Verbatim computer peripherals are well known, and I have used their computer mice and recordable disks for years. This will be the first hard drive from Verbatim that I have ever used, and it offers a new feature: an always-on “cholesteric” display. It’s a very small 2.5” hard drive that is USB powered and operated in a sleek package. This is nothing new, but the drive also includes a microchip that reads the partition information of the drive and displays the partition name and available space on a display. Continue reading

The EnhanceTech TS800 IP is an enterprise-level solution for iSCSI attached storage. Resembling a full-size ATX case, the TS800 contains three gigabit network controllers, an onboard computer and web server, a RAID controller capable of level 6 arrays, and a hot-swap backplane with room for 8 SATA drives. The novel aspect here is the use of the iSCSI standard, essentially using an existing TCP/IP network infrastructure to pass packets of data that mimic a more traditional SAS solution. Part of this process is specialized software on the client end to attach the device as a volume. Continue reading

I have been familiar with ThermalTake products for years, having built my first custom computer using one of their Xaser-II cases. I’m also familiar with their typical over-engineering. In the case of the Xaser-II, the front door was made of ¼-inch cold-rolled steel, and weighed close to five pounds. Throughout the years, that case has served many purposes and held together perfectly due to its stellar build quality. Up now is the BlacX Duet, an external hard drive dock for internal SATA hard drives. The “Duet” is for two drives being simultaneously accessible by eSATA and USB with this product. Continue reading

Laptop users are increasingly using external hard drives to tote around their digital lives. While the data on your computer is marginally secure with login passwords and perhaps even data encryption, external hard drives are easily accessible when physical access is obtained. The NexStar Vault from Vantec offers to remedy this solution with a simple hardware-based locking system to secure data, while still offering the convenience of a system without passwords or slow software-intensive encryption techniques. Continue reading

As our digital lives grow beyond the confines of our internal hard drives, more and more we turn to external solutions to carry the weight. A simple external hard drive is a convenient choice, but offers the risk of data loss if it incurs damage. To backup data entirely, twice the space would need to be purchased; RAID solves this problem elegantly by distributing the data across multiple disks, but requires dedicated hardware to accomplish the rapid and complicated process of distributing data and parity bits across multiple disks. Storing the disks in a clean, working, and elegant system is another common problem. As a university student, I eschewed this process and settled for a pile of hard drives on top of a Tupperware bin. While functional, enterprise users will be attracted to a product such as the TowerRaid, which is decidedly less “ghetto fabulous” than my solution. Continue reading

Once, accessing data off of spare hard drives took more effort than it was worth. The introduction of inexpensive external enclosures made swapping hard drives much easier than opening up the computer was, but enclosures can still be a hassle for those hard drives you only need quick access to files. Like recovering files when Windows won’t boot, or grabbing a single document or picture off of an old hard drive. Enter: the hard drive dock. Hard drive docks allow hard drives to be swapped quickly and easily, without screws or tools, making them ideal for those brief times you need to use an internal drive externally. Today we will be looking at Thermaltake’s BlacX SATA hard drive dock. Continue reading

IcyDock makes a series of hard drive docks, enclosures, and other related pro ducts. Most of these are very nice, sturdy products. The intended purpose of this Hard Drive Converter is to literally “convert” any 2.5” SATA laptop hard drive into a 3.5” desktop drive. Continue reading

While being a fairly new company, QNAP has quickly established a reputation in the industry for quality NAS products. While most of their NAS solutions tend to be for use in businesses, they also have several products geared towards the home user. Today we will be talking a look at the QNAP TS-119 Turbo, which is one such product. Continue reading

When Other World Computing sent me the Voyager Q Hard Drive Dock, I had (and still do) some reservations about the safety of a having an internal hard drive running in such an open environment. The dock poses as a desktop solution to hot-pluggable, external storage at internal storage prices. We’ll be looking at its performance across the wide array of interfaces it offers, and its functionality as a whole. Continue reading

RiData released a line of SSD drives called the Ultra-S Plus. This series of drives was announced at CES this year, (how did I miss that booth?) and they claim it is much faster than many of the other MLC drives available today. Continue reading

Lately, external hard drive docks have become a popular accessory, specifically the open form factor ones that allow quick swapping of the media in the dock. The Kingwin EZ-Dock is a medium to low cost option with all of the features of the more expensive models. Continue reading

Solid state drives, or SSDs are becoming ever more popular as their cost decreases and their capacity increases. These drives have many advantages over modern hard disk drives, however, their perceived high prices and slower speeds have prevented them from being adopted up to this point. The Cavalry Pelican SSD is one of these drives that is capable of effecting a swift and necessary reversal of this misconception. Continue reading

