HP announced the HP Personal Media Drive - and a new series of Media Center PCs that allow consumers to slide up to 160 gigabytes of additional storage into a Media Center PC - without having to open its case.

Giving PC users more space for their digital content such as home videos, digital photography and music, the HP Personal Media Drive can slide seamlessly into an easy-to-access bay in the front of the new HP Media Center PC chassis or be used as an external hard drive with any notebook or PC with a port supporting the common USB standard.

When used with the HP Media Center PC, the HP Personal Media Drive gives consumers up to 160 gigabytes of additional storage and can be inserted without having to open the PC case or turn the PC on or off. The 160-gigabyte drive allows consumers to store up to 2,600 hours of high-quality digital music recording, up to 180,000 digital photos, or up to 160 hours of standard-quality TV.

Once the device is inserted into the PC, consumers can transfer large data files to the drive or set it as their primary storage mechanism. For example, consumers can set their HP Media Center PC to record their favorite TV show and program the PC to save it directly to the HP Personal Media Drive.

The Media Drive docking bay will be featured in current configure-to-order HP Media Center PCs and in a Compaq Presario configure-to-order model to be announced later this month.

"The ability to take your data with you whether that's around the house or while away from home will become key for consumers as they wish to interact with their digital data throughout the day," said Randy Giusto, vice president of Personal Technology and Services, IDC. "In addition, as Media Center PC customers grow their libraries of digital media, it will become increasingly important to provide not only portability, but easy-to-use backup capabilities as well."

Estimated U.S. street prices for pre-configured HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PCs are expected to start at $1,049, after a $50 mail-in rebate. Estimated U.S. street prices for configurable HP Media Center m1000 series Photosmart PCs are expected to start at $899, after a $50 mail-in-rebate, depending on the configuration ordered. Estimated U.S. street prices for the HP Personal Media Drive are expected to be an additional $219.