Hitachi External HDDs Looks Sleek, Does Cloud

Hitachi announced a new family of external hard drives.

Wednesday Hitachi introduced its new line of external hard drives, the LifeStudio series. The company boasts LifeStudio as the first and only all-in-one external solution for organizing and protecting user data. Built for both the PC and Mac, the new USB 2.0 drives come packed with a virtual 3D wall for viewing content, a USB key for "grab n' go" file management, and a built-in app that pools together media and documents stored on the internal HDD.

"After a quick install of the software, the drive's innovative technology instantly kicks in," the company said. "Your content--photos, videos, music and documents stored on your computer, any connected USB storage device or online sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Picasa Web Albums--automatically begins to appear in chronological order on your stunning 3D wall. Music is organized by artist or album. Now all of your most precious digital content is easily available at your finger tips. No more searching through files and folders."

In addition to local storage, the new line of external drives also offer 3GB cloud backup for free--those who need more virtual space can purchase 250GB for $49 per year. As for actual physical capacities, the LifeStudio Mobile model offers three variants: 250GB, 320GB, and 500GB--the Mobile Plus versions only provide the latter two capacities. For the desktop series, the LifeStudio Desk provides 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB whereas at the Desk Plus provides only the latter two.

Hitachi said that the new line of external HDDs will be available at retail and online stores in mid-July. Prices will range from $79.99 to $219.99, depending on the model. To learn more, check out the drive on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the official LifeStudio website.