Radeon returns to the storage game with the launch of the Radeon R3 drives-- a series of entry-level SSDs available in 120, 240, 480 and 960GB capacities.

Manufactured by Taiwanese OEM Galt, the Radeon R3 SSDs come in a 2.5-inch form factor, are 7mm thick and are compatible with the SATA III 6GB interface. Inside are TLC NAND and a Silicon Motion M2256KX controller.

Emtec announces WEYA (WherEver You Are)-- a lineup of portable wireless multimedia storage devices consisting of the GoPhoto, GoMusic and GoMovie products, all complete with rechargeable batteries and companion apps.

Designed to allow file access while on the go, WEYA devices create an own wifi network for the easy file backups without need for an internet connection. In addition users can also access and organise files, as well as stream audio or video, through free apps.

Toshiba announces an upgrade of the Q300 and Q300 Pro series 2.5-inch SATA III SSDs-- one filling the drive with 15nm flash (instead of 19nm) for capacity, performance and power consumption improvements.

Announced back in September 2015, the SSDs offer 120, 240, 480, 960 or 1024GB capacities in the Q300 version, with the updated Q300 Pro version adding a previously unavailable 1TB option. The Q300 Pro also offers an increase in endurance, with the 1TB model claiming a maximum write of 640TB over a 5-year warranted lifetime.

Otherwise in terms of performance both SSD series offer 550MB/s sequential read and up to 530MB/s sequential write (depending on range and capacity). The Q300 series claims maximum read/write IOPS of 87000 and 83000, while the Q300 Pro clocks at 92000 and 63000 maximum read/write IOPS.

Seagate announces the Innov8-- a desktop external HDD the company says is the first to be powered via USB, no plugging into a power outlet required.

Allowing the Innov8 to sip all power through USB is the 3.1 standard offering up to 100W to connected devices while handling all data transfer requirements. As a result, the HDD offers 8TB of storage, making it ideal for large media collections or backups.

Western Digital's WDLabs unit presents a storage device for use with the Raspberry Pi micro-PC-- the PiDrive, a purpose-built 314GB HDD promising low-power USB operation and ease of integration.

"Adoption of Raspberry Pi computing devices is expanding at a tremendous rate, reaching eight million units in about 4 years. However, the millions of Raspberry Pi users are finding limitations from data storage devices originally designed for other applications," the company says. "The WD PiDrive 314 GB HDD is designed to support Raspberry Pi growth by addressing barriers to hard drive adoption such as affordability, power loading and system set-up."

Storage solutions vendor G-Technology announces the G-Drive Mobile USB-C-- an external HDD featuring USB-C connectivity and a thin, beveled aluminium case in gold, space grey or silver colours.

G-Drive Mobile USB-C carries a 7200 RPM HDD, for transfer rates reaching up to 136MB/s. Being backwards compatible with other USB formats, the drive ships with one USB-C to USB-C cable and one USB-C to USB-A cable, while free G-Technology Windows Format software allows Windows users to easily reformat the drive.

SanDisk announces the Extreme PRO microSDXC UHS-II card-- a microSD card the company claims offers the fastest transfer speeds of up to 275Mbps (or 3x faster than microSDHC UHS-I cards).

Such speeds, the company adds, make the card ideal for customers recording large amounts of video on smartphones, drones or action cameras.

Western Digital NAS, external storage and video surveillance products launched in H1 2016 get a storage boost with the addition of 8TB capacity drives featuring HelioSeal technology.

As the name might suggests, HelioSeal technology involves sealing the drives in helium. Helium a gas with one-seventh the dnesity of air, causing smaller amounts of turbulence and heat inside the drive-- so much so WD claims HelioSeal drives consume 23% less power, are 38% lighter and run at cooler temperatures than comparable non-helium filled drives.