CES 2009: Verbatim 500GB and 1TB Quad Interface desktop hard drives

Verbatim announced this week two new Quad Interface Desktop HDDs with capacities of 500GB and 1TB, positioning them as pro audio and video-grade storage and backup solutions for PC and Mac users via USB 2.0, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 and eSATA II.

The new quad-interface drives weigh 3.3 lbs. and measure 8.7 in. by 5.9 in. by 1.5 in., and are housed in black aluminum cases. The 3.5 in. drives feature a 7200rpm spindle speed and 32MB of cache memory to optimize performance, and a silent cooling fan is included. At 1TB, we're talking roughly 25 cents per GB (pricing below).

The bus-powered drives deliver transfer speeds of up to 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s) when connected to a USB 2.0 port, up to 400 Mbits/s (50 MB/s) for FireWire 400 connections, up to 800 Mbits (100MB/s) for FireWire 800 and up to 3.0 GB/s (300MB/s) for eSATA II connections.

The drives also include Nero BackItUp 2 Essentials and are backed by a 3-year limited warranty. The drives include an AC power cord; USB 2.0 A-B cable; FireWire 1394a, 1394b bilingual and 1394b Beta cables, an eSATA cable, Nero backup software and a user guide.

The drives are shipping now at MSRP $179.99 USD for the 500GB version and $249.99 for the 1TB drive.