HDD External Storage

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Vantec NexStar Universal Storage Adapter 10-18-2009

As a computer service technician, I know for certainty that having the right tools for the job is essential to a speedy and profitable repair. Little gizmos like power supply testers and a digital multimeter can help to rule-out or diagnose problems in a fraction of the time. One problem I have always run into is testing hard drives, as you usually need another system to test them out in. This usually leads to a congested workbench, crammed with testing systems for IDE, SATA, and laptops for the smaller form factors. Today we take a look at a solution to this problem offered by Vantec, the NexStar Universal Storage Adapter.

ioSafe Solo 500 GB Rugged USB External Hard Drive 08-26-2009

If you spend a lot of time working on your computer, whether for business or pleasure, there is little doubt that you have amassed a great deal of invaluable data. Sure, you can take steps to prevent data loss such as backing up your information onto multiple drives, an external drive or even burning data to an optical disc. But these measures typically only protect you against hardware failure or possibly theft. What would happen if your house caught fire and burned to the ground, or a flood passed through and totally destroyed all of your home’s contents?

OCZ Agility 120GB MLC Solid State Drive 08-23-2009

As both popularity for SSDs and development of their technology grow, manufacturers are beginning to release their second generation SSD product lines. Today we have for review OCZ's second generation "mainstream" SSD, the OCZ Agility 120GB SSD. Back in May, OCIA.net site owner Shawn Knight had a chance to look at the first generation of mainstream SSDs from OCZ. That mainstream SSD, the Apex, performed exceedingly well for its price-point. Today, we'll see how substantially SSD consumers benefit from the development of technology over time.

2x OCZ Vertex 30 GB Solid State Drives in RAID 0 07-06-2009

Users interested in a blazing fast RAID0 SSD setup but don't require that much storage have other options, however. Another popular line of SSDs from OCZ is the Vertex, which starts out at only 30 GB versus the Apex entry level model at 60 GB. The Vertex is categorized as a performance solid state drive and although it uses the same multi-level cell (MLC) technology as the Apex, there are some notable upgrades inside, including the Indilinx SSD controller and the inclusion of 64 MB of onboard cache. The Vertex is more expensive per GB than the Apex, but the dual 30 GB configuration we will be tinkering with today will only set you back $300, half the price of the dual Apex drives we used... but only 25% of the capacity.

Kingwin EZ-Dock 2 HDD Docking Station 06-29-2009

Late last year we reviewed the Kingwin EZ-Dock hard drive docking station, where it earned our Seal of Approval for its features and price. Kingwin has followed up the original EZ-Dock with its sequel, the EZ-Dock 2. In addition to the 2 in the model name signifying the second in series of hard drive docking stations, it could also be construed to refer to the fact that it now supports not just one, but two drives operating either independently or in conjunction with each other.

KingSpec 32GB 2.5 PATA SSD 06-03-2009

There are a multitude of aging notebooks and laptops out there, such as my IBM ThinkPad T40, that are incapable of being upgraded to take advantage of the latest SATA hardware. With a 1.5GHz Pentium M processor and 1GB of memory, the old T40 has system specs similar to the more modern netbooks that have become increasingly popular of late. But with a hard drive that's five years old and only 60GB in size, the T40 gets quickly left behind in the performance department, as it chugs along with slow read/write speeds and high access times. Can installing a current, leading-edge SSD sporting the old PATA interface breathe new life into this 5-year old paperweight? Join me as I aim to find out!

2x OCZ Apex 120 GB Solid State Drives in RAID 0 05-04-2009

Taking all of this into consideration, most users simply can't afford / stomach the pain to spend $800 for only 64 GB of storage capacity regardless of what kind of memory it uses. But, these same users also desire something that is quick and won't cause stuttering / pauses when used as an OS drive, a common problem with early generation SSDs. For those that fall into this category, OCZ created the Apex Series of solid state drives. Utilizing an internal RAID 0 configuration to help eliminate poor performance and stuttering, can the OCZ Apex live up to our expectations of what a midrange MLC-based SSD should deliver?

