Today Toshiba released their latest flock of external USB hard drives to the market. Targeted at complete backup, the 500GB ($149.99 MSRP) and 320GB ($119.99 MSRP) capacity drives have the space for the files on your laptop or desktop.

The Toshiba Portable Hard Drives come with both Mac and Windows software, including a Drive Space Alert that tells you that your drive is getting full, and 256-bit software based encryption. The drives come with NTI Backup Now EZ for Windows PCs, which can either backup the whole hard drive for disaster recovery, or can be set to search for and backup just your personal files (Outlook, photos, videos, etc.) which is quicker. The drives come with NTI Shadow 4 for Mac, which can search for and backup files. Toshiba's hard drives support Time Machine built into Mac OS X 10.5+ for total backup.

The drives are available today from www.toshibadirect.com and through major retailers and online outlets. The drives are available in an array of color choices, such as Vivid White, Liquid Blue, Komodo Green and Rocket Red.

PC users will no longer need to look at Apple's Time Capsule in envy, thanks to the Seagate and Rebit-powered Seagate Replica, a backup appliance supporting whole-PC backup on multiple machines. The device, powered by Seagate's hardware and Rebit's software, is attached via USB and keeps an up-to-date copy of whatever is on the PC, without having to rely on scheduling or manual backup. Lose your whole system? The Replica will bring it back just as it was the day before.

If you have more than one machine in need of backup, Seagate offers a multiple-PC version with twice the hard drive space (500GB instead of 250) and a plug-and-play dock for swapping out the drive. The price for this peace of mind? The Replica has an MSRP of $129.99 for the single-PC version and $199.99 for multiple PCs. Not bad, especially considering the Time Capsule goes for $299.99 with the equivalent 500GB.

Western Digital has always played favorites with the Mac with its My Book Studio Edition II line of external hard drives, and the new release of the 4-terabyte model continues the trend.

Apple has positioned the Macintosh line as a premium PC, and the Studio Edition II is also a premium external storage solution: the whopping 4 terabytes of storage capacity (across two drives)  is matched by an equally hefty $649.99 price tag. Users can purchase the drive either through a retailer or through WD's site.

Both the MyBook Studio Edition and Studio Edition II ship with a FireWire 800/400 connection that Apple has endorsed, as well as eSATA and USB 2.0 connector.

The new Studio Edition II is user serviceable, meaning that users can swap new drives in and out. One catch: only WD's GreenPower drives are supported, as the case does not use a fan. RAID 0 functionality is supported for all of the drives; the drives can also be mirrored in a RAID 1 configuration. A capacity gauge is also included so that users can see how much available space has been used.

The My Book Studio Edition II can also be used with Windows PCs, although users will have to suffer through the lengthy format times that Mac users must deal with while using drives that have been preformatted for Windows machines.

Somewhat lost in the many WWDC announcements made Monday was an interesting point: at Apple, at least, the SD card format has won.

Most of the new MacBooks have replaced an ExpessCard slot with an SD card slot, which was designed as a slot to bring in photos from digital cameras. (Given that the iPhone lacks a memory card slot, I think it's fair to say that the SD slot serves way to bring content in to the MacBook, rather than send it out.)

Why do the new MacBooks have an SD card slot, instread of a five-in-one card reader, like other notebooks and desktops? Because "SD is really ubiquitous," Todd Benjamin, director of portables for Apple, said during an interview on Monday at Apple's developer conference in San Francisco.

Consider all of the various small-form-factor card formats there are, or were: CompactFlash, the various Memory Stick flavors, SmartMedia, miniSD, microSD, xD.

It's not clear whether the new MacBook card slot supports the SDHC format, as well as SD. If it doesn't, it surely will in the next revision, with a roadmap toward the terabyte SDXC standard. As you can see, there certainly are quite enough different dorm factors within the  SD format alone. It's also unlikely that the smaller SD form factors will go away as the external storage formats for cell phones.

Still, Apple essentially killled off the floppy; it's probably time that it helped consolidate the industry on a single flash card format for desktops, as well.

With USB flash drives getting smaller, and their storage sizes getting larger, people are trying to figure out a convenient way to keep one on hand at all times. USB watches are often not that attractive, and keeping a Flash drive with your keys just makes your keychain that much larger.

That's why this new item from TopTech products makes so much sense. Slim Data USB cards are thin enough to fit in your wallet's credit card slot, yet offer 4GB of storage. They measure 3.4- x 2.1 x 0.11-inches and come in clear, gray, orange, red, or blue. When you need to use one, you simply fold the top up to reveal the USB 2.0 port, then plug in into your computer. They work with Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. And if you're in marketing, Slim Data card can be custom printed for larger orders.

While the press release promised 1GB and 4GB capacities, I see only the 4GB model on the site. It sells for $27.99.

President Barack Obama is lot of things--the first African American president of the United, a harbinger of change... a 2GB USB key? Yes, that's right, Obama is also our first USB 2.0 Commander-in-Chief, thanks to Active Media Products who today announced the release of the Commemorative Obama Flash Drive.

The drive features an Obama hologram on its front and various Obama-related data inside, including the President's Inaugural Address. There's an hour of audio and various PDF text version of speeches.

"We designed the Obama drive to be a slim, usable USB drive that fits on your keychain. It's a great value as a portable drive to carry your music, photos and data. But it's also sleek and classy enough to be a great collector's item," said the company's director, Jerry Thomson.

Classy indeed, Jerry; classy indeed.

Move over IBM--database manufacturer Oracle today has agreed to buy Sun Microsystems in a deal that values the company at $7.4 billion, or $9.50 a share.

"The acquisition of Sun transforms the IT industry, combining best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems," said Oracle head Larry Ellison in a statement issued today. "Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system--applications to disk--where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Our customers benefit as their systems integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up."

