IRVINE, Calif., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- According to new research, Americans worry more about losing their digital valuables, such as family photos, home videos and important documents, from a computer crash than having a wallet lost or stolen and being audited by the IRS.  In response, Toshiba today introduced the Canvio™ Portable Hard Drive product line, an easy-to-use computer backup solution with up to one terabyte (TB(1)) of storage capacity to protect the enormous amounts of digital content Americans are creating and storing on home computers.  

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According to the recent survey conducted by Impulse Research and sponsored by Toshiba(2), 70 percent of Americans have lost some type of data on their computers.  The vast majority (89 percent) of consumers are aware of the importance of regularly backing up their computers to avoid losses; however, most (57 percent) never back up or only do it when they think of it.  

How Can Consumers Be Saved From Themselves?

A leader in delivering mobile storage products to consumers, as well as to computer and consumer electronics manufacturers, Toshiba designed and introduced the Canvio Portable Hard Drive to help consumers make protecting their digital memories an uncomplicated and regular practice.  The Canvio appeals to consumers with diverse digital comfort levels – it's easy to use with simple plug-and-play operation for novices and offers customizable options for tech-savvy users.

The stylish Canvio product line comes in five colors and four storage capacities, ranging from 500GB to 1TB.  At the top capacity, the Canvio holds up to 285,000 digital photos, 263,000 digital music files, or 820 digital movies(3).  Consumers can easily back up entire music, photo or home video libraries with this vast amount of storage space.

Smaller than a postcard and weighing about six ounces, the Canvio is portable, providing a great emergency solution for saving digital memories in the event of a home catastrophe.  In fact, survey respondents ranked their digital memories third in a list of items they would take with them in the event of a home evacuation, excluding family members and pets – only behind money and family photos.  

Who's Concerned About Digital Memory Loss?  

Concern for protecting valuable digital assets is on all consumers' minds – but it's top-of-mind for some more than others.  According to the survey:

• Fear of losing computer data (cited by 42 percent of respondents) ranked just under fear of being laid off (46 percent) – a telling statement in this economy.
• Digitally savvy young people (18-24 years old) are most concerned about computer crashes (65 percent), listing it as their biggest fear, right after someone breaking into their home (70 percent).
• Women, in particular, are concerned about the security of family memories – 78 percent of women respondents indicated they are primarily responsible for maintaining family records and memories to pass down to future generations. These "chief memory officers" say that family videos and photos, as well as ancestor photos, are the most precious memories they have.

"If the thought of losing all of your family's important documents, photos, and music makes you shudder, spare yourself the worry by backing up your files," says the product reviews staff from MomCentral.com. "Toshiba's light and sleek Canvio Portable Hard Drive makes it easy to save your data, whether you're working from home or on-the-go."

Backup Made Simple

With an easy setup process and "set-it-and-forget-it" operation, the Canvio product line can automatically and regularly back up a computer while in use, removing the primary barrier to backing up – 54 percent of survey respondents said they simply forget about it.

Building on the success of its previous portable hard drives, the Canvio product line features easy-to-use Windows™-based NTI® BackupNow EZ™ software, upgraded with better search capabilities and simpler step-by-step restore functionality to retrieve lost files.  For advanced users, the Canvio offers even more customization features than previous Toshiba personal storage products, including extensive backup options, advanced restore functionalities and an ability to overwrite specific original files.  The Canvio also provides an option for complete system backup, enabling users to restore select files or the entire computer, even if Windows is unable to start.  

"As the survey shows, home computers hold very personal and valuable assets, and yet the majority of people aren't doing enough to help protect that precious data," said Manuel Camarena, product manager for consumer storage at Toshiba Storage Device Division. "For consumers who know backup is important and want an easy path to peace of mind, the Canvio is a no-brainer.  It simply acts like an insurance policy against the loss of crucial data and precious digital memories."

Toshiba Canvio Product Details

The Canvio product line comes in an array of colors, including Raven Black, Satin Silver, Liquid Blue, Rocket Red and Komodo Green. Toshiba has reduced the physical size of this personal storage line by 25 percent and added environmentally-friendly packaging, delivering a 35 percent reduction in total volume and using 100 percent recyclable materials.  

The Canvio product line is available now at www.toshibadirect.com or through major retailers and online outlets.  For a complete list of retailers offering the Toshiba Canvio, please visit www.wheretobuy.toshibastorage.com.  

Suggested retail prices by capacities are:

• $119.99 for the 500GB Canvio
• $139.99 for the 640GB Canvio
• $159.99 for the 750GB Canvio Plus
• $199.99 for the 1TB Canvio Plus

About Toshiba Storage Device Division

Toshiba is a one-of-a-kind global storage company, offering hard disk drives (HDDs), optical disk drives (ODDs), solid state drives (SSDs) and NAND flash memories – technologies that drive a wide range of consumer electronics, computer and automotive applications, as well as enterprise solutions for the global marketplace. Through its Storage Device Division, Toshiba leads in the development, design and manufacturing of mobile, retail and enterprise hard disk drives. Toshiba SDD markets high-quality peripherals to original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, value-added resellers, value-added dealers, systems integrators, distributors and retailers worldwide. Inherent in the Toshiba storage family are the high-quality engineering and manufacturing capabilities that have established Toshiba products as innovation leaders worldwide. For more information, visit www.toshibastorage.com.

About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry-leading portable computers; projectors; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics applications; and telephony equipment and associated applications.  

TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of information products in the United States and Latin America. TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation.  Toshiba Corporation is a world leader and innovator in high technology, a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products. These products span from information & communications systems; digital consumer products; electronic devices and components; as well as power systems including nuclear energy; industrial and social infrastructure systems; and home appliances.  Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 730 companies, with 199,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing US $67 billion (FY2008).  For more information on Toshiba's leading innovations, visit www.toshiba.com.

© 2010 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.  All product, service and company names are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Information including without limitation product prices, specifications, availability, content of services, and contact information is subject to change without notice.

1. One Gigabyte (1GB) means 10^9 = 1,000,000,000 bytes and One Terabyte (1TB) means 10^12 = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes using powers of 10.  A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 2^30 = 1,073,741,824 bytes and 1TB = 2^40 = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes, and therefore shows less storage capacity.  Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, such as Microsoft Operating System and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content.  Actual formatted capacity may vary.
2. The survey was conducted online with a random sample of 1,004 men and women over the age of 18 by Impulse Research.  The Impulse Research proprietary online panel has been carefully selected to closely match U.S. population demographics and respondents are representative of American men and women 18 or over.  Research was conducted in February 2010.  The overall sampling error rate for this survey is +/- 3 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence.
3. Examples of the number of photos, songs, movies, and any other files that can be stored on a hard drive are provided for illustrative purposes only. Your results will vary based on file size and format, settings, features, operating system, software and other factors.

SOURCE Toshiba