Toshiba Intros World's Slimmest 500GB Portable Hard Drive

Tired of hauling around "portable" hard drives that don't feel very portable? Toshiba's here to help. The company just announced the world’s smallest portable hard drive, the Toshiba Canvio Slim. It's a 500GB unit that measures just 9mm thick, 107mm long and 75mm wide. As you'd expect, it's plug and play out of the box, supports both Mac and PC platforms, handles USB 3.0 transfers and ships with NTI Backup Now EZ software. It'll ship in October $115, but it may be worth the premium for those trying to carry lots of files while sticking to just a carry-on. (It's also worth pointing out that Seagate will probably take issue with this, given it's ~9mm GoFlex Slim drive is arguably just as slim.)

TOSHIBA INTRODUCES THE WORLD'S SMALLEST PORTABLE HARD DRIVE WITH CANVIO SLIM
 
IRVINE, Calif. — September 24, 2012 — Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced the Canvio® Slim Portable Hard Drive. With a capacity of 500 GB and measuring only nine millimeters thick, the Canvio Slim is the smallest portable hard drive available on the market.
 
“As consumer electronics continue to get thinner, lighter, and more portable, we recognized a huge demand to create a storage device that is in line with those trends,” said Maciek Brzeski, vice president of product marketing and development of branded storage products, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. “With the Canvio Slim, consumers can now easily stash their storage device right along with their Ultrabook, knowing that their data is always safe, even they’re on the go.”
 
This compact drive offers high capacity storage in a slim and sleek brushed aluminum design, available in either black or silver. The Canvio Slim’s built-In USB 3.0 Interface significantly improves file transfer performance for large media files and dramatically minimizes the wait time for backup, while also being backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices. Additionally, the drive comes with a NTFS driver for Mac®, allowing users to store and access files from PC and Mac® without reformatting1.
 
The Canvio Slim also comes equipped with software that makes back up simple and easy. The included NTI® Backup Now EZ™ software2 provides a system scan that recommends the best type of coverage. Users can choose between backing up files to the cloud3, backing up files and folders to the Canvio Slim portable hard drive, backing up anything saved on the computer, or all three for the most comprehensive coverage. The Canvio Slim is compatible with a variety of operating systems and is backed by a three-year limited warranty.
 
Pricing and Availability
The Canvio Slim will be available at select retailers and on ToshibaDirect.com in October 2012 for the suggested retail price of $114.99