Hard to believe, but Sony has introduced its first external hard drive, the HD-PG5. This storage device delivers 500GB of storage on a 2.5-inch disk and allows users to connect devices via USB 3.0 or USB 2.0.

The device also allows you to record HD content directly from your Bravia TV. The Sony HD-PG5 500GB external hard drive should be shipping in the UK, France and Germany later this month. Hopefully it will reach us soon as well.

Transcend has unveiled the 3.5″ StoreJet35T3 with the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface. This device will hold about 2TB of storage space and is capable of transferring data up to 130MB/s. That means that it will transfer a whole DVD movie in just 30 seconds.

Some other features include a One Touch auto-backup button and it meets the European Union’s eco-design requirements for Energy Related Products (ErP), while entering power-saving sleep mode automatically after ten minutes of inactivity.

Apricorn’s Aegis Padlock external hard drives has a new family member. A large one with 750GB of storage. You’ll have plenty of space to hold all of your downloaded content and movies. Aside from the spacious size, everything else remains the same.

The price is less than $200. You get Aegis Padlock’s integrated hardware encryption, software-free design, and the ability to work on any platform. Great for both corporate environments and frequent travelers who carry around their data wherever they go.

Seagate has another first on their hands. The company has just announced the industry’s first 1.5TB portable external drive, the FreeAgent GoFlex Ultra-portable. The drive features USB 3.0 connectivity giving you fast data transfers and it is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 if you’re using the older version.

These drives are formatted for the Windows NTFS file system, but include an optional NTFS driver for Mac, so it works for both systems. The drive will be available in black and will cost you $250 when it’s released.

The Stealth HD Bio from MXI Security is a biometric USB hard drive with AES 256-bit CBC hardware encryption that is perfect for your secure portable data security needs. The device is powered by the Bluefly Security Processor which is FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validated.

The Stealth HD Bio is available in 250GB, 320GB and 500GB capacities. It’s more secure than some due to a fingerprint scanner that complements the security processor on the drive. Sadly we don’t have any info on pricing or availability yet.

Just look at all of those mouth watering colors. Verbatim‘s new Store ‘n’ Go external hard drive is based on a 2.5″ form factor and will hold up to 1TB of data. That rainbow of colors seems to match the season as well. They come in red, blue, green, white, black, silver, purple and orange.

It connects via USB and sports a Green button to send it into an energy-saving sleep mode if you care about the environment. Each drive comes with Nero Rescue and Nero BackItUp Essentials and Burn software. Your choice of 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, 640GB, 750GB and 1TB capacities for $80, $94, $107, $121, $134 and $256.

The Silicon Power A70 Armor USB 2.0 external hard drive will hold your data in the usual way, but it’s also waterproof, impactproof, dustproof and vibration-resistant. This version is aimed at those who work in difficult or extreme conditions.

In extreme conditions you want to make sure that your data is safe and secure. This model comes in several capacities from 250GB to 640GB and is compatible with Windows, OS X and Linux operating systems.

Datel’s new Space Docks make it easy to add a hard drive to your PS3 or Xbox 360. The dock accepts 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA HDDs up to 1TB. After it’s installed, the drive mounts in your system to load saved games, play movies and all of the other stuff you do.

As a bonus, you can plug the drive back into your PC to transfer more files since the formatting structure is basically FAT32. It only costs $40 and will be available soon.

We all love the old NES cartridges. They bring back memories of hours of fun playing the old console. So we love any excuse to have them back in our lives today. Like with these NES cartridge hard drives.

Etsy seller 8-Bit Memory takes old NES cartridges, stuffs a hard drive inside and just like that Mario is holding your data. It will cost you $120 for 250GB, but he will gladly make any size for you and with any cartridge. For an extra fee of course.

SimpleTech wants to please tree-huggers everywhere while stealing Panda food for their latest, the [re]Drive, a 500GB external hard drive that’s ensconced in recyclable aluminum, and “renewable, naturally grown bamboo.” Poor pandas. What will they eat if we keep using their food in tech?

Interestingly the aluminum and bamboo enclosure acts like a heat sink, so much so that there’s no need for an internal fan, which saves power. But somewhere, a panda cries out in hunger.

When you first get your DVR from the cable or satellite provider its 10 or 20 hours of recording time sounds like an eternity. Then you quickly realize that you can’t get your full season of Oprah and The Price is Right without running out of room for necessities like Celebrity Rehab.

Apricorn has announced a new DVR expander called (wait for it) the DVR Xpander that offers 1.5TB of storage space. With that much storage, you can record 843 hours of SD programs or 187.5 hours of HD programs. Surprisingly the price for the 1.5TB version isn’t even that high at $239.

External storage can get expensive, but for keeping data safe, an external storage system is important. You can buy your own external hard drive ready to use form places like Seagate, or you can roll your own and save some cash.

StarTech has announced a new storage enclosure for those looking to build their own external hard drive. The enclosure accepts 3.5-inch SATA I or SATA II drives and connects to the PC via USB. The enclosure is physically small to make it easier to fit on a desk.

External storage is an important part of any backup strategy. No one wants to lose all the data on their computers in the event of an accident. Backing up data like documents, photos, music, video files, and other content on your PC is often best done to an external hard drive.

Seagate is one of the biggest names in external storage and today it announced its 2008 line of FreeAgent drives. The flagship drive of the line is the FreeAgent Go, which is only 12.5mm thick. The slim profile of the drive makes it the slimmest available today. Storage capacities are up to 500GB.

External hard drives are a great way to protect important data stored on your computer in the event of a computer crash. The bad part about external storage is that the drives are typically small and easy to steal. That means if the data on the drive is sensitive, you might want to encrypt the data.

The catch with encrypting data is that the data is only as safe as your password. Aluratek has introduced a new Tornado plus external hard drive that features RFID keys. The drive can’t be accessed and the data stored on the drive won’t be unencrypted without first swiping one of the two included RFID keys.

When it comes to backing up data on our computers most of us never do it. The sheer amount of data that could be lost to a hard drive crash on most user’s computers is disturbing to think about. External hard drives are the storage solution of choice for users that have more data than a flash drive will hold or want an automated backup solution.

Addonics has a new external enclosure called the Portable Dual Drive Enclosure that supports dual hard drives and RAID configurations for even more data safety. The enclosure can hold dual 2.5-inch SATA hard drives 9 to 9.5mm in height. Using SATA-CF adapters, you the enclosure can also support up to four compact flash cards.