First External USB 3.0 Hard Drive from Freecom
German company Freecom has announced, by its own reckoning, the first external USB 3.0 hard drive.
The 3.5" device with the name Hard Drive XS 3.0 is intended for desktop use for memory extension and backup media. It should be available on the European market in mid-November in 1-TByte, 1.5-TByte and 2-TByte versions, at around 120 Euro for the 1-TByte model.
The device should run at transfer rates of 130 MBytes per second. Freecom managing director Axel Lucassen uses an example to illustrate: "We now can transfer a 5GB movie in just 38 seconds iit is unbelievably fas.t" The XS 3.0 hard drive is backward-compatible and can run on USB 2.0 at a reduced transfer rate. As an add-on it features hardware encryption at a 256-bit AES. To further equip computers Freecom provides controller cards for USB 3.0 in desktop and notebook versions.
Linux can brag that, as of Kernel 2.6.31, it is the first platform to support USB 3.0. The new specification, also known as "SuperSpeed USB," theoretically allows transfer of 5 GBits per second. The USB Implementers Forum non-profit founded by USB developers lists the first USB 3.0 devices on its webpage, such as host controller models. Whether Freecom's controller cards run under Linux is currently unknown.
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