External hard drive manufacturer LaCie is out with a new five-bay RAID solution for small and medium size offices. It is called the 5big Network and it has a starting price of around $900.

The LaCie 5big Network is available in 2.5TB, 5TB and 7.5TB storage capacities. It offers up hot swap and seven RAID modes, including RAID 5 and RAID 6. Storage can be expanded on this drive via its USB or eSATA ports.

Buffalo Technology says it is set to release the world’s thinnest external hard drive (currently, that is). The anorexic looking Buffalo MiniStation Shinobi can be yours to fatten with files for around $120 for the 30GB (HD-PT30U2) and $170 for the 60GB (HD-PT60U2).

The Buffalo MiniStation Shinobi models are 5mm (.2 inches) thick and weigh around just two ounces. This makes them pretty very compact and portable, of course, and the fact it is USB-powered just adds to that on-the-go image.

Western Digital (WD) is adding a new storage size option for fans of its My Passport Portable USB Drives. The new storage size is 500GB and you’ll be able to purchase My Passport Elite and My Passport Essential portable drive models for around $220 and $200, respectively.

WD says these new drives weigh less than seven ounces and are somewhat durable. They are USB-bus powered, use synchronization software which lets users sync their changes and offer plug-and-play capability with gaming consoles so one can play music and view photos and video files on a TV.

LaCie has announced its newest four-bay RAID solution for those needing up to 6TB of storage space at their desk. It is called the 4big Quadra and you can pick one up for a starting price of around $900.

The LaCie 4big Quadra offers a native RAID controller which supports seven RAID modes, including RAID 0 and RAID 5. It is said to offer burst transfer rates reaching up to 200-230MB/s through eSATA 3Gbits and comes in a stackable design which is expandable for up to four units and upwards of 24TB of storage space.

LaCie’s got itself a new designer external hard drive today which is networked for NAS duty. It is called Network Space and you’ll find this drive offering 500GB or 1TB of storage when it becomes available next month.

The LaCie Network Space, which starts pricing around $150, is the latest design for the company by Neil Poulton. It has a black mirror-polished finish, fanless operation and blue LED strip. LaCie says it is usable right from the box by just plugging into an Ethernet port.

Other World Computing is out today with an expanded line up of external FireWire-based hard drives it believes are “value done right.” This line of Neptune drives ranges in size from 80GB to 1TB, with pricing ranging from around $85 to $230.

The Nepture hard drives from OWC  feature two six-pin FireWire 400 ports for connectivity to Macs or PCs. Key hardware specifications include a 7200RPM drive mechanism, up to 32MB data buffer and data transfer rates of up to 400Mbps.

SentrySafe, which is noted for its fire resistant external hard drives, is back in the news with a new 250GB model made in the same vein. The new SentrySafe QA0005 is priced at around $400.

The SentrySafe QA0005, like its predecessors, is designed to withstand select environmental conditions to protect your digital data. It is designed to be waterproof, even when submerged for up to a day, as well as fire resistant up to half-an-hour in 1550-degree temperatures. If it gets that hot, however, we doubt you’ll be donning your fire suit to retrieve it.

Newer Technology, which recently released a more eco-friendly version of its Guardian MAXimus external storage solution, is back again with with a new Guardian MAXimus which revs up to 10,000RPM for faster data transfer rates. It is called the Guardian MAXimus 300GB 10,000RPM and you’ll find it pricing around $900.

The Guardian MAXimus 300GB 10,000RPM offers data transfer rates up to 100MB/sec, depending upon whether you are using the FireWire 800, FireWire 400 or USB 2.0 interface. It sports two 300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor hard drives in a RAID-1 mirror configuration.

OWC continues to like to see how many directions it can go with its line of Mercury On-The-Go external hard drives. To that end it just announced what it is calling the highest capacity 7200RPM portable bus-powered storage solution on the market - the OWC Mercury On-The-Go 320GB 7200RPM.

The OWC Mercury On-The-Go 320GB 7200RPM, available with USB 2.0, USB 2.0+eSATA, FireWire 400+USB 2.0, and FireWire 800/400+USB 2.0 interfaces for a variety of prices starting around $240, offers what OWC says is 60% higher capacity to similar products. It is described as offering “3.5″ desktop hard drive performance in a 2.5″ solution.”

Western Digital (WD) said today it was introducing a dual drive storage option to its popular My Book line of external hard drives. This new model is known as the WD My Book Mirror Edition and you find it pricing around $290 for 1TB or $550 for 2TB.

The WD My Book Mirror Edition is a dual drive system designed to automatically and continusously duplicate your data. It does RAID-based data protection to mirror your files twice. Included backup software also lets you do additional, more selective backups.

Buffalo Technology popped out today its own spin on portable mass storage by unveiling the MiniStation DataVault. It is set to price at around $130 for a 160GB version and $210 for 320GB.

The Buffalo MiniStation DataVault weighs less than eight ounces and includes a wrap around cable which snaps into place. The hard drive inside this Buffalo offering makes uses of hardware-based 128-bit AES technology for automatically encrypting all data saved to the drive.

LaCie said today it would be unveiling a 1TB version of its Little Big Disk Quadra external hard drive for use on the go. The LaCie Little Big Disk Quadra 1TB is pricing at around $660.

The LaCie Little Big Disk Quadra 1TB is an external hard drive which can fit “into the palm of your hand.” It consists of two 2.5-inch hard drives working together in a RAID 0 configuration. Data transfers speeds are said to be upwards of 110MB/s using e-SATA or 80MB/s via FireWire 800.

NewerTech is going green with the announcement of a more eco-friendly version of its Guardian MAXimus line of RAID-1 storage drives. It is called the NewerTech Guardian MAXimus eMAX and you’ll find it pricing around $550.

The NewerTech Guardian MAXimus eMAX offers up 1TB of RAID-1 storage. NewerTech says this drive is more eco-friendly by being RoHS-certified via unmentioned energy efficiency technologies. This reportedly offer a 15 percent power savings and up to a 50 percent power reduction versus similar 1TB external drives.

Imation announced today a new line of external hard drives which feature nice looks and decent storage capacities. The line is the new Apollo and the first model is a 2.5-inch hard drive for mobile users called the Portable Hard Drive.

The Imation Apollo Portable Hard Drive, priced at around $150 to $223, is available in storage capacities up to 320GB. This particular drive is a little over half an inch wide and weighs just 0.35 pounds.

Iomega is getting into the DVR storage expansion business with today’s unveiling of a new external eSATA-compatible hard drive. The model is called the Iomega DVR Expander Drive and pricing is set around $200.

The Iomega DVR Expander Drive brings 500GB of additional storage to the DVR, which Iomega says increases storage capacity “by as much as 300 hours of standard-definition TV or 60 hours of high-definition TV.” It is currently certified compatible with an eSATA-enabled Scientific Atlanta DVR when connected to the eSATA port on the back panel of the DVR.