WD Caviar Black 1TB Hard Drive 04-16-2009

It is the WD Caviar Black 1TB drive I will be taking a look at today. The Black series, in addition to offering the greatest performance of Western Digital's consumer lineup of Caviar drives, also includes the same five year warranty as their more expensive Enterprise class. Sporting a class-standard SATA 3.0Gbps interface, 7200rpm spindle speed and a whopping 32Mb of cache, the WD1001FALS represents Western Digital's top of the line consumer grade hard drive.

OCZ Solid Series SSD Drive 02-27-2009

When it comes to Solid State Drives, the old adage holds true... speed costs, how fast do you want to go? OCZ's own SSDs such as their Core series of drives, have often garnered praise for their fast read/write times, but like other brands have been priced out of reach of the average consumer. To combat this OCZ has released their Solid Series, a value line of SSD drives for the masses. The 30Gb model they sent over for review today can be found for right around $100. But at that price can it live up to the OCZ name? Or is it merely a glorified USB thumb drive in disguise?

Kingwin Big Drive KM-TB235 RAID Enclosure 02-15-2009

As a follow-up to our EZ-Dock, Kingwin sent over the newest model in their external drive line-up, aptly named the Big Drive. The Big Drive is a dual SATA RAID enclosure, supporting up to 2Tb volumes using JBOD, RAID1, RAID0 and Safe33/50 configurations. It can be connected via USB 2.0 or eSATA interfaces and supports the latest Windows and Mac operating systems.

OCZ Throttle eSATA Drive 8GB 02-10-2009

Today, we have for review one of OCZ’s newer releases, the OCZ Throttle eSATA Drive. OCZ has been producing removable storage for a number of years now, and has, at long last, released an eSATA thumb drive. Promising read speeds of up to 90MB/s and write speeds of up to 30MB/s, the Throttle is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

OCZ Gold Series 8GB SDHC Memory Card 01-12-2009

It's been close to two years since we last took a look at a SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) memory card. At that time, SDHC was just beginning to be implemented into consumer devices and thus, support was pretty scarce. Like any new technology, it was only a matter of time before it caught on with the masses. Fast-forward to today, where SDHC has made a successful transition, effectively replacing the older SD format and has become the most popular memory card format. Capacity has also increased, with SDHC cards currently available up to 32GB in size. Today we will be taking a look at a slightly smaller card in the OCZ Gold Series 8GB SDHC Memory Card.

Kingwin EZ-Dock 12-17-2008

Right on the heels of our Sunbeamtech HDD Docking Station review comes another external drive storage product from Kingwin, the EZ-Dock. Although offering similar features to the Sunbeamtech and other units, the EZ-Dock isn't just another copy of the same design. It supports both 2.5" and 3.5" SATA drives and can be connected via the USB 2.0 or eSATA interface. It also offers a one-touch backup option that is not available on many of the other docking station brands.

Sunbeamtech SATA HDD Docking Station 12-11-2008

In the months following CES 2008 we have seen a proliferation of hot-swap hard drive docks come to market that all bear such a striking resemblance to the original BlacX that we can only come to the conclusion that Thermaltake is licensing the design. Such is the case with the product we have for review today, the Sunbeamtech HDD Docking Station. Like the original, the Docking Station supports 2.5" and 3.5" SATA hard drives up to 1Tb in size in an easy-to-use hot-swap base connected to the computer via USB. While the original BlacX did not support eSATA, that has since become an added feature and one the Sunbeamtech Docking Station also offers.

Thermaltake VI-ON External USB Drive Enclosure 11-13-2008

The Thermaltake VI-ON offers a couple different flavors, either a USB/eSATA interface or USB-only, and is available in a high gloss black or white. All versions support 3½" SATA drives up to 1TB in size, and feature a SMART active cooling system and embedded drive suspension to reduce vibration and noise. The one we have for review is the black, USB-only model.

Transcend 2.5-Inch 32GB Solid State Drive 08-15-2008

One product category that has grown rapidly in popularity recently is the Solid State Drive or SSD. By using an array of flash memory chips grouped together in a standard-sized enclosure, the SSD offers several benefits over a traditional hard disk drive. For one, they have no moving parts, so they operate completely free of noise. They also produce very little heat, which should make them ideal for use in tight spaces where cooling is a concern, like laptops and other portables. Their greater tolerance for vibration and shock are also a boon for notebook use, as is their lighter weight.

