Archive for: external
Have 50GB+ of digital junk sitting around needing to be archived? Usually I’d say get a couple of external hard drives and be done with it. Cheap and easy. But I can see the need for high-capacity physical media as well. For the time being anyway, Blu-ray is pretty much your best bet at cramming the most 1′s and 0′s onto a portable and easily sharable disc. Putting said data on the disc is another thing entirely however.
Since Blu-ray burners and such are still rather expensive, the lower-end range of hardware is still rather slow. 1-2x is what you can expect in the cheap seats. And as you can imagine, 50GB at 1-2x will take a small eternity. But Buffalo has a solution in their new 12x USB 3.0 external Blu-ray burner — the MediaStation BR3D-12U3. While not exactly “cheap” at $349, the fact that it is 12x speed and USB 3.0 compatible in a time period where USB 3.0 accessories are still rather rare is a big plus. Adding to the pluses of this drive include 1080p upscaling, giving even “normal” video content an extra polish that will at least make it look a tad closer to true HD.
Look for the MediaStation BR3D-12U3 to hit store shelves later this month.
One problem I have with external hard drives is that all too often, USB 2.0 is relied upon, with increased input/output support costing more than it should. USB 2.0 isn’t all bad, I mean, it is a very popular and reliable standard. But it’s old news. USB 3.0 is finally coming. Intel’s Light Peak is on the near horizon. Heck, even current gen eSATA is better yet it doesn’t get much attention until you pay for those higher end external drives.
Seagate looks to change things up a bit with their new FreeAgent GoFlex external drives, which feature not only USB 2.0 support, but also USB 3.0, eSATA, Firewire 400, and Firewire 800. And this is all in tiny 2.5″ form factors too. Pretty sweet if you ask me. The breakdown is as follows…
I’m not exactly a “pack rat” per say. But if you stopped by my house and took a peek inside my desk drawers, you’d final all kinds of miscellaneous computer parts, cords, and adapters. I’ve amassed quite the collection. Naturally, upgrading a computer here and there will result in a few extra hard drives. In the case of upgrading laptop hard drives more than is usual, I have a couple collecting dust. Why not put them to good use?
Normally when I want something off of a hard drive that’s not hooked up, I just swap drives in and out of my external enclosure as needed. But the new USB 3.0 compatible 2.5″ external hard drive enclosure by Century has me thinking it’s about time to pick up another enclosure. Instantly taking any 2.5″ drive you may have and turning it into a USB 3.0 “Super Speed” drive sure is tempting. Not to mention, the case itself is only $48 USD, so it’s relatively cheap too. Kind of like a “freebie” if you’re having trouble justifying dropping nearly 50 bones on the enclosure.
The enclosure isn’t shipping until April 12th, but online outlets will gladly take your money now. And just in case you were concerned, USB 2.0 is supported as a safe fall back option. Readying the wallet?
[Product Page: GeekStuff4U]
Technabob >
- February 15, 2010 8:11 am
How about some more USB 3.0 goodness? Fresh off of Buffalo’s 4-port USB 3.0 hub, another little USB 3.0 compatible piece of gadgetry you’ll want to add to your collection is the SIIG USB 3.0 to eSATA adatper. The gist of the adapter is pretty straight forward — it turns a USB 3.0 port into an eSATA port for that external USB 3.0 hard drive you don’t have yet. Hey, it never hurts to be ahead of the curve now does it?
For now, the adapter is Windows only, lacking support for both Linux and Mac. Though I expect the aforementioned OS’s to gain some support in due time. As an added bonus, this adapter is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0 and thanks to the increased power specs of USB 3.0, should power most external hard drives without a separate AC adpater. Super!
Pick yours up for $49.99 and prepare for the USB 3.0 onslaught that is set to begin later this year.
[Proudct Page: SIIG]
Everything USB
In the world of high end gaming and custom rigs, the general public always sees the higher-end Dell, Gateway, Asus, Alienware, etc. A rather unknown yet experienced custom computer manufacturer, “MinWin”, has quite the collection of gadgets to entice.
The first juicy tidbit is their military grade 2.5″ USB 2.0 external hard drive. With USB 3.0 now on the verge of going mainstream, why go 2.0? Well, this particular USB 2.0 drive features shock protection — up to 200 meters. Yes that’s 200 meters this drive can drop and still function. Color me impressed.
Obviously such shock protection is a plus for military applications. The even more exciting part however is the RFID encryption that is provided via a small dog tag accessory. Lose the dog tag, lose your data. That’s it. There’s no reclaiming your data if the dog tag goes missing/is stolen. For the governments of the world, this is their drive.
The only downside if there has to be one is the requirement for external power meaning you’re going to have to lug around two cords. To a blogger such as myself, I already have a million cords in my bag. So what’s one more? To a soldier on the battle field where space is incredibly precious however, another cord isn’t exactly a good thing.
Even still, there’s plenty to like.
But that’s not all. MinWin also had some unique custom computer cases to show off as well. Whether you want a super-sized rig or a tiny, fairly portable desktop option, MinWin has your back.
The most interesting case here was the mid-sized rig they had on display. Costing a mere $40, users get a sweet looking case and power supply. Sounds like a pretty decent deal if you ask me.