Beyond the monetary sums the information on the transaction remains aw bit sketchy. The fate of Sun employees remains up in the air, though Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz remains optimistic on the topic. "This is one of the toughest emails I've ever had to write. It's also one of the most hopeful about Sun's future in the industry," Schwartz wrote to his staff on Sunday. "Oracle's interest in Sun is very clear--they aspire to help customers simplify the development, deployment and operation of high value business systems, from applications all the way to datacenters. By acquiring Sun, Oracle will be well positioned to help customers solve the most complex technology problems related to running a business."

HP is adding more Apple love to its current lineup of MediaSmart Servers (EX485/EX487). With existing support for Time Machine backups, a new update to the home servers will enable content streaming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. HP MediaSmart Server iStream, a free iPhone application, will mimic Apple's familiar iPod interface for streaming music and videos to the device over WiFi or 3G, and will support photo streaming as well. The update is expected later this month.

Other updates include a video converter that automatically converts videos from a variety of sources (including unprotected DVDs) into both high-resolution and mobile versions (suitable for iPhone streaming), and updates to the HP Media Collector and Apple Time Machine configuration. The update also adds Photo Viewer support for public and private albums.

The update is compatible with current MediaSmart Servers, but will not be available for the EX470 or EX475, as those models don't have enough power to support the new streaming and conversion features. The 1.5 terabyte EX487 ($749 list) received a PCMag.com Editor's Choice in February. The EX485, which includes 750GB of storage, is available with a $599 list price. We haven't had a chance to test the new features, but stay tuned to PCMag.com for ongoing MediaSmart Server and iPhone application coverage.

Maybe it's just me, but my feeling has always been that the fewer syringes I have to encounter in day to day life, the better. If, however, you can't get enough of the spiky, bloodsucking things, Brando has the product for you: The new USB Syringe Flash Drive combines the aesthetics of a syringe with the flash-driveyness of a flash drive.

You can order the 8GB model for $29.99 from Brando. And here I was under the impression that the first one was always free.

Over the weekend IBM withdrew a $7 billion bid for Sun Microsystem. The move follows some dissatisfaction with the bid on the part of Sun, despite the fact that IBM's offer was far above the company's market valuation.

The deal valued Sun at $9.40 a share. IBM is expected by some to restart talks, should Sun's value drop below $8.49. The New York Times' report on the subject cites three sources who asked the paper to maintain their anonymity. "There's lots of testosterone going back and forth," one of the sources told the paper.

Two things you should never doubt: my commitment to Sparkle Motion, and me bringing you the best tech deals every day.

1. I love having lots of storage space, and thus I love how the price of storage is falling. Check out the savings on this Western Digital 320GB hard drive. Amazon's got it for $64.98, a huge drop from its $199.99 list price, and it qualifies for free shipping. This internal drive has an SATA interface, spins at 5400 rpm, and is whisper quiet.

2. When you smile for your next picture, you'll be thinking about the great deal you got on this Casio Exilim Z80. J&R is offering it for $99.99, one third off the MSRP. This Exilim has 8.1 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, a 2.6-inch display, and an SD card slot. It also offers a YouTube video mode for easy sharing.

3. Businesses--now you can get a Dell server for the same price as a dozen eggs (yes, I pay a lot for my eggs, but they're free range). Dell is offering a PowerEdge 840, with a Dual Core Intel Pentium 2.4-GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive for $499. Everything is configurable on the Dell store, so get exactly what you need. Note that this base price doesn't include the OS.

Bonus deal: Today's a Woot-Off day!

On Tuesday, EMC's Iomega division announced a series of free upgrades to its StorCenter ix2 NAS appliance, adding PC-less BitTorrent downloads, remote access, and improved Mac support.

Iomega introduced the StorCenter ix2 last October, pledging that the NAS would be a platform as well as a storage unit, part of a way to differentiate the StorCenter from the dozens of rival products in the market. The new features will ship as part of the existing 1- and 2- terabyte StorCenter ix2s, but can be upgraded to by existing owners via an Iomega update.

The update adds five new features. Of the most interest to enthusiasts will be the native support for the BitTorrent protocol, which means that users can download torrent files without the need for a PC. This was a hot feature a couple of years ago, with Orb Networks, Netgear, and Asus and some lower-profile NAS products. It's not quite clear whether support will be built in for white- and black-listing IP addresses to prevent third-party snooping.

Do you: (a) Constantly misplace your USB drives in pockets, drawers, or purses? (b) Prefer not to tether them to your wrist or wear them around your neck? (c) Appreciate good design? (d) All of the above? Regardless of your answer, LaCie may have the perfect drives for you: USB keys that actually look like keys.

Created by the clever folks at French design studio 5.5 Designers, the devices will blend right in with the rest of the stuff on your keychain—meaning that as long as you keep track of your keys, you'll keep hold of your flash drives, too. There are two different designs—iamaKey and itsaKey—and each one is available in both 4GB and 8GB capacities.

Get 'em directly from LaCie for between $15 and $28 each.

I have a confession to make: I work at PCMag.com, and I haven't backed up my home computer. I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's true. When I bought my MacBook, it was shiny and new, and though I'd lost all the data on my old system, I had faith that this one wouldn't let me down. But now it's been nearly 3 years, and I'm starting to worry.

It's easy to make excuses for not backing up. For less tech-savvy users, there might be the difficulty of picking out a drive and scheduling backups. Or if you're a Mac user, you have to worry about which drives are compatible with your system. Well, with our newest Editors' Choice hard drive--the Clickfree HD325--all the guessing is gone from backing up. The HD325 is compatible with both Macs and PCs, can sync with multiple systems in your household, and is no more difficult to set up that just plugging it in.