Sony HD-PG5U External Hard Drive with USB 3.0 Puts Sony’s Spin onto Storage

At this point, you’re going to have to work moderately hard if you want to stand out in a crowded market, and there are few markets more crowded than the storage space. HDDs, SSDs, USB, FireWire, Gig-E – so many options for expanding your data pool. Sony decided to finally dip their hand in the ring, and they did it with style.

The new HD-PG5U works as an external hard drive. As such, you can plug it into any USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 port and have access to a large, fast and portable storage space. As is typical with Sony electronics, however, the story hardly stops there. In addition to having that high-speed USB 3.0 tech, Sony has put on some proprietary software that reportedly accelerates even USB 2.0 connections.

Plug this puppy into the USB port on a recent Sony Bravia television, and you’ll be able to record live broadcasts right to the drive – perfect for snagging TV on the go. It’ll also act as a photo tank, but for video, with the latest HandyCam camcorder models. Just connect the two devices, and you’ll be able to move video from the camcorder directly onto the drive.

Finally, you’ll also be able to connect this drive comfortably to Sony’s PS3 for watching any of your recent video recordings thanks to the Filmy app.

Unfortunately, the HD-PG5U is currently limited to just 500GB. That doesn’t seem too bad, but given as we are to increasing amounts of digital content, users might run into issues in the fall. For now, the drive is Europe only (specifically in the UK, Germany and France), and it remains to be seen whether Sony will bring it across the pond. No pricing data was given.