Delivering solutions designed for an increasingly mobile and connected lifestyle, HGST, a Western Digital company, today announced that it is expanding its family of external storage and backup solutions with its new line of Touro S mobile external hard drives.

Available in colorful metallic finishes such as gold, silver, ruby and platinum, the Touro S drive family delivers two levels of data protection - local backup and cloud storage - to help protect, transport, store and access photos, music, videos and documents from anywhere. With its thin, stylish design and an aluminum enclosure, the 7,200 RPM hard drive-based external drives moves files up to 23 percent faster than standard 5,400 RPM-based drives.In addition to receiving up to 1 TB of local storage, every Touro S customer also receives 3 GB of Touro Cloud Backup for free. This online storage option ensures that data is always protected and accessible in the cloud. With Touro Cloud Backup, users can access and share files from any web browser, tablet or smartphone. When using the cloud service, all content is stored in its natural format, so files are easy to view, download and share from any web browser, anywhere. Users can even share online content with others by sending a web link. For more cloud storage, users can upgrade to 250 GB for only $59 per year, which includes multiple computer protection. Those who upgrade receive Apple iPhone and iPad apps for free.

With a simple few clicks, the Touro S local backup software quickly and automatically backs up photos, favorite music, videos, and documents from a computer directly to the drive. Once installed, backups run every 30 minutes. Flexible settings allow users to schedule custom backups on a time or day that's convenient for them.

"Computers, tablets and smartphones may come and go, but personal data remains, and continues to grow daily, which is why people need reliable storage solutions to help store, protect and manage their most valued content," said Mike Williams, vice president and general manager, HGST Innovative Solutions Group. "Featuring popular new colors and a sleek design, our new Touro S drive family not only gives users color options to match their style and personality, it gives them multiple storage options with the best performance, capacity and reliability for their digital lives."

HGST Touro S mobile external hard drives are Mac and PC compatible, and feature a two-year limited warranty. The 1 TB Touro S drive has a manufacturer's suggested retail pricing (MSRP) of $99.95. The 500 GB Touro S drive is $79.95.