It’s not much more than a hard drive with HD media playback abilities, but the Packard Bell Studio ST certainly looks nice, doesn’t it? It’s Europe-only for now, but we’re hoping parent company Acer brings over a US-branded version of this box, which holds up to a 2TB hard drive and can do 1080p out over HDMI with Dolby Digital. Codec support is described as “all main formats,” which is a little shady, but we’ll be forgiving if it’s cheaper than the Western Digital WD TV Live HD

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Packard Bell Studio ST media playback drive invades Europe

Considering the fact that Windows XP is still the most-used OS worldwide, anyone considering swapping out their old hard drives for a new one should heed this advice: be careful. You may want to even consider not doing it.

Link:
Why Windows XP Users Upgrading Their Hard Drives Should Be Wary [Windows]

Western Digital has yet to actively market its “advanced format” hard drives — in fact, there’s a decent chance you’ve no idea what we’re talking about if you weren’t tuned in on December 11th. In short, it’s a technology that alters a hard drive’s sector size from 512 bytes (the standard for the past three decades) to 4096K, which enables the ECC data to be stored in a more efficient manner. Just recently, WD began to ship Advanced Format Caviar Green hard drives, and the benchmarking gurus over at Hot Hardware strapped one in to see exactly how much of the hype was warranted. For starters, they debunked the thought that Advanced Format drives offered more usable space; Windows reported 931GB of free space on both AF and non-AF 1TB drives. They also go on to explain how to make AF drives play nice with Windows XP, and on the testing front, they found that an aligned AF Caviar Green drive could (mostly) hang with the higher end (and more expensive) Caviar Black. Pop that source link for the full skinny, particularly if you’re a WinXP user looking to snag a new drive.

WD’s ‘Advanced Format’ Caviar Green HDD gets benchmarked, minor benefits found originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WD’s ‘Advanced Format’ Caviar Green HDD gets benchmarked, minor benefits found

We check out the first hard drive to use the new SATA 6GB/s standard, and the first to come with 64MB of cache. Will performance match Seagate’s dramatic claims?

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Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB SATA 6Gb/s HDD

This one goes back a few years, but Apple has now finally, officially confirmed a hard drive problem that has plagued some MacBooks, and it’s announced a repair program that will allow you to get your hard drive replaced even if the MacBook is out of warranty. The specific models covered are both black and white MacBooks from 2006 and 2007 with 1.83GHz, 2GHz, or 2.16GHz processors, and either 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, or 160GB hard drives. As you may recall, the hard drive issue in question is a pretty nasty one that can leave your data unrecoverable, but it seems like Apple will only replace your drive once you’re stuck with the flashing question mark on boot-up — it’s just recommending that people backup their data in the meantime. Hit up the link below for the complete details.

Apple opens up repair program for some MacBook hard drives originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple opens up repair program for some MacBook hard drives

This one goes back a few years, but Apple has now finally, officially confirmed a hard drive problem that has plagued some MacBooks, and it’s announced a repair program that will allow you to get your hard drive replaced even if the MacBook is out of warranty. The specific models covered are both black and white MacBooks from 2006 and 2007 with 1.83GHz, 2GHz, or 2.16GHz processors, and either 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, or 160GB hard drives. As you may recall, the hard drive issue in question is a pretty nasty one that can leave your data unrecoverable, but it seems like Apple will only replace your drive once you’re stuck with the flashing question mark on boot-up — it’s just recommending that people backup their data in the meantime. Hit up the link below for the complete details.

Apple opens up repair program for some MacBook hard drives originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple opens up repair program for some MacBook hard drives

MacBooks bought between 2006 and 2007 could be eligible for a free hard drive replacement, with Apple dodging a guilty admission, stating that “a very small percentage…may fail under certain conditions.”

If you own a white or black MacBook bought between 2006 and 2007, with either a 1.83GHz, 3Ghz, or 2.16GHz processor and 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB or 160GB, you may be in luck. Or out of luck—as you have to prove the hard drive actually has failed.

The offer is open until August the 15th of this year, or three years after the MacBook was purchased. Now all Apple has to do is address the faulty iMac problem, and we’re gold. Oh, and these eight issues with the iPad…[Reg Hardware]

Image credit: TheYoungThousands

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Apple Offering Free Hard Drive Replacements For MacBooks Bought Between 2006 – 2007 [Apple]

MacBooks bought between 2006 and 2007 could be eligible for a free hard drive replacement, with Apple dodging a guilty admission, stating that “a very small percentage…may fail under certain conditions.”

If you own a white or black MacBook bought between 2006 and 2007, with either a 1.83GHz, 3Ghz, or 2.16GHz processor and 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB or 160GB, you may be in luck. Or out of luck—as you have to prove the hard drive actually has failed.

The offer is open until August the 15th of this year, or three years after the MacBook was purchased. Now all Apple has to do is address the faulty iMac problem, and we’re gold. Oh, and these eight issues with the iPad…[Reg Hardware]

Image credit: TheYoungThousands

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Apple Offering Free Hard Drive Replacements For MacBooks Bought Between 2006 – 2007 [Apple]

The DS 2 (not to be confused with the XL, which only ate a super mushroom), is reportedly alive and kicking, with developers now testing the motion-sensing console—but it won’t be ready in time for GDC in March.

