The extra space means the new drive could hold 300,000 high-resolution photos, making it useful for people storing or editing large numbers of photos, as well as those working with video, music or data files, the company said.

While the new Maxtor drive offers more storage capacity than other drives, it's not fastest at accessing data. The new drive spins at 5,400 revolutions per minute, below the 7,200rpm level of competing devices, which could hurt its performance in comparison tests.

However, Maxtor offers other drives at retail with a higher rotational speed and large amounts of memory to act as a buffer for data, meaning that with the 300GB upgrade kit the company is most likely emphasizing size and price over all-out speed.