The Vosonic X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 is 40GB external
hard drive that is clunky, cheap-looking, has a crappy text-only
integrated screen, plays MP3s, but not WMA, AAC, or OGG Vorbis, and
can only read from one card from its card reader at a time. So why
would any photographer want it? Because it's cheap, it does the
primary job it was designed to do (act as remote backup for memory
cards), and can accept as many additional 2.5-inch laptop hard drives
as you want to swap into it, meaning that all other things aside, you
can purchase this single $335 drive and continue to upgrade it for
only the price of additional hard drives. Read -
Hard disk: X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 [BIOS]
Vosonic X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 40GB Flash Memory Reading Hard Drive
Grok Headline matches for Vosonic X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 40GB Flash Memory Reading Hard Drive
40GB portable hard drive/card reader/MP3 player
40GB portable hard drive/card reader/MP3 player12/12/2003 02:01 PM New from Vosonic, a portable 40GB USB 2.0 hard drive with a built-in
6-in-1 card reader (for storing photos when you run out of...
Test Drive | Here's help finding things on car drive or hard drive
If you thought
all Yet Another Flash Drives were the same, leave it to Ars Technica
to prove you (us) wrong with a hugely informative (if pedantic) review
of 10 different USB 2.0 Hi-speed flash memory drives, with benchmarks,
read/write tests, and even an experiment involving two flash drives
and RAID 0. It's a great place to start if you're interested in any of
the drives, with include units from PNY, SanDisk, Mushkin, SimpleTech,
FujiFilm (a write-speed beast), Verbatim, Transcend (the overall
winner), and Iomega (who did very well all around). Read [ArsTechnica]
SanDisk 256MB Flash Memory Drive for $33
SanDisk 256MB Flash Memory Drive for $3304/21/2004 03:50 PM SanDisk is selling its 256MB USB Flash Memory Drive for $47.24 with a
$15.00 rebate, bringing the total price down to $32.24, qualifying for
Amazon's free shipping. I suspect SanDisk is trying to clear the
channel to prepare for the launch of their Cruzer Micro flash drives,
but that's just...
Devil Duckie USB Flash Memory Drive
Devil Duckie USB Flash Memory Drive05/06/2004 10:14 AM If you like your USB flash memory drives rubbery, expensive, and ugly,
then Thinkgeek's got the drive for you: this 256MB Devil Duck flash
drive is available for $99, which as EverythingUSB points out, you
could get a far-less-obnoxious Sandisk Cruzer Mini with 512MB for the
same price. But hey,...
EZQuest: Perhaps the World's Smallest USB Flash Memory Drive
EZQuest: Perhaps the World's Smallest USB Flash Memory Drive05/10/2004 01:27 PM Oh nos! The (claimed) world's smallest USB flash memory drive is upon
us, this time from EZQuest. The USB 2.0 drive is only 'two-quarters
long and two-quarters thick,' making it at least a contender for the
title, if not the absolute smallest (the Pretec drive will be arguably
smaller). 128MB...
With a complete computer system, including the hard drive, processor and DVD drive, the iMac G5 is only about
Console Drive makes hard drive removable or external
Console Drive makes hard drive removable or external06/04/2004 03:52 PM Addonics Technologies announced on Friday the release of its
Console Drive, which turns a standard 3.5-inch hard drive into
either aremovable internal hard drive cartridge or an external hard
drive thatconnects to your Mac via USB 2.0 or 1.1, FireWire, SCSI or a
PCMCIA slot,depending on the model you choose. Internally, the Console
Drive can connectto a Power Mac's Serial ATA slot. In addition, the
Console Drive acceptsAddonics' series of Pocket CD, DVD, CD-RW and
DVD+/-R/RW drives, all ofwhich are Mac compatible.
Reformat Your Hard Drive, Watch Flash Videos, Increase Your Site's Search Rank
Oops, I almost forgot about these new cameras
announced from JVC - the ones they've been hyping up to no end as
their big "mystery product." Basically, they're camcorders with hard
drives in them - a 4GB microdrive, to be exact. They look pretty cool
and everything, but they're really most interesting because they are
the first consumer camcorder with a built-in hard drive, not because
they do anything particularly unique. That being said, I fully support
this idea, and think most consumer recording technology should move to
hard drives as soon as possible (I'll be waiting until you can get
something with a bigger hard drive than 4GB for less than $1,500,
though).
Both models (the GZ-MC100 and the GZ-MC200) can record up to 9Mbps
in MPEG2, though, which is DVD quality.
