We’ve always liked reporting about new LaCie external hard drives - they are typically very cool looking. It is a no-brainer therefore to let you know about the company’s quiet release of some new models, with the one grabbing our eye the most being the LaCie Desktop Hard Disk 1TB model.

The 1TB LaCie Desktop Hard Disk isn’t the best looking external hard drive ever released by the company but it still will look pretty nice sitting on your desk none the less. Beyond the simple black design you’ll find what LaCie says is a quiet and compact product for its size. It is USB 2.0 capable when connecting to a PC or Mac.

Other World Computing, a developer of Mac accessories, has announced in conjunction with MacWorld its highest capacity, portable bus powered storage offering to date. It’s known as the OWC Mercury On-The-Go 320GB, 5400RPM and price is set to start at around $250.

The OWC Mercury On-The-Go 320GB, 5400RPM offers a variety of interface options, including FireWire 800, FireWire 400, USB 2.0, and eSATA. It features Oxford 9XX chipsets for all FireWire equipped models and will work with Macs and PCs.

G-Technology is showcasing at MacWorld a 1TB external hard drive which offers RAID 0 configuration. It is called the G-Tech G-RAID mini and it should be available in March.

G-Technology said the G-Tech G-RAID mini is a full sized RAID 0 solution set into a portable solution. It features a triple FireWire 400/800/USB 2.0 interface and is designed to work right out of the box with Mac OS X systems.

Get more details on the new G-Tech G-RAID mini after the jump.

Iomega announced today some higher capacity and dual interface models for its Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive line. This new hard drives range in price from around $140 to $230.

The Iomega eGo Portable Hard Drives include 160GB and 250GB models with dual USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 ports. They are available in red, black and white body colors. Iomega also released a new 250GB USB 2.0 model in red, blue and black body colors.

Storage Appliance is showing off at CES what it thinks is a simplified backup solution for everyone. It’s called the ClickFree platform, with the first product under this umbrella being the HD 700. It’s priced at around $150.

The ClickFree HD 700 is reportedly as simple as plugging the device into a USB port. The backup option “automatically launches, searches and backs up anything important without ever having to push or click a button.” Consumers can back up information from up to give PCs in this manner.

LaCie has been busying showing off new external hard drives at CES. Another one of its announcements is the new LaCie d2 Quadra, available in various storage configurations and starting at around $200.

The LaCie d2 Quadra is designed for professional use primarily. It’s available in multiple interface options - eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB - and sports an aluminum heat sink system to keep things cool. The d2 Quadra has been designed with RAID use in mind - one can connect two more more drives o the host in either RAID 1 for data redundancy and protection, or striped together in RAID 0 for faster data transfers.

LaCie, a developer of innovative hard drive units, is unveiling a number of interesting new products at the Consumer Electronics Show. One of these is the LaCie LaCinema Premier, currently available in a 500GB capacity for around $230.

The LaCie LaCinema Premier is a self-described multimedia hard drive equipped with USB 2.0 ports. It’s designed to hold digital music, video and photo files transferred onto it from a host computer. Once transferred you are supposed to connect it to a home theater system so you can enjoy your digital entertainment through features like optical output and 1080i video upscaling.

Verbatim is launching at CES a new line of 2.5-inch external hard drives which are palm-sized. These new Verbatim SmartDisk 2.5” Portable Hard Drives will have retail prices starting at around $100.

The Verbatim SmartDisk 2.5” Portable Hard Drives will be available in 120, 160, 250 and 320GB capacities. They will work with both Windows and Mac operating systems, offering options of a USB interface or combo USB/FireWire interface. The combo one in particular will allow consumers to transfer files between a Mac and PC.

Iomega recently revealed some new eSATA desktop hard drives with a new system protection program that combines total system backups with instant system recovery. The drive catching our eye the most is the 1.5TB UltraMax Pro Desktop Hard Drive eSATA 3GBits/USB 2.0, priced at around $600.

The Iomega 1.5TB UltraMax Pro Desktop Hard Drive eSATA 3GBits/USB 2.0 features both eSATA 3GBits and USB 2.0 interfaces. The eSATA 3GBits interface is the preferred for data backup, as Iomega says it is up to six times faster than the USB 2.0 interface. This product also “features a two-drive configuration with hot-swappable SATA II hard drives that are formatted with the FAT32 file system for use in Mac or PC environments.”

Personal storage product manufacturer Apricorn is bringing to computer users a new external hard drive solution which is secured via hardware encryption. The new Aegis Vault line is available in sizes ranging from 80GB to 250GB and is priced at around $140 to $270 respectively.

The Aegis Vault from Apricorn uses AES-128 bit hardware encryption with password protection to secure data. It can be configured into multiple partitions for public data sharing and features an administrator password option for corporate applications. It connects through USB, making it bus-powered, and works with Windows operating systems.

Finally, a USB drive for geeks who want to put some religion into their USB port and their lives. Normally it’s only after you’ve lost your important data that you would pray to Holy Mary, Mother Of God. Now you can do it at your leisure and hopefully she will listen and keep your data safe.

It will act as a good reminder to geeks to keep some religion in their lives. When she is hooked up, her red LED heart will beat, indicating how the Holy Mother watches over your computer’s innards. (If only she sang “Turn On Your Heartlight, huh?) Her halo is engraved with the prayer “Oh Maria, keep my data safe!”. So, it must work.

Information is a precious and delicate thing. Which is why we humans have a hard candy shell wrapped around our brain. If our gooey info-centers were just exposed on top of our heads, we would be in big trouble. And it’s not like you can back up grey matter.

Luckily hard drives can be backed up, though truthfully not very many people actually do it. Let’s say you back up all of that precious data onto an external hard drive. Good job! You are now on the road to information safety. But wait…What if your house burns down? Or you get flooded? Nothing you can do about those acts of God right? Wrong. Thanks to Maxtor teaming up with Sentry Group, you can now have a drive that is both fire resistant and waterproof. These drives can withstand 1550F degrees for about a half hour as well as spend up to a day submerged in water.

The new PocketRAID from Norazza isn’t something you spray in your pocket to kill bugs. It is rather what the company describes as the world’s smallest external RAID 1 system. It starts at around $440 for 160GB of storage, going up from there to a maximum size of 320GB.

The Norazza PocketRAID weights around 1.9 pounds and measures a small 5″ x 3″ x 1.5″. It’s configured for RAID 1 style storage, sporting two compact hard drives in its body. It’s capable of supporting both eSATA and USB data transfer and has a built-in backup button as well as LED status indicator lights.

G-Technology, a developer of external hard drives for computers, announced today a new triple rear interface design for its G-DRIVE mini portable hard drives. The new G-DRIVE mini Triple starts at around $180, depending upon the drive’s storage capacity.

The G-DRIVE mini Triple is available in sizes ranging from 120GB to 250GB. It offers for connectivity to a PC or Mac a choice of FireWire 400, FireWire 800 or USB 2.0. The drive is housed in an all aluminum enclosure with built-in heat sink and weighs under nine ounces. It’s bus powered and requires to external power source to operate.