If you spend your lunch break positioning your monitor so no one else can see it and happily browsing through Raven Riley's charming online photography albums while you deep-throat a Gregg's sausage roll - YOUR TIME IS UP, SICKO.

Network safety specialist Paraben has revealed the latest development in its world of computerised forensics, a file-scanner that, no doubt thanks to everyone at Paraben spending ages analysing all kinds of porn themselves, can identify DIRTY photos on users' computers and instantly grass the offender up to the boss. If you're a fan of beach volleyball you'd better start being more careful...

Buffalo's MiniStation TurboUSB hard drive, launched back in February, has had a bit of a makeover to make it more friendly to Mac users.

In truth, it's always been usable with OS X, but now the casing has turned a shade of white, which possibly makes it more attractive to Apple-ites.

Four capacities -- 160GB, 250GB, 320GB and 500GB -- and fully compatible with OS X's Time Machine, or indeed any other software backup solution you might happen to use.

I love the concept of accessing my home media files from a mobile device while on the road, but the downside (particularly in these eco-conscious, penny-watching times) is that the computer being accessed has to be powered on.

For those feeling a bit guilty about that, but still wanting to be able to view their hilarious home videos, or the latest Dido album, while out-and-about, here's a nifty solution from LaCie.

The "Internet Space" is a network hard disk which can be accessed from the Internet even if all the home computers are switched off. Using LaCie's HipServ technology, users can connect to the drive by visiting HomeLaCie.com and authorising themselves.

If you have £4000 spare and want a PC that may be able to do some anti-aliasing in Crysis without requiring the frame rate to be measured in minutes, this is the combination of off-the-shelf components for you.

The YoYotech Fi7epower MLK1610 packs a Core i7-965 Extreme Edition CPU, a minimum of 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a dual-processor HIS Radeon HD 4870 X2 graphics card that'd be more than capable of running Solitaire, plus 1TB of storage space. And an 80GB solid-state drive for quick boot-ups.

The Asus P6T motherboard supports both Nvidia's SLI technology and AMD's Crossfire dual-power graphics options, so there's literally no end of slots for you to throw money at filling in order to get your frame rate up from 48 to a rock-solid 52.

It is, as you might expect a £4000 PC to be, completely insane. Still, it's more interesting than writing and reading about yet another re-badged MSI Wind netbook.

(Via TechRadar)

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LaCie, well-known for its rugged portable hard drives, has just launched a new range: the LaCinema Rugged.

As the name would suggest, these portable hard drives are designed for carrying around your multimedia files -- movies, photos, and music -- and can connect directly to a high definition television via HDMI or composite video port.

Buffalo has announced its first 1.8-inch portable hard drive. The NanoStation HD-PT60U2 is the same size as three stacked credit cards (6mm thin), weighs 56 grams, and has a 60GB capacity.

It features easy-to-use backup and synchronisation software as well as mobile applications including Firefox and Thunderbird. Buffalo's SecureLockMobile software should prevent unauthorised data access if the drive goes walkabout.

USB-powered, the drive is plug-and-play and requires no additional power supply.

Available from November priced £65.99.

Related posts: Buffalo DriveStation USB | Buffalo dual format high definition drive

This beast is the ReadyNAS Pro. It contains upto 6TB of storage. That's 6,144GB, 6,291,456MB, or a hell of a lot of HD episodes of "The Crystal Maze", so you can scream "Get out!" thirty seconds before the time runs out to your heart's content for hours.

Actually, it's targeted at small and medium-sized businesses. Up to 200 users can plug in over an ethernet connection and exchange files, documents and video. Probably last night's episode of "Lost". If you want one, then prices start at $2,000 for a 1.5TB model, ramping up with increased storage.

Netgear

Related posts: Drobo 16TB HDD - a whole lot of space for whole lot of funny | Hitachi working on 5TB hard drives, values human brain at 10TB capacity

Toshiba's bulking up its solid-state drive range and boosting the capacity of its 2.5" model - so the cheap netbooks of the world can come with more storage space without straining their little batteries too much.

The new 256GB solid-state drive will "roll out" of the Tosh factory in the fourth quarter of 2008, ideal for those exciting Christmas presents containing ultra-portable mini PCs. With a read speed of 120MBps and a write speed of 70MBps thanks to its 3.0-Gbps SATA connection, the 256GB monster will stand atop of the Toshiba HD portfolio, with the maker also churning out new NAND flash drives in 8, 16 and 32GB chunks for the tinier end of the netbook spectrum.

I can only apologise for using the words "portfolio" and "spectrum" in the same paragraph. It's hard thinking of collective words to describe groups of hard drives.

(Via CG)

Related posts: Hitachi going for 5TB | Buffalo goes for efficiency

Buffalo has announced the launch of five new external USB hard drives featuring a Power Saving Utility that will put the device into "sleep mode" when not in use, saving 75% of energy. That, coupled with TurboUSB software that speeds data transfer rates, makes these drives ideal for data backup.

The drives also feature Secure Lock Ware Encryption software for Windows that aids in securing files stored on the disc.

Available now, in 320GB (£54.99), 500GB (£65.99), 640GB (£73.99), 750GB (£90.99) and 1TB (£119.99) capacities.