A Minuscule Drive, Except for the Memory05/05/2004 09:28 PM U.S.B. drives seem to get ever smaller, but now a new model from
Pretec claims to be the tiniest ever. Less than two inches long and
weighing less than a quarter of an ounce, the folding iDisk Tiny 2.0
has a surface area slightly smaller than that of a United States
quarter. Compatible with machines running the newer Windows, Macintosh
and Linux operating systems, this diminutive flash drive requires no
external power source and can pack away up to a gigabyte of data.
An Ode To The Hard Drive
An Ode To The Hard Drive05/27/2004 09:35 AM You know it's likely to be a slow news day when the first thing you
turn up is, basically, an ode to the unsung hard drive.
Hard drives are, admittedly, a fairly unsexy business. Then again,
you might think the same thing about semiconductors - and they seem to
get plenty of attention. Either way, storage is very important to
consumers - as the article notes in looking at how quickly people
focus on the size of their iPod hard drives or just
how much space their Gmail account really has. Even the leading
people in the storage business are quite colorful and certainly
unique, which should get them much more attention. However, when it's
all said and done, no matter how important your hard drive is (just
think how people react when their hard drives die), and no matter how
quickly they improve in just how much data they can hold, not too many
people find themselves particularly interested in the "boring" hard
drive business.
HP's new hard drive to go
HP's new hard drive to go06/21/2004 03:40 PM Latest media center PC has docking areas for a camera and a secondary,
portable hard drive. But is the price right?
Xbox 2: Hard Drive or No?
Xbox 2: Hard Drive or No?03/06/2004 01:57 AM It's getting so complicated. First came the rumors that the Xbox 2 [at
right, in mythical prototype form] wouldn't have a hard drive. Then,
enough...
Tiny new 1-inch 1.5 GB hard drive from Cornice that
costs about half as much as Hitachi's 1GB Microdrive. Apparently this
is the same hard drive that Samsung uses in its "tapeless" digital
camcorder, the DV-4200. Read
EverythingUSB is mentioning
that Taiwanese OEM Welland has -- at least as far as they know -- the
first USB On-The-Go (OTG) hard drive. It also has a built-in card
reader, USB host (duh), and a rechargeable battery. USB OTG is pretty
simple, and pretty great. By adding a USB host to storage, you can
hook your digital camera or anything else that supports the standard
up to it and transfer data without needing to hook up to a PC. That is
a positive thing.
That being said, I have a hard time believing this is the first USB
OTG hard drive to see the light of day. Read [EverythingUSB]
Active Imaging Sensor authenticates enrolled fingerprints
and is unaffected by changes in skin condition and moisture content
[...] A composite image of multiple fingerprints is stored during
enrollment which makes the sensor tolerant to varied finger placement
during authentication [...] Sensor can be used with other software
programs designed for fingerprint authentication access
Plans
Triumph Of The Hard Drive09/23/2004 11:15 AM The iPod is a triumph for the hard disk over optical storage. By Dana
Blankenhorn, Moore's Lore (via MyAppleMenu)
The Inner World of the Hard Drive03/19/2005 03:03 AM Analyssis: Holy microscopic elements, Batman! Loyd dissects an
ordinary hard drive and finds a tiny universe of components moving
with unbelievable speed.
If terms like 'areal density'
and 'magentoresistive' are a bit much for you, ExtremeTech's piece on
the inner workings of your hard drive is a good read. They explain
what exactly makes up one of the most crucial pieces of hardware in
your machine and how every single bit gets recorded and read. If
you've never taken apart an old drive, toyed with the platters and
flung the heavy magnets towards your friend, you should pick one up
and do just that after reading this piece—it's fascinating
technology, truly.
I
guess a waterproof USB flash memory drive is a good thing (I
mean, I am the person with the open aquarium in his floor, like, four
feet from me), but in most instances, it might be the sort of added
feature that doesn't ever really get used, like those annoying "seat
belt" things they insist on cluttering up my death pod with. Read -
Clef USB Waterproof [AkihabaraNews]
Okay, it would seem we have a serious problem. I love
flash drives as much as the next guy (I use them when I need to, sure,
but only when necessary), but when one of our nation's most precious
resources - college football players - start shoplifting from
Wal-Marts just to feed their portable data addition, well... something
has to be done.
According to Durham County court records,
he is accused of stealing "an assortment of jump drives" -- portable
data storage units that plug into PCs -- Sept. 12 at Wal-Mart at New
Hope Commons in Durham. The computer equipment was valued at
$374.49.
We need college football, and if these "jump drives" (known on
the street as 'flash,' 'hotplug,' and 'taking the D train') are going
to affect our young mens' ability to play ball, I say we ban them as
soon as possible before we wake up to a society plagued by thousands
of "pluggies."