Icy Box IB-3218 Enclosure 08-03-2008

A few months ago I reviewed the Icy Box NAS 4220 dual-drive enclosure from Raidsonic. They've taken the best features of the NAS box and incorporated them into the product we have for review today, the Icy Box IB 3218. Bearing a striking resemblance to the NAS 4220, the IB 3218 uses the same housing and drive mounting mechanism, but without the network interface.

iStar T5F-SS SATA Hard Drive Rack 07-22-2008

iStar originally catered more towards IT professionals and the like, but in recent years, they have started creating products that the average consumer can use on a daily basis. Items such as ATX computer cases, hard drive coolers and external hard drive enclosures are all items now offered by iStar. Today we will be taking a look at one of iStar's new products, the T5F-SS, a mobile hard drive rack for use with any 3.5" SATA drive.

SilverStone TS01 2.5-Inch SATA RFID External HDD Enclosure 07-18-2008

I don't know about you, but I have quite a bit of data that I wouldn't want others to have direct access to. Items such as e-mail archives and financial records could potentially be disastrous in the hands of someone with malicious intent. Those who carry around vital data in external enclosures are even more at risk, as this data is "out and about" quite often and subject to loss or theft. If you fit into either of these categories, SilverStone recently released an external 2.5" hard drive enclosure that uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to encrypt the contents of the drive inside, rendering it useless without the RFID sensor key to unlock it.

Kingwin Elite Series Hard Drive Enclosures 06-05-2008

The team over at Kingwin recently sent word that they would like for us to check out their latest hard drive enclosure, the Elite Series. The Elite Series 3.5" SATA enclosures, built of dual process anodized aluminum, feature a one touch back up system and are USB 2.0 and eSATA compatible. How will this combination of features stack up against the heavy competition already in the marketplace?

Thermaltake BlacX SE Hard Drive Dock 05-29-2008

For testing, I used two programs, HD Tach and HD Tune, to test the write and read speeds of the drive in the dock. For reference purposes, the drive used was a 3.5” Maxtor 320GB, 7200 RPM SATA Drive. During testing, I was curious to see how having USB devices plugged into the hub would affect drive performance as they share the same USB bus to the computer.

Liteon EZ-DUB External CD/DVD Writer 05-28-2008

Lite-On Corporation has been in the optical drive business since 1999 and makes many of the products that OEM system builders use in their computers. But they also sell products in the consumer retail market which are typically priced in the lower end of the scale compared with some of the equivalent models from other major brands. For this reason they're a popular choice for many home builders as well.

Eagle Tech N and I Series HDD Enclosures 05-21-2008

You may have seen some Eagle Tech products while shopping the online e-tailers. They certainly offer some attractive prices, especially their power supplies. But Eagle has a fairly wide selection of gear, from chassis to speakers, power supplies to external storage. Today I have for review two of their hard drive enclosures, the latest N and I series USB attached storage.

Western Digital Caviar GP 1 TB SATA HDD 05-18-2008

As various components become more advanced, they also require more power to operate. According to Western Digital, the average 1 TB hard drive has a power consumption rating greater than 13.5 watts. Western Digital's new GreenPower drive, which we will be looking at here today, claims to shave 4-5 watts over typical drives in the same category. Any power saving is a welcomed addition, but will the drive's performance be hampered to accomplish this?

Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Dock 05-11-2008

The problem with all earlier forms of removable media is capacity. Even a 16 or 32 gig flash drive can be a little small for some uses, and they are pretty expensive. Think about it, you can pick up a 500 gig HDD for the price of a 16 gig thumb drive, or a 750 gig for the price of a 32 gig thumb drive. For that matter, you could get a RaptorX for the price of the 32 gig flash drive. Today, we will be taking a look at the Vantec NexStar Hard Drive Dock, an external solution for simple swapping of hard drives.

Sans Digital MobileSTOR MS2UTN+ 04-19-2008

Today I have one of Sans Digital's newer enclosures for review, the MobileSTOR MS2UTN+. Utilizing the SIL 5744 chipset, the MobileSTOR offers the typical dual drive configurations such as JBOD, Spanning (BIG), RAID0 and RAID1, but also something I haven't seen before, SAFE33 and SAFE50.