Buffalo Technology

Related posts: Buffalo DriveStation Combo4 | Buffalo dual-format HD drive

LaCie is launching the last RAID storage solution you'll ever need until someone invents the next ports in advance of eSATA, Firewire 400/800 and USB 2.0, which, come to think of it, could be until this time next week. Unlikely though.

The aptly named LaCie 4big Quadra provides data back-up, storage and security for up to 6TB of information through four distinct, hot-swappable bays. The drives can be a read at maximum burst transfer speeds of 200-230MB/s through eSATA 3Gbits.

Medion has announced a pile of new PCs at IFA today, ranging from its AKOYA Nettop PC - a slimline desktop powered by Intel's fashionable Atom - to illuminated monsters like the ERAZER X7303 D Game PC, for gamers who won't even look at something unless its plastered in blue LEDs and has all its things measured in terabytes.

So here's a look at the whole lot of them. This is my first go at doing an image gallery, by the way. Please be gentle if it's a bit broken.

Click on the pic below to start the Medion range Interactive Tour. All aboard!

Honestly, what a disappointment. Of all the exciting things you could hope to find on the hard drive of a PC bought off eBay, rubbish old bank passwords has to be the last thing you'd want.

The computer in question was bought for £35 off the auction site, and apparently came pre-loaded with user data from the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest. Both banks have confirmed that the data is indeed genuine, and mostly took the form of credit applications, accompanied by account numbers, phone numbers and those all-important to global security mothers' maiden names.

If you want to launch a nuke strike against Russia, all you need is George W Bush's mother's maiden name. And that's probably already on the internet.

Toshiba today announced the availability of three new portable hard drives, all with stylish, durable casing for keeping data safe on the move.

The Gecko Green drive can store 160GB of data and is also ideal as an external drive for a desktop computer.

The Hot Rod Red 250GB drive is great for users with larger amounts of data, particularly multimedia, while the largest capacity drive is the Carbon Grey model, with 320GB of storage.

This one's so small the official size comes in millimetres - and even decimal places of millimetres, whatever they've called. Billimeteres or something, probably. The Freecom XXS, which we would imagine stands for Extra Extra Small, measures just 109.8mm x 79.5mm x 13.5mm. That's small.

We hired a scanning electron microscope to take the following photograph which illustrates precisely how small.

Not that small compared to an MP3 player, really, but small compared to other 2.5" external hard drives - which Freecom says start in sizes 27 percent larger. The TARDIS-like exterior comes in varieties that pack in 160, 250 and 320GB of data, data it shovels across using USB 2.0.

It is also light, weighing only 155g, just in case you were worried that it's unusually dense and heavy thanks to the compression techniques used.

(Via Hexus)

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These are LG's brand new XD1 portable hard drives - for the person who combines sophistication, style and portable hard disk storage all at once. They are so stylish, you might even believe a rare snake died so that LG could make it for you.

Please note: no rare snakes were murdered, skinned and highly polished in the production of this hard drive.

From the people who brought you the first "self-aware" hard drive comes the latest Drobo external storage unit with more space to stack your file junk than you can shake a whole forest of sticks at.

Why anyone needs to store up to 16TB of information, I find slightly unfathomable. Even the word "terabyte" I find fairly inconceivable. They called it that because it's supposed to scare you off. Information is dangerous and therefore the more you have, the more of a threat you are to society. That's what the SI unit scientists were told else their funding would be cut.

Hitachi is continuing to push on the limits of hard disc drive technology, despite the continual threat from solid state memory devices, and expects to have a five terabyte HDD available by 2010.

If you care how, it's apparently to do with "current perpendicular-to-the-plane giant magnetoresistance" (CPP-GMR), which allows data density to go above one terabyte per square inch.

It has a small form, but the LaCie Little Big Disk Quadra packs 1TB of storage.

The Neil Poulton-designed Little Big Disk Quadra includes two 2.5-inch hard disks with 110MB/s burst transfer rates when using eSATA or up to 80MB/s if using FireWire 800. It's also fully plug and play with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (including Time Machine) and Windows Vista.

It's available now, with prices starting at £399.99

LaCie

Related posts: LaCie d2 - external 4x speed Blu-ray burner | LaCie launches 500GB Rugged Hard Disk: supersize data on the go

No, this blog isn't turning into Flickr, don't worry! I spotted this photo and wondered what camera photographer Martin Amm used for this amazing macro. In case you're wondering too, it's a Nikon D200, using a Schneider-Kreuznach 50 mm-f/2.8 lens.

If you'd like to attempt a similar photo, the body will cost you £798, with the lens just £133. Of course, it's not just the equipment you use, it's also the skills of the photographer which result in a photo like this. Marvellous.

Martin Amm (via Sub-Studio Design Blog)

Related posts: Nikon P80 video review | Video preview of P80, S52 and S52c from Nikon

Externalising your hard drive may seem like a silly idea and in a way, it is but if instead you use this 3-in-1 disk reader as an opportunity for a second large drive, then it's a stroke of genius.

This boxy, grey lump is a little unsightly as desktop ornaments go but it can read 2.5" and 3.5" SATA HDDs as well as having all the slots you could ever need for memory cards and a couple of USB ports to go with it and before you start panicking about read speeds, it comes with an eSATA cable for 120MB/s data transfer, around double what you'd get if you used the USB connector, which is supplied, just in case.