If a little more room is needed, the mid-sized case is your next option. Those thinking that a mid-size tower isn’t enough for hard core gaming need to rethink that belief. As you can see, this relatively tiny case (roughly 32″ x 32″ x 8″) still provided ample storage to fit in a brand new dual GPU ATI Radeon 5870.
How’s MinWin looking for you?
- December 10, 2009 9:45 am
Have a gamer and tech geek in your life? Have I got the perfect albeit expensive stocking stuffer for you. The Super Mario World SNES Hard Drive is a labor of love that comes in 320GB, 500GB, and 600GB flavors. I see a lot of custom hard drives pass by me everyday with a majority of them being pretty cool. But for some reason this particular drive really has me wanting it. The size is understandably a tad large for a 2.5″ external hard drive because of the larger size of SNES cartridges, but the smiles, looks, and comments that you’re sure to receive will be well worth it. As far as the innards go, Toshiba 2.5″ drives are used throughout. Power requirements are thankfully contained in one connection via USB. Requiring an external power source would have killed this for me. Then again, a 2.5″ external drive rarely needs extra power anyway.
The choice of Super Mario World as the featured enclosure is one for the masses being that Mario World is a favorite to many a gamer, myself included. But we are all different and different things make us tick. For you who dare to be different, 8BitMemory says that any SNES game can be custom made into an enclosure. Whether you simply don’t like Super Mario or you just want to be more exclusive, the choice is yours.
The best part about all of this custom tom foolery is the price — a mere $139.99 for the 500GB versions. Savvy shoppers can find several 2.5″ 500GB external drives around for quite a bit less. On the flip side however, you can also find many 500GB 2.5″ external that meet or exceed that $139.99 threshold. It all comes down to one simple question: Is it worth it?
My stocking just found a new inhabitant.
- Purchase the SNES External Hard Drive from 8BitMemory (via Etsy)
Geeky-Gadgets
- November 16, 2009 5:53 am
Flash drives have gone from a rare novelty gadget just a few short years ago to a new type of “novelty” gadget. Nowadays everything gets turned into a USB drive. From space themed drives to food, nothing is safe from the USB trabsformation. But did you know that for each flash drive you plug in, and even any external piece of hardware you attach, at least one registry entry is created? And those entries don’t disappear on their own. Before you know it, you could have dozens of excess registry entries accumulating which will collectively slow down your system, particularly the time in which it takes your system to recognize your USB drive after plugging it in. USB Scrub looks to remedy that problem.
The cool part about USB Scrub is that when plugging it in, you’re not simply left with anotherf registry entry. Instead, you’re presented with registry cleaning options with the most prominent being the ability to “Scrub” your registry of rouge USB entries. If you use or have used a fair number of external hardware, you may want to consider USB Scrub. It may just save your sanity and speed up your system.
Remember that bit of Steve Ballmer loose lip that went down many hours prior to this very second? During an interview, Steve was quoted as saying not specifically saying that Xbox 360 hardware was to see Blu-ray add-on accessories, but that if the Xbox were to get Blu-ray, it would be via external forms. Many including myself took this as a sort of admission by omission if you know what I mean. Side stepping hot topics often leaves the Balms in a stuttering incoherent state, this wasn’t anything new.
Well, I’ve got a spoiler for ya. According to Major Nelson, during the now infamous interview, Steve Ballmer was apparently referring to Blue-ray accessories for PC’s. Case closed. No Xbox/Blu-ray love. Though Major Nelson does go on to highlight the importance of the Xbox platforms upcoming support for 1080p HD streaming — a first I believe.
So are you broken hearted? Or did you give up physical media years ago?
Major Nelson
Image Source
**Update: Ya, not so much. ‘ol Stevie was off his rocker and was probably confused. That’s what Major Nelson is saying anyway.
Thank you Mr. Steve “The Balms” Ballmer for your clownish persona and loose lips. You may have just given us some hope for ways of enjoying HD content other than Xbox live. In an interview with Gizmodo’s Wilson Rothman, Steve Ballmer says the following when questioned about the potential for Blu-ray support coming to the Xbox line:
Well I don’t know if we need to put Blu-ray in there—you’ll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories.
Well, cat’s outta the bag on that one. While PR is busy with damage control and trying to hopelessly conceal any Xbox Blue-ray support by way of the typical “we have no plans excuse”, we can simply turn to Steve Ballmer for any undying questions we have. The Balms speaks no lie.
Of course, Ballmer isn’t exactly the most eloquent speaker nor does he seem to always have a firm grasp on internal operations. This revelation by Ballmer could also be a simple statement taken the wrong way. For example, claiming that we’d have to have an external Blu-ray drive could simply mean that there is absolutely “Zero” chances of every seeing the most requested feature offered internally.
Clearly there is plenty of room for interpretation and speculation. I would love to see a Blu-ray drive as I have a growing collection. Though being a digital person myself, the digital only method makes more sense. Who wants to be tied to a physical format? Of course, if I’m to truly embrace going completely digital, companies and “content owners” are going to have to stop being the assholes they currently are and allow to copy my legally paid for digital content. In reality, I do it anyway. So they don’t have to let me. Though doing so without fear of prosecution might help me sleep at night.
Gizmodo
