If you've wished you could connect your external hard drive to your computer without having to use the USB cable, now you can.
Imation announced Thursday the availability of the first wireless USB external hard drive, the Pro WX. The hard drive works just like any other USB hard drive, with one exception: it doesn't require a USB cable.
The Pro WX wireless USB external hard drive.
(Credit: Imation)Wireless USB has been under development for about five years, and some of the first products were demoed at CES 2009. This technology allows you to connect USB 2.0 devices to a computer wirelessly from up to 30 feet away with a throughput speed of up to 480Mbps.
According to Imation, the Pro WX wireless USB external hard drive offers less than that, with speeds of up to only 120Mbps or 15MBps; this is about three times slower than regular USB 2.0 hard drives. At this speed it can finish copying the entire content of a CD-ROM (roughly 800MB) in about 50 seconds. Other than that, this drive is based on the 3.5-inch desktop hard drive and offers 1.5TB of storage.
The Imation Pro WX features a sleep-mode feature to conserve energy and a one-touch, backup sync button for you to manually start a backup when needed. The device is compatible with both PC and Mac operating systems
In order to take advantage of the wireless USB, your computer needs to support this. As most computers don't have built-in wireless USB, there are adapters that you can add to the machine. It's unclear if an adapter is included with the Pro WX.
What's clear, however, is the fact that this is going to be one of the most expensive external hard drives you can find. At the estimated price of $500, about three times the price of regular external USB hard drives of the same storage capacity, I am not sure if it's worth it when the only benefit is losing the USB cable.
The new Pogoplug: more USB ports for extra hard drives, very pink.
(Credit: Cloud Engines)Just recently we reviewed Cloud Engines' Pogoplug, a very affordable $99 solution that effortlessly turns any USB hard drive or memory stick into an online-connected makeshift server. We really enjoyed playing with the original, although its blocky white look wasn't exactly eyecatching. We take that back--and perhaps even long for the minimalism--with Cloud Engines' new Pogoplug, available in December.
Full of funky curves and lots of pink, the new Pogoplug is clearly designed to be more of a desktop or shelf-based companion as opposed to its predecessor, which adopted more of an Airport Express plug-in brick solution. Now, it almost looks like an iMac peripheral from 1999. While the last Pogoplug had just one USB 2.0 port but could support plugged-in USB routers, the new Pogoplug has four built-in USB 2.0 ports for direct connection of hard drives, and new software tweaks more easily allow global search across all drives, as well as better category organization and even the creation of slideshows, set to music, that can be launched directly from the Pogoplug's browser interface.
The original Pogoplug: far more minimalist.
(Credit: Cloud Engines)The new version jacks up the price a little to $129, but the added ports and more prominent base could be appealing for those who want to build a little home-made server. The original Pogoplug is more of a one-stop portable shop that's ideal for travel and for one USB device, or for those who want to save thirty bucks. We're a little surprised the new Pogoplug didn't simply offer an enclosure to slot a hard drive (or drives) in directly, but it does offer a nice solution for a variety of USB devices.
Other new features include syncing with programs such as iTunes, iPhoto and Windows Media Center, a built-in updating address book for file sharing, and video streaming from within the Pogoplug browser or on the iPhone, a feature that was supposed to be available in the last Pogoplug but never really worked for us. Most cameras and video formats are supposed to be supported. Pogoplug supports NTFS, FAT32, Mac OS Extended Journaled and Non-Journaled (HFS+), and EXT-2/EXT-3 formats.
Read our original Pogoplug review, or if you're curious as to how the Pogoplug works, check out the hands-on gallery below.
(Credit:
Tyme Machines)
May the drive be with you.
Tyme Machines, maker of licensed USB drives, has released its Series 1 3D sculpted Star Wars USB thumb drives. The set, which includes replicas of Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Storm Trooper, and Yoda, comes in 4GB to 16GB capacities that range in price from $29.99 to $59.99.
At 3 inches tall and not exactly svelte, they won't be so easy to plug into a USB port, especially if you're using a laptop. But that's where a USB extension cable comes in handy.
So, are these the right characters to launch with? And what characters would you like to see Tyme Machines include in its next series?
G-Tech's new 2TB 7200 rpm-based external storage devices.
(Credit: G-Tech)It's not hard these days to find external storage devices that offer 2TB or even 4TB of storage. However, most of them use low-power and relatively low-performance internal hard drives, such as the My Book series from Western Digital or the FreeAgent series from Seagate. If you are looking for top speed and top capacity form external storage solutions for your Mac, G-Tech has some news for you.
The company announced Monday that it now incorporates Hitachi's 2TB, 7,200rpm, 32MB cache buffer SATA hard drives across its entire 3.5-inch product line, offering different storage solutions from single-volume external hard drive to RAID systems, with capacities ranging from 2TB to 32TB.
The company's newly refreshed products include the G-DRIVE, G-SAFE, G-RAID, G-SPEED eS, G-SPEED eS Pro, G-SPEED eS PRO XL, and the G-SPEED FC XL. With these new products, G-Tech claims that it's now the first in the world that offers a complete line of 2TB, 7,200 RPM drive-based external storage solutions, specifically designed for the Mac computer and audio- and video-editing markets.
G-Tech's new storage solutions comes with virtually all existing connections, from USB 2.0, FireWire and eSATA for desktop external drives to miniSAS and Fibre Channel for high-end RAID storage systems. The fact that now it uses the top 2TB capacity hard drives means that customers can significantly increase the amount of storage while retaining the same physical footprint.
