhere. Other environmentally friendly features of the Samsung EcoGreen F3EG hard drive include the elimination of a halogen compound and brominated flame retardant from the PCBA, eco-friendly materials used during production and a 0% failure rate in unstable voltage environment test. It features a 3.0 Gbps SATA interface, Native Command Queuing features and 16MB/32MB buffer memory, with prices starting from $179.99.

Check out this modded USB flash drive that comes in the form of a beheaded blone Barbie doll. Her head can be detached from her body to reveal a USB connector where you can plug it into a computer to access data within. Looks pretty creepy, but it will definitely be a good way to recycle all those old, unwanted Barbie dolls. We can't wait for a Ken version, or perhaps those made out of Transformers, Thundercats or He-Man figurines.

Intel has just announced that the company will start making Flash storage using a very advanced 25-nanometer manufacturing technology. 25-nanometer describes how small the basic chip building blocks are, and this is mind-blowing. Overall, this means that Flash memory commonly used in solid-state drives (SSD) will get smaller (surface area), cheaper and more reliable to produce. Prices will also drop because the cost is somewhat proportional to the surface area. Intel expect to be able to build 8 Gigabytes devices in a single "NAND (a memory technology) device". Expect price per GB to be cut in half in the next 12 months.

Now here's a new USB flash drive for your to consider - the unorthodoxly named Too Late USB flash drive. Being both practical as well as stylish, these colorful portable storage devices comes with an integrated digital LCD watch alongside a keychain holder, making sure your data remains safe and sound with you all the time. Capacity is limited to just one option - 4GB, which isn't too practical in this day and age considering how 8GB is more or less the norm. No idea on pricing though, but it sure is one unique USB flash drive to tote around if you're a sucker for novelty items.

Thermaltake is normally associated with cooling products for the computer, but this time round their new Silver River II hard drive enclosure brings a touch of elegance to your desktop. Made out of aluminum, it was designed to hold 3.5" hard drives inside, featuring a removable foot that allows you to position or place the enclosure in a variety of ways. As for the ultra-compact Thermaltake ST0018 model, this one caters for 2.5” hard drives, featuring a USB interface to help you hook up with a compatible computing platform of choice. All purchases will come with its own data cable as well as a screwdriver to get you started, hard drives not included of course.

LaCie knows that there is a market for enterprise users, hence announcing the Enterprise Class range that will comprise of the 4big, d2 and the 2big Quadra Enterprise Class drives. All of them come in different form factors, but they will each hold SATA hard drives while boasting 128-bit AES hardware encryption to keep your data within safe and secure. Apart from that, you will also benefit from hardware RAID support, hot-swap capabilities, 32MB of cache for speedier data transfer and a 1.2 million hour mean time between failure (MTBF) rate. All of these new products bear designer Neil Poulton's signature styling cues. Prices range from $300 for the 1TB LaCie d2 Quadra Enterprise Class all the way to $1,350 for the 4TB LaCie 4big Quadra Enterprise Class.

Carry plenty of data around on a USB flash drive? If that is so, why not make it all the more secure with the Kingston DataTraveler 5000, as this model comes with a built-in 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption. In addition, it is FIPS 140-2 Level 2 certified with Level 3 pending, boasting XTS cipher mode and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) algorithms which are up to Suite B standards approved by the U.S. government. OK, that's a whole lot of geek talk, but the bottomline is this - the Kingston DataTraveler 5000 is one really, really hard USB flash drive to crack in the event that you lose it. Depending on your needs, it will come in 2GB, 4$GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities, retailing for $111, $185, $231 and $400, respectively.

Are you a paranoid android who needs to make constant backups for your backups? Novac has something that might suit you then - a new external hard drive connection which basically allows you to clone any 2.5" and 3.5" SATA hard drive or SSD through its two SATA ports that are located on one end of each side. Supported operating systems include Windows XP/Vista/7 and Mac OS X 10.3 and later to get you started, while eSATA and USB 2.0 interfaces make it a snap to connect from a PC to a Mac. Out in Japan early next month, our best bet to get one if you're living Stateside would be an import shop.