CVG spoke to a developer at one of the studios that’s been lucky enough to receive the early prototype, and apparently it’s already making waves there:

“It’s genuinely the best thing I think I’ve ever worked with, I can tell you that it’s got a ’tilt’ function that’s not dissimilar to iPhone, but does a lot more. We know that The Pokemon Company are getting special attention with it.”

The Pokemon Company is a a division of Nintendo that handles marketing and licensing for Pokemon games—suggesting one of the launch titles that will take advantage of the HD screen and motion-sensing console will be a continuation of the Pokemon saga. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with Ash and Pikachu, but I’ll definitely give it another spin if it’s got some cool iPhone-like tilt control when battling. [CVG]

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Rumor: Nintendo DS 2 Being Tested By Developers, Motion-Sensing To Be Key Part of New Pokemon Game [Nintendo]

The DS 2 (not to be confused with the XL, which only ate a super mushroom), is reportedly alive and kicking, with developers now testing the motion-sensing console—but it won’t be ready in time for GDC in March.

CVG spoke to a developer at one of the studios that’s been lucky enough to receive the early prototype, and apparently it’s already making waves there:

“It’s genuinely the best thing I think I’ve ever worked with, I can tell you that it’s got a ’tilt’ function that’s not dissimilar to iPhone, but does a lot more. We know that The Pokemon Company are getting special attention with it.”

The Pokemon Company is a a division of Nintendo that handles marketing and licensing for Pokemon games—suggesting one of the launch titles that will take advantage of the HD screen and motion-sensing console will be a continuation of the Pokemon saga. It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with Ash and Pikachu, but I’ll definitely give it another spin if it’s got some cool iPhone-like tilt control when battling. [CVG]

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Rumor: Nintendo DS 2 Being Tested By Developers, Motion-Sensing To Be Key Part of New Pokemon Game [Nintendo]

Lotsa people are having serious memory leak problems with Aperture 3—even our Wilson, who woke up this morning to find that Aperture had eaten his entire hard drive, using it all for virtual memory.

Apple’s in “no comment” mode. Which hopefully means “no comment because we’re so busy working on a patch.” [CW]

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Aperture 3 Swallowing Hard Drives Whole With Crazy Memory Leak [Aperture 3]

Lotsa people are having serious memory leak problems with Aperture 3—even our Wilson, who woke up this morning to find that Aperture had eaten his entire hard drive, using it all for virtual memory.

Apple’s in “no comment” mode. Which hopefully means “no comment because we’re so busy working on a patch.” [CW]

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Aperture 3 Swallowing Hard Drives Whole With Crazy Memory Leak [Aperture 3]

Ever trip over a power cord and launch your laptop across the room? Me either, but that’s probably because of my laptop’s MagSafe breakaway magnetic power adapter. If your laptop doesn’t have one, check Lifehacker’s guide for a DIY version.

You’ll need an existing power cord and about $32 in materials:

• Neodymium Ring-Shaped Magnets (enough to cover your adaptor plug with some overhang)
• Wire Studs (to fit into the power socket)
• Steel Washers (asst. sizes, make sure your magnets will STICK to them)
• Thin Copper Foil (Note: aluminum duct tape has too much resistance)
• Electrical Tape
• Two-Part Epoxy Adhesive
• Nail(s)
• Calming Incense (to keep you sane while working with the fiddly bits)

The process of modifying your existing power cord actually seems rather easy, but please follow the instructions closely and don’t poke any wall outlets with the nails. [Instructables via Hack a Day via Lifehacker]

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This DIY Magnetic Power Adapter Will Keep Your Laptop Safe [DIY]

LaCie’s startlingly orange Rugged drive has been waltzing around and taking beatings for years now, but the company finally decided to give it an interface overhaul to deal with this phenomenon known only as “technological progress.” The latest and greatest in the family is the Rugged eSATA, which maintains the iconic shape and color of the original, yet adds support for eSATA; reportedly, users can see transfer rates as high as 90MB/sec, and if you can only find a USB port, it’ll also work with that when speed isn’t a concern. It’s up for order right now in a 500GB model, but you’ll have to amicably part with $159.99 before calling it yours.

LaCie refreshes connectivity options on Rugged eSATA portable HDD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaCie refreshes connectivity options on Rugged eSATA portable HDD

LaCie’s startlingly orange Rugged drive has been waltzing around and taking beatings for years now, but the company finally decided to give it an interface overhaul to deal with this phenomenon known only as “technological progress.” The latest and greatest in the family is the Rugged eSATA, which maintains the iconic shape and color of the original, yet adds support for eSATA; reportedly, users can see transfer rates as high as 90MB/sec, and if you can only find a USB port, it’ll also work with that when speed isn’t a concern. It’s up for order right now in a 500GB model, but you’ll have to amicably part with $159.99 before calling it yours.

LaCie refreshes connectivity options on Rugged eSATA portable HDD originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LaCie refreshes connectivity options on Rugged eSATA portable HDD