The new G-Tech external storage devices are available now with premium prices ranging from $379 for the simple desktop 2TB G-Drive, $3,599 for the high-end 8TB G-Speed eS Pro to tens of thousands of dollars for other high-end storage systems.
The new Rocket 622 and Rocket 620 SATA 3.0 controller cards from HighPoint.
(Credit: HighPoint)In September, Seagate made the first 6Gbps SATA hard drive available. The new Seagate Barracuda XT hard drive offers twice the throughput speed of existing popular 3Gbps SATA hard drives. Now you're about to get the chance to take advantage of the new drive's performance with your current PC.
HighPoint, which makes controllers for storage devices, announced Monday the availability of the first SATA 6Gbps (or SATA 3.0) host adapters, the Rocket 600 series, which are based on PCI-Express 2.0 technology.
SATA 3.0 is the next generation of the SATA storage standard. Currently most computers use the second generation of this standard, the 3Gbps SATA (or SATA 2.0). At its full potential, the SATA 3.0 standard could theoretically transfer entire contents of a CD (about 800MB) in just one second. According to HighPoint, its new controller cards, however, offer the sustained speed of up to 500MBps.
HighPoint's new series of controller cards comes in two versions, the Rocket 622 that offers external eSATA connections to 6Gbps hard drives and the Rocket 620 that adds the higher-speed SATA to a computer's internal storage. Both of them, however, require an available PCI-Express slot inside the computer. You need the Rocket 620 if you want to install an operating system on the new and faster SATA 3.0 hard drive.
The two add-in controller cards are fully compliant with the Advanced Host Controller Interface (or AHCI) standard. They can also be installed in PCI-Express 1.0 slots and are backward compatible with previous generations of the SATA standard (the 1.5Gbps SATA 1.0 and the 3Gbps SATA 2.0). This means you can use them with any existing SATA-based hard drives and solid-state drives, other than the new 6Gbps SATA Barracuda XT from Seagate.
The new controllers are available this month. The Rocket 620 is slated to cost $70, while the Rocket 622 costs another $10.
Tom and Rafe discuss life with Windows 7, Entourage, Seagate hard drives, Ubuntu and more.
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(Credit:
Kotaku )
A hard-core racing simulation fan from Japan has created this very rudimentary (yet somewhat cool) DIY driving station out of PVC pipes, a wooden plank, and cable ties. While it doesn't look as polished as its video game arcade equivalent, this skeletal concoction is actually very functional, complete with a steering wheel and foot pedal mounts, plus folding capability for easy storage.
One important point we'd like to highlight: this driving station has nothing to do with Gran Turismo (which is a PlayStation exclusive) as claimed by game portal Kotaku, since the pictured steering wheel is manufactured by Microsoft and designed for its Xbox 360.
Click here for more DIY driving stations.
The driving station can fold up for easy storage.
(Credit: Kotaku)(Source: Crave Asia via Kotaku)
(Credit:
Get Busy Committee)
Airport security can be so impersonal sometimes--they expect you to open up your luggage and show them your most intimate clothing without so much as a dinner date. If you are really desperate to solicit a more "personal" experience with a man (or woman) in uniform, this unique USB drive is the way to go.
Shaped like the familiar Israeli Uzi gun, the flash drive isn't your typical storage device. Instead, it's a medium for Los Angeles-based rap group Get Busy Committee to release its upcoming album "Uzi Does It" on October 27. Whether or not you're into the group's music, this is definitely a must-have gadget if you want a memorable experience at the airport security line.
(Source: Crave Asia via Wired)
This USB drive from Mercedes-Benz is shaped like a car key, and holds information and photos about the new E-class.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
As a bit of Friday fun, we gathered up the most unique USB flash drive press kits we've seen from automakers to date. These kits range from diverse brands--Bentley, Ferrari, Kia, and Toyota, among others, and with a sidestep to Caterpillar. Typically they hold photos and documents about a particular car, or sometimes the automakers' entire lineup, and are handed out during the press days at auto shows. Your typical automotive journalist will have a drawer full of these drives.
While many of the drives we receive are fairly standard, some are instances of marketing genius. The most interesting of these drives try to say something about the car they represent, such as the bamboo drive for the Lexus HS, or the key replica for the Mercedes-Benz.
Unlike most drive enclosures, this one has a built-in USB cable.
(Credit: Froobi)If you've ever upgraded the hard drive in your laptop (or thought about doing so), you've probably wondered what to do with the old drive. After all, it's still perfectly good storage.
Answer: Turn it into an external, USB hard drive. All you need is an enclosure, a sturdy casing for the drive that provides an IDE interface and USB connection.
Today only, deal-a-day site Froobi has a SimpleTech 2.5-inch USB external hard drive enclosure for free (plus $5.95 for shipping).
The enclosure is very compact, measuring roughly 0.75 inch thick by 3 inches wide by 5.1 inches long. It'll slip easily into any carry-on bag.
What I like most is the built-in USB cable, which tucks away inside the enclosure when not in use. That's one less cable to remember to bring along, to potentially lose, or to add extra clutter to your carry-on.
I've performed laptop hard-drive transplants before; they're a cinch. And trust me when I say you'll love having a small, lightweight, portable hard drive. They're perfect for on-the-run backups, transferring large files, and extra storage when you need it.
This deal expires at midnight tonight (ET), and it could definitely sell out before then. If you're planning a laptop upgrade (or you've already got a naked displaced drive lying around), this is a no-brainer buy.
(By the way, if you miss out on this offer, there's a vendor on eBay selling similar enclosures for $7 shipped--though they don't have the built-in USB cable.)