Also, isn't calling this kid a punter a little over the top? He has
a disease; show a little respect. (Thanks, Joe!)
KanguruMicro 4GB Flash Drive05/27/2004 07:51 AM Oh good, I'd been worried it'd be a long time before we'd get to
purchase $1,700 Yet Another Flash Drives, but nope, Kanguru is
launching a 4GB NAND flash memory thumbdrive that will sell for,
amazingly, that very amount. With...
New USB Flash Drive Plus Ink Pen released
New USB Flash Drive Plus Ink Pen released05/07/2004 09:18 AM Peripheral Enhancements Corp. has released the latest addition to the
company's DiskGO! product line: the USB
Flash Drive Plus Ink Pen. It's an aluminum barrel ink pen with a
twist-off cap that reveals a USB 2.0 connector for the Flash Drive
hidden within. It features 32MB, 128MB and 256MB capacities for
US$39.95, $69.95 and $89.95, respectively. Mail-in rebates of $20 for
all three models are available through the company's authorized
reseller Web sites. The USB Flash Drive Plus Ink Pen ships with a USB
extension cable and a replacement ink cartridge.
Tunes, A Hard Drive And (Just Maybe) A Brain08/27/2004 02:03 PM Shuffle commands have been around since the dawn of the CD player. But
the sheer quantity of music on an MP3 player like the iPod -- and in
its desktop application, iTunes -- has enabled the function to take on
an entirely new sense of scale and scope. It also hightens the risk
that a long-forgotten favorite song will pop up, for better or for
worse, in mixed company. By Rachel Dodes, New York Times (via
MyAppleMenu) See Also : Circuits Discovers Shuffle by Gizmodo "You fool,"
gasped the Arch-Editor, as he fell to one knee, black fluid running
from his ears, "Have you not heard? This iPod can play music... at
random." Grok Description matches for Vosonic X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 40GB Flash Memory Reading Hard Drive GrokA matches for Vosonic X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 40GB Flash Memory Reading Hard Drive
USB flash drives have become more common, due both to their utility
and decreasing prices. They are a great tool for transporting files
around, especially when the network is down. They are supported on
Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux right out of the box. And best of all,
prices have come down considerably since our review last year.
In this edition, we pit ten drives against one another, testing
them for durability, style, construction, bundled software, and
read/write speed. And once again, the flash drive RAID array makes an
appearance. So if you are looking to get your first flash drive, or
are thinking about replacing your small and aging USB 1.1 flash drive,
you've come to the right place.
New: Crucial Gizmo Hi-Speed USB Flash Drive
New: Crucial Gizmo Hi-Speed USB Flash Drive06/18/2004 11:11 AM Crucial Technology released the Gizmo Hi-Speed USB Flash Drive, a
solid-state flash drive with a 480 Mbps Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connection.
Crucial offers new Gizmo Hi-Speed USB flash drive06/15/2004 01:40 PM Micron subsidiary Crucial Technology on Tuesday introduced its new Gizmo Hi-Speed USB flash
drive. The USB 2.0-compatible flash drive measures 66.5 x 16.5 x 8
mm, and is available in capacities from 64MB to 1GB. The plug-and-play
flash memory drive is compatible with Macs and PCs and costs US$28.99
to $229.99 depending on capacity.
Crucial Gizmo! Hi-Speed 512MB USB Flash Drive review @ XtremeResources
Ars Technica review: USB 2.0 Hi-speed Flash drives
Ars Technica review: USB 2.0 Hi-speed Flash drives06/03/2004 05:26 AM Ars Technica takes a look at 8 different USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Flash
drives. Are they commodity products, or are there enough differences
to make shopping around worthwhile?
Look, he admits right there on the page that he knows this is
sort of retarded, so let's cut him some slack and wallow in the joys
of a retro refit well done. I mean, he even made a new label and
everything!
Memorex offers 2GB USB 2.0 flash drive09/09/2004 07:21 AM Memorex Products Inc. on Thursday introduced a 2GB version of its TravelDrive, a USB
2.0-equipped flash memory drive designed for portable storage. The
device is compatible with Macs and PCs equipped with USB ports and
costs US$299.99. Memorex TravelDrives are available in capacities
ranging from 128MB to 1GB as well.
Ars
Technica has posted another in-depth round-up of USB Flash Drives,
this time focussing on the new crop of USB 2.0 compatible drives. I'm
going to buck convention and link you to the very end of the article
where you can get their scores and prices, since for some reason Ars's
janky CMS doesn't let you skip forward or backward more than a page at
a time. If you want to start from the beginning, change the 12 to a 1
in the URL.
