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As more consumers look for storage devices to fill with high definition movies and vast quantities of music, Western Digital has updated the My Passport line with a 2TB hard drive. 

Western Digital has shipped the first, portable 2.5-inch hard drive that has a storage capacity of two terabytes. Western Digital was also the first hard drive manufacturer to create a 2TB, 3.5-inch portable hard drive during 2009. The small, My Passport 2TB model comes with USB 3.0 connectivity allowing users to transfer data at speeds up to 5 gigabits per second. The drive also ships with WD SmartWare for backing up software or data files as well as WD Security to utilize hardware encryption and password protection for blocking access to the drive, ideal since the small size may make the drive more prone to misplacing within the workplace or even public places.  

While the 2TB model retails for $249.99, Western Digital also offers a 1.5TB for $199.99, a 1TB model for $179.99, a 750 GB model for $149.99 and a 500 GB model for $129.99. The cheaper models are available in black, gray, silver, red and blue. However, the 2TB model is only available in black at the moment. While definitely thicker than a typical smartphone, the small form factor of the drive allows the user to easily slip it into a pocket, handbag or briefcase. If looking to make the jump to Thunderbolt instead of  USB 3.0, Western Digital also recently released the MyBook Thunderbolt Duo in 4 TB and 6 TB configurations starting around $600. 

Via: http://www.digitaltrends.com/ 

The shocking flooding in Thailand has not only affected families and citizens of Thailand, but some giant IT companies have factories there such as Western Digital. We've all heard, seen or read about the recent hard disk drive pricing hikes the world over, with prices ballooning to sometimes over 50-percent (or more) and stock levels should be getting quite thin over the following weeks toward the holiday season.

Thanks to Bright Side of News, we have some pictures that show the epic flooding that has hit Thailand. The waters near the WD factory were between 1 and 1.4m deep (4-5 feet) and were an average of about 1m (4 feet) through most of the factory and its surroundings. As you can see in the above shot, the water isn't just in some parts, it's everywhere.

Western Digital is also not the only company that is directly affected by the floods, with HDD production hitting all major players with expected 28-percent of quarter-on-quarter drop in HDD production. Other companies affected are not even in the HDD industry, the digital camera industry was also hit with companies such as Canon, Nikon and Sony all being affected, so expect digital camera prices to jump.