Western Digital has introduced a trio of new My Passport Studio portable hard drives equipped with an e-paper storage status readout.

The use of E Ink technology means that the display can be read even when the drive is unplugged and unpowered. What it shows is up to you: the drive comes with software that lets you personalise the readout, which will also tell you how much free space you have available.

WD's My Passport Studio: now with a capacity readout

The drives sport both USB 2.0 and Firewire 800 ports, and come in 320, 500 and 640GB capacities. The HDDs within support on-the-fly 256-bit AES encryption and pre-formatted in the Mac's HFS+ file system.

In the US, the drives are priced at $150, $180 and $200 (£98-131) and are available now. UK-specific pricing hasn't been released. ®