Oh, spoiler warning: The Transcend JetFlash 110 and SimpleTech
Bonzai SD/MMC models both got 9 out of 10—the highest
scores.
Although its limited to USB
1.1 speeds, the new USB Flash Drive Duplicator from Nexcopy could come
in very handy to the select few that could make use of it. Functioning
as a standalone device (no PC needed), up to 20 USB flash drives can
be duplicated from a single source; you can even daisy-chain multiple
units for more mass copying. Loading up the day's data for your fleet
of pestering salesmen has never been easier!
Kanguru offers 4GB flash drive05/26/2004 01:43 PM Kanguru Solutions on Wednesday announced a new 4GB model of their KanguruMicro Drive
2.0. It's a USB 2.0-equipped flash drive that measures 3 inches
long. It sports 4GB of data storage capability. Compatible with Macs,
PCs and Linux devices, the new KanguruMicro Drive 2.0 is equipped with
128-bit data encryption as well. The new 4GB model costs US$1,699.95.
Other capacities ranging from 32MB to 2GB are available as well.
Snakey Webcam Flash Drive
Snakey Webcam Flash Drive05/21/2004 08:31 AM Yet Another Flash Drive, this one with a built-in sensor designed
specifically for use as a webcam, plus all the usual USB 1.1 (crappy)
data rates. Plus, it has a snapshot button for when you're carrying it
around in your...
New: Imation 1 GB USB 2.0 Swivel Flash Drive
New: Imation 1 GB USB 2.0 Swivel Flash Drive07/09/2004 10:11 AM Imation released a 1 GB USB 2.0 Swivel Flash Drive, which weighs less
than one ounce and is about the size of a AA battery.
Raiders of the Lost Flash Drive
Raiders of the Lost Flash Drive04/23/2004 06:51 AM Looking for the perfect gift for your favorite geeky goth, death metal
fan, or Nazi? Look no further than this eagle-winged USB flash drive,
currently selling for around ¥6,000 in Akihabara. Unfortunately, when
opened, the swirling shreaks and shafts of holy light melt off the
heads of you and your...
It's
sad that these days, almost anything that refers to itself as a 'spy
something' is probably pretty pedestrian when it's all said and done.
So while this "SPY DISK with card reader" isn't amazing, it is
surprisingly enough that it actually does something cool at all.
Available with internal memory sizes of 128MB or 256MB, the cap-end
also functions as an SD/MMC card reader. You can't copy
directly from the SD cards to the internal memory -- you'll have to
copy to your PC, then back -- but it's a pretty great idea in general,
even if it doesn't shoot lasers or eject poison gas. And hey, it's USB
2.0! Maybe the cheap gear is finally starting to see the light of fast
transfer rates. Read [Thanko
via Akiba.SorobanGeeks]
Stuffed Animal MP3 Flash Drive04/20/2004 04:54 PM It was bound to happen. Now that Yet Another Flash Drives have become
such a commonplace commodity, they're starting to be shoved into
surprising places--specifically, the insides of this knock-off stuffed
Pooh Bear. Although the manufacturer's page doesn't make it clear
exactly where the flash player is lodged, one can...
In doing some research (you know, "reading") for the
article immediately below this one, I stumbled across a device listed
as "coming soon" on RWC's homepage. The "Bulldog" is a USB flash
memory device with an integrated 1.3MP digital camera. Keen Gizmodo
readers will recall that Philips has a line of products similar to
this: the "KEY ###" series. Judging by the lack of features on RWC's
version, we're hoping it ends up as a more economical solution.
Hoping.
If terms like 'areal density'
and 'magentoresistive' are a bit much for you, ExtremeTech's piece on
the inner workings of your hard drive is a good read. They explain
what exactly makes up one of the most crucial pieces of hardware in
your machine and how every single bit gets recorded and read. If
you've never taken apart an old drive, toyed with the platters and
flung the heavy magnets towards your friend, you should pick one up
and do just that after reading this piece—it's fascinating
technology, truly. 
Look, he admits right there on the page that he knows this is
sort of retarded, so let's cut him some slack and wallow in the joys
of a retro refit well done. I mean, he even made a new label and
everything!
Ars
Technica has posted another in-depth round-up of USB Flash Drives,
this time focussing on the new crop of USB 2.0 compatible drives. I'm
going to buck convention and link you to the very end of the article
where you can get their scores and prices, since for some reason Ars's
janky CMS doesn't let you skip forward or backward more than a page at
a time. If you want to start from the beginning, change the 12 to a 1
in the URL.