For the longest time, portable flash drives have been tied to the USB interface, despite faster interfaces for external devices being available. Perhaps this is because of the popularity and proven history of the USB interface. However, a small and rather unknown company by the name of Kanguru set out to change things up and introduced the eFlash, a flash drive which can be used with either USB or eSATA interfaces . Kanguru claims the drive is over twice as fast when using eSATA instead of USB 2.0 Continue reading

SATA docks are everywhere. Every company has their own version of essentially the same thing. But today we have something a little different, the Dual Hdd Dock from Cavalry. This drive can accommodate not only one, but two SATA drives at once, and connects them to your computer with the ubiquitous USB 2.0 interface. Continue reading

ATP’s ToughDrive combines the utility of a regular USB Flash Drive with the durability of a rock. The drive claims to be rugged, waterproof, resistant to extreme, temperature, and shock proof. But in today’s world of Internet reviews and commentary, you can’t just slap a picture of a tank on the package and get away with it unless you have a serious product to offer. Continue reading

The ATP Earth Drive is a “green” option in the realm of previously environmentally harmful computer accessories. It wasn’t too long ago that nearly every component of computers was fulled with toxins that could potentially hurt the planet if not disposed of properly. This USB flash drive compensates for these with a biodegradable PLA (a kind of plastic that can be made from corn) plastic casing, and a very small form factor. The components of the flash media are completely encapsulated, like one of the coin-sized flash drives or a micro SD card, so the flash drive is water and dust-proof, and it is resistant to some physical trauma. ATP also donates a portion of all EarthDrive sales to American Forests, which plants trees. Continue reading

USB flash drives have become amazingly cheap these days – much like the floppy disk of old (anyone remember those?), it’s become the default method for transferring data between computers. However, because of their small size and their prevalence, they are very often lost, stolen, or broken. Despite this, most people don’t give any thought to securing the data they store on them – we either assume we’ll always have them on our person or in our control. Even if we use disk encryption (such as PGP or TrueCrypt), that is much better suited for use on a single dedicated system as opposed to something you can use easily on multiple machines.

Enter the IronKey. While most USB drives do allow for, and work well with disk encryption, the IronKey is intended to be an answer to many portable security issues users might have. The IronKey protects against hostile networks, and includes utilities for storing passwords, and clean browsing software. In effect, the IronKey is your very own bastion of portable security, meant to survive whatever you throw at it and keep your data out of prying hands without too much interference.

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Product: Kingston 2GB DataTraveler Secure – Privacy Edition
MSRP: $133.00
Supplier: Kingston
Author: Clint
Date: 1/26/2007

Security is an ever increasing concern for both small and large companies as well as consumers. It seems like we cannot go a day without hearing about a new security breach or someone’s identity being stolen. Flash drives can be extremely convenient and boost productivity. However… Continue reading

Product: Kingston 1GB U3 DataTraveler
Supplier: Kingston
MSRP: $27.00
Author: Clint
Date: 1/17/07

USB flash drives have been around for quite some time now. However, up until recently, there really wasn’t an easy way to install software to your flash drive so it was truly portable. Many programs require registry keys to work correctly or store their info in variety of different locations. This is… Continue reading

Product: ICY DOCK MB722 Internal SATA Hard Drive Enclosure
MSRP: $48.99
Supplier: ICY DOCK
Author: Nick
Date: August 21, 2006

A little while ago we took a look at the ICY DOCK MB122, which was an excellent product.  Today we take a look at the ICY DOCK MB722, which contains many of the features of the MB122 plus a few extra.

Packaging:

The packaging of… Continue reading

Product: ICY DOCK MB122 Internal SATA Hard Drive Enclosure
MSRP: $50
Supplier: ICY DOCK
Author: Nick
Date:

Internal hard drive enclosures are a must-have for anyone who frequently swaps out hard drive or requires hot-swappable hard drives.  They also allow for added storage capacity when all of the 3.5” bays in a case are used.  Today we are going to take a look at ICY… Continue reading

Product: VIZO Paragon 2.5” External Hard Drive Enclosure
MSRP: $30 – $40
Supplier: VIZO
Author: Sam
Date:August 9, 2006

Let’s face it; hard drive enclosures represent one sector of the computer industry in which innovative products are few and far between. The Vizo Paragon 2.5” HDD enclosure is not one of those products, but it looks nice and is manufactured to the highest quality standards.

Packaging… Continue reading