Personal Storage Becomes More Personal

This article has been written by Wolfgang Schlichting, Research Director, Removable Storage at IDC, with the contribution of Dave Reinsel and John Rydning.


Wolfgang Schlichting

The market for personal storage continues increase in size and popularity. The year 2007 marked the first year that the number of terabytes shipped into personal storage exceeded the number of terabytes shipped into enterprise storage. Since then, the delta simply continues to grow. That said, a device is a device is a device, and companies are getting creative in their attempt to differentiate their products, beyond capacities and average sales prices (ASPs).

There is no lack of new personal storage product announcements – it is almost a weekly occurrence. One of the keys to attract buyers is to differentiate from mainstream products and to bring some level of personalization. Three vendors recently announced interesting products with new levels of personalization.

Green IT has been a buzzword for some time and low-power devices are getting more attention.

SimpleTech’s [re]drive is a personal storage device that minimizes the use of electricity and other resources. It targets end-users who are concerned about the environmental impact of their devices and who also want to show that they care. The drive is packed with environmental conscious features including an enclosure that is manufactured with recyclable aluminum and bamboo, an energy star power adaptor, and a ‘turbo’ USB 2.0 interface that allows data to transfer faster than other devices.

Also, LaCie, a long-standing external HDD vendor, continues to innovate around the design and features of its personal storage products. Earlier in the year, LaCie announced its d2 Quadra external HDD with some interesting features that increases its level of personalization. Similar to the [re]drive, the d2 has aluminum exterior with an increased surface area. This ‘grille’ design dissipates heat more efficiently and eliminates the need for an internal fan, and it looks cool, too. Also, the drive can be formatted to work with both Macintoshes and Windows simultaneously, and offers 3 different interfaces (USB 2.0, Firewire, or eSATA) to meet end users various requirements and preferences.

Another way to differentiate is to reach out to a specific group of people, in this case females. Samsung is designing a new personal storage product that is uniquely feminine. The company recently unveiled its concept for a new external drive, called ‘Costume,’ designed specifically to appeal to women. The external 2.5in. drive is inspired after a ladies ‘make-up compact’ and fits within a purse easily. The drive could launch late this year or early next.

Customers of personal storage have many options from which to choose. The decisions can be personal or technical (or both), and vendors are looking to capitalize any way they can. While it is difficult to know just what personalized features customers will appreciate most, IDC, based on its quarterly tracking of personal storage, notes the following trends:

• An increasing portion of users choose 2.5in. technology over 3.5in. 2.5in. drives are based on HDDs for mobile PCs and therefore are smaller and more power efficient. Already in 1Q08, 37% of all personal storage devices use 2.5" HDDs, a share trend that increases each quarter.
• More capacity also is an increasing trend. The average capacity of personal storage devices is estimated to grow from 370 GB in 2007 to 410 GB in 2008.
• The mix between host-based (e.g., USB or Firewire) and network-based personal storage (a.k.a., personal NAS) continues to be weighted towards host-based. However, IDC expects the share of personal NAS to increase 8-fold over the next 4 years.

Personal storage vendors are eager to deliver whatever personalization features appeal to end-users. In the end our data and content are personal. Increasingly, so are the choices and features for the devices upon which we store this data.