Hitachi GST Unveils its First External Storage Solutions in Asia Pacific
Fri 04 Sept, 2009

Two Portable Drives from Hitachi Global Storage Technologies – SimpleTOUGH and SimpleDRIVE Mini – Give Users Easy Ways to Share, Protect and Access Their Digital Content.

SINGAPORE, September 4, 2009 – As one of the world's most recognized and trusted brands, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today unveiled its first external storage solutions in Singapore for the Asia Pacific market. Following closely after the acquisition of Fabrik earlier this year, the new Hitachi branded products include the SimpleTOUGH^TM portable USB drive, the first water-resistant¹ and shock-resistant² external hard drive from a global hard drive manufacturer; and the stylish and colorful SimpleDRIVE Mini^TM portable USB drive. Both external storage solutions leverage Hitachi's award-winning, reliable hard drives and strong global brand, creating additional advantages for road warriors, prosumers, small office/home office (SOHO) users, or virtually anyone looking for a simple and reliable way to store, protect, and better manage their data.

"Today's announcement further extends the Hitachi GST brand into the worldwide consumer market with the reliability, confidence and dependability you would expect from global hard drive supplier," said Robert Chu, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Hitachi GST. "Given the global strength of Hitachi, Hitachi GST's capabilities in the external storage space, and the continued support of our retail and channel partners, we are well positioned to move our Branded Business and the industry forward."

Hitachi SimpleTOUGH Portable USB 2.0 Drive
If you work hard or play hard, the Hitachi SimpleTOUGH is one of the world's most rugged drives for protecting data in harsh environments. Designed for serious mobility, it is the only water- and shock-resistant external drive available today from a global hard drive manufacturer, and can take on more falls, knocks and spills than an average external drive. It's so tough that it is able to sustain up to a three meter drop onto a carpeted concrete floor, and has survived being run over by one-ton class commercial truck.³ Besides that, it's ready for the great outdoors. The Hitachi SimpleTOUGH drive includes a "never-lose" foldaway USB cable, ergonomic sides for easy carrying, and a cool topside LED for power status. But don't be fooled by its handsome exterior. Not only is SimpleTOUGH drive rugged on the outside, it's dependable and reliable on the inside. All SimpleTOUGH portable drives integrate Hitachi's award-winning Travelstar hard drives, which can be found in virtually all top brand notebooks around the world. Known for its proven, dependable design, Hitachi Travelstar drives provide solid shock protection at 400G operating and 1,000G non-operating shock, and feature the company's TrueTrack Technology™, providing added data protection against rough handling. Packaged in one streamlined solution, the SimpleTOUGH portable drive by Hitachi is USB powered for on-the-go convenience. The Hitachi SimpleTOUGH portable drive comes in capacities of 250GB, 320GB and 500GB.

Hitachi SimpleDRIVE Mini Portable USB 2.0 Drive
Your belongings say a lot about your personality, so why should your hard drive look like a toaster? Show off your style with the Hitachi SimpleDRIVE Mini portable drive. Designed for an increasingly mobile world, the Hitachi SimpleDRIVE Mini portable drive is stylish storage made simple. It offers a unique contemporary design with multiple colors, and delivers streamlined, yet simple ways to store and protect your data. The SimpleDRIVE Mini drive uses dependable hard drives from Hitachi so you can rest assured that your data is stored on a leading hard drive. Depending on your mood, personal style or capacity needs, you have choices of red wine in 250GB, blue dusk in 320GB or carbon fiber for a textured black look at 500GB.

Any data worth saving is worth protecting
Thanks to the increasingly digital lives we lead, our digital content – our family photos, music libraries, home videos and important business and financial information – is quickly becoming the most valued asset in our possession. More often than not, data is coming in so fast and from so many places, that people forget to back it up. If an accident does occur, it could cost thousands of dollars to recover the data. That is where simple set-it-and-forget-it solutions from Hitachi GST can help.

The new SimpleTOUGH and SimpleDRIVE Mini portable drives provide easy add-on storage and effortless backup and restore capabilities making it painless to manage and help protect your personal or professional content. With its high-speed USB 2.0 interface and simple user interface, setting up the backup schedule is a snap and data transfer rates are fast and reliable. Both drives come preloaded with Hitachi Local Backup software so you can protect selected or all files and folders stored on your Mac or PC with a single click, or automatically, providing the peace of mind in knowing that your digital world is backed up to a reliable drive. The included software also provides step-by-step wizards for restoring backed up content in case an unfortunate accident should happen to your computer.

Availability
SimpleTOUGH portable USB drives and SimpleDRIVE Mini portable USB drives will be available at Booth #6346 (Level 6) at the COMEX 2009, Suntec City.

SimpleTOUGH™ portable USB drives and SimpleDRIVE Mini™ portable USB drives will begin shipping to China, Australia, New Zealand and Thailand by end of Q3 this year. The products will be shipped to India, Korea and Taiwan in Q4 this year.

For more information, please http://www.hitachigst.com.

About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) develops advanced hard disk drives, enterprise-class solid state drives, and innovative external storage solutions and services used to store, preserve and manage the world's most valued data. Founded by the pioneers of hard drives, Hitachi GST provides high-value storage for a broad range of market segments, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, Consumer Electronics and Personal Storage. Hitachi GST was established in 2003 and is headquartered in San Jose, California. For more information, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachigst.com.

About Hitachi, Ltd
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 400,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2008 (ended March 31, 2009) consolidated revenues totaled 10,000 billion yen ($102.0 billion). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials, logistics and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.

Hitachi trademarks are authorized for use in countries and jurisdictions in which Hitachi has the right to market the brands. Hitachi is not liable for third parties' unauthorized use of Hitachi trademarks.

¹Water resistance was measured using 60cc of liquid, simulating a drink spilled onto the SimpleTOUGH drive.

²Shock resistance was measured using three meter drop onto a carpeted floor. Dropping the drive is not recommended while in operation mode.

³The SimpleTOUGH drive was placed vertically on a concrete road, and was run over by a one-ton class, 1998, Chevy 3500 cab truck with a service chassis.

All testing was conducted by Hitachi GST.

One GB is equal to one billion bytes and one TB equals 1,000 GB (one trillion bytes). Actual capacity will vary depending on operating environment and formatting.