Back in the early days of the computer if you needed to carry data files with you from one machine to the other you used floppy discs. The floppy gave way to the CD and DVD as a method for moving files form one computer to another and taking data with you on the road. As those methods became a paid for computer users, a new type of storage device emerged — the flash drive.

Today flash drives can be used for all sorts of things form backing up data from your computer to carrying files with you from desk to desk or office to office. The flash drive is growing in capacity, but with the majority of flash drives using USB they aren’t growing in performance much.

If you walk into a home or office where a computer is, present odds are you are going to find some sort of external storage solution. More often than not computer users resort to USB external hard drives to back up their data and to store files.

Western Digital has announced that its My Book line of external hard drives is now available with 2TB of storage in a single disk model. That means that big storage takes up less space on or under your desk. The new 2TB disk is available in the My Book Studio, Mac Edition, Home Edition, and Essential Edition models.

There are a myriad of uses for external hard drives from transporting data to and from the office or home to backing up important data on your computer. One thing that most of the external hard drives have in common is that they are not rugged enough to be taken on the go without risking damage.

Freecom has a new drive called the ToughDrive Sport that it claims to be the toughest external hard drive yet. The drive can withstand drops of up to two meters in height and is protected against adverse weather like rain. The drive is meant to be carried on the go and has a loop in one corner.

I keep thinking that this thing should have some snazzy A-Team or Superman graphics on it. Anyhow, Shuttle has gone official with its new X50 all-in-one PC, which takes aim at ASUS’ Eee Top.

With this one you’ll get a 15.6-inch 1,366 x 768 touchscreen, with an Atom 330 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, a built-in 1.3-megapixel webcam and microphone, and a five USB 2.0 ports. Sadly it appears that you can’t order one just yet, but it should be available by the end of the month for around $500.

Remember those key-like USB keys we showed you from LaCie earlier this month? The ones that were all like, hey I’m a key, put me on your key ring. The drives are now priced and available for shipment.

Designed by 5.5 Designers, the itsaKey, iamaKey and PassKey USB drives are now available for order and ready to be lost along with your car keys. The first two sport up to 8GB of internal capacity and the PassKey boasts a built-in microSD card slot.

If you are in the market for a compact, portable hard drive that can store lots of data, check out the new line of Aegis Mini hard drives from Apricorn. The Apricorn Aegis Mini comes in several sizes, the largest being 240GB, there are also 80GB and 120GB capacities available.

These tiny hard drives measure just 17mm x 68.5mm x 86mm and weigh just 3.7oz, and you can choose either a USB or firewire version. To put its size into perspective, these high capacity hard drives are smaller then a standard deck of cards. Prices start at $149 for the 80GB version, while the 240GB version will cost you $269.

Self decapitation should be built into all robots as an added safety measure. Robot decapitation is what you’ll get with this little guy. He’s a 4GB drive and includes a clasp to attach to your keychain.

He could have more memory, but who cares. He’s retro and cool. Kinda looks like he’s taking his helmet off to say hi. He’ll cost you $25. And let’s not forget, keeping robot charms on your person will endear you to our future masters.

TG Sambo just rolled another notebook for the South Korea: The Averatec Star. This model will come in an ‘eco & slim’ design, with a silver-colored aluminum finish and a built-in battery pack. Under the hood, there’s an Intel Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz processor, 3GB RAM, a 320GB SATA hard drive and a 13.1″ widescreen LCD display.

You wont be doing any serious gaming on this thing though, as it lacks a dedicated video card It’s supported by an Intel GMA X4500MHD graphics engine. As far as connectivity, there’s Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Ethernet LAN. You also get VGA output, 3 USB 2.0 ports and a built-in 1.3 megapixel camera.

When it comes to kooky and often overpriced gadgets, Hammacher Schlemmer is the place you want to shop. These are the same fine folks that bought worthwhile gadgets like the snowball blaster and the clear canoe.

The company’s latest product is one that lets you spy on the driving habits of your spouse, kids or employees. The Driving Activity Reporter is a small device that looks like a flash drive with a magnet on the back of the case. The magnet holds the device to the undercarriage of a car, under the seat or in any other metal location.

I’ve said it before. We need more robot flash drives. It’s hard to find a cool robot flash drive. Some are too shiny, others, like the Ultraman are cool, but not robot enough.

This flash drive is all classic robot. The USB Robot comes in a small 1GB capacity, in green, black, and blue. Just yank his head off and plug him into your computer. When you transfer files, his little eyes light up!

Always losing your flash drives? Like body modifications a little too much? It’s all a question of how important your data is. Forget what you saw in the Star Wars prequels. This is how Anakin started to go bad.

It starts with a simple USB finger and before you know it your entire hand is a mass of ports, some inputs, some outputs. Then the standard changes and you have to sacrifice the other hand. Where does it end? Probably with a scrollwheel on your nads. This is purely a “visualization” project, but you know it will happen.

The Corsair Flash Voyager Port will work with just about any USB drive. Pushing the button will launch a software backup, transferring pre-determined data over to the docked USB flash drive. What this does is make any decent sized USB flash drive into the perfect backup drive.

Corsair wants you tp use their 64GB drive obviously. Nice device that is actually useful and provides some flexibility and freedom. Just keep track of your flash drives if you are using several. No word on availability, but the Corsair Flash Voyager Port should be available in a few weeks for under $20.

Gateway continues to offer up more bargain notebooks with its latest addition to the FX lineup. The P-7808u FX is a 17-inch notebook that’s geared towards multimedia fans, and if the WXGA panel doesn’t bother you, the rest of the specs are decent.

Some features include a 2GHz Core 2 Quad CPU, NVIDIA’s GeForce 9800M GTS graphics card (1GB of GDDR3 included), 4GB of DDR3 memory, an 8x dual-layer DVD writer, 500GB SATA hard drive, 5-in-1 multicard reader, a nine-cell battery, WiFi, three USB 2.0 sockets, FireWire, eSATA and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.

What the #%$$@ was the manufacturer thinking? There is no scenario in which this USB hub is even remotely normal on your desk. I guess if you like to torture cows by sticking flash drives in them, you might take a shine to it, but mostly it’s just wrong.

I guess it could have been worse. The cow could be standing and have a bunch of flash drives as udders. Maybe you have to coax them in so it looks like you’re milking the beast. Damn. I think I just gave them another idea. Seriously old Bessie here looks like she’s begging for a bullet to put her out of her misery. Poor thing.

We’ve come across some strange USB flash drives in our day, but this may be the strangest. The Cat Tail flash drive. It’s for those who want their laptop to look like it just swallowed the cat.

With this drive you’re getting 2 full GB of fur. It’s probably not a good idea as your real cat will have a field day batting this thing while you are trying to work.