Thermaltake Muse R-Duo Enclosure 03-25-2008

There are a number of devices Thermaltake offers that you might not be aware of. For example, last month we reviewed a unique data retrieval product from them, the BlacX hard drive dock, which allows users to easily hot-swap SATA drives from a convenient desktop base unit. Today I have another of Thermaltake's newer storage solutions for review, the Muse R-Duo RAID.

Icy Box NAS 4220 Enclosure 03-23-2008

Today I have for review an Icy Box multi-drive NAS device, the IB-NAS4220-B. NAS is short for Network Attached Storage, and unlike a typical external hard drive enclosure which must be connected directly to a host computer in order to access, a NAS device uses a network client to allow access across a shared medium, like Ethernet.

OCZ Rally2 Turbo 8GB Flash Drive 03-03-2008

There are so many thumb drives out there, some fast and some slow, some high capacity and some smaller than a quarter, that it’s really easy to brush them aside and think that those differences don’t really matter. OCZ wants to discourage this kind of a mentality and it shows from their diverse lineup of USB flash drives, from durable to speedy to high capacity. Today we’re going to have a look at the OCZ Rally2 Turbo 8GB USB flash drive, which promises to provide impressive speeds (up to 35MB/s read) while maintaining high capacity (available in 4GB and 8GB modules).

Rosewill RX353-S BLK USB eSATA HDD Enclosure 02-15-2008

The Rosewill RX353-S BLK is a SATA drive enclosure that offers both USB 2.0 and the latest eSATA interfaces. The aluminum case accepts any single 3½" SATA drive, either SATA150 or 300, with support for NCQ and up to 1TB of capacity. With the USB 2.0 connection, transfer rates of up to 60MB/s are possible and 300MB/s with eSATA, depending on the drive used.

Thermaltake BlacX USB Hard Drive Docking Station 02-08-2008

Thermaltake took note of this and created a product that really stood out at the show, a hard drive docking station known as the BlacX. The idea behind this product is so simple and yet, so ingenious that I am shocked that nobody else has thought of it yet. Simply put, the BlacX is a USB 2.0 hot-swappable 2.5" and 3.5" SATA docking station that accepts all hard drives up to 1TB in size.

Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 01-12-2008

With drives as large as 1TB (that’s a terabyte, you know… 1024GB) available in mainstream technology, the once considered monstrous 500 giggers now seem like pocket change and are the budget user’s choice buy. Today we’re going to have a look at Western Digital’s 500GB Caviar SE16 (WD5000AAKS) drive, one of the most popular drive for system builders lately.

Rosewill RX81US-HT-35A-BLK USB eSATA HDD Enclosure 12-17-2007

For those of you familiar with shopping at New Egg you've undoubtedly heard of Rosewill. There are literally hundreds of products sold through the Egg under the Rosewill brand and compared to pricing on some of the name brand products, the Rosewill gear is usually quite inexpensive. But do these house brands have the same quality as traditional 3rd party manufacturers?

Kingwin Z1 Series SATA Hard Drive Enclosure 11-16-2007

But, like many other "base" products... take the ATX computer case as a good example, there are so many different creative spins being implemented that it keeps things fresh. Today we will be taking a look at the latest external 3.5" hard drive enclosure from Kingwin in the Z1 Series 3.5" External Hard Drive Enclosure.

OCZ Technology ATV Turbo USB 2.0 Flash Drive 10-05-2007

Aside from the general design, this drive is anything but classic. It boasts some pretty spiffy features and even makes some bold claims, such as being 100% weatherproof and fully submersible in water. Water, eh... well then, let's just see if the OCZ ATV Turbo drive can back up these claims in both frozen and boiling states!

Vantec NexStar SX SATA & IDE External 2.5-Inch HDD Enclosures 09-25-2007

The packaging for each enclosure is nearly identical, with a photo of the drive on the front of the box as well as a few key features. The back of the box goes into further detail of the enclosure. Upon opening the box, we find a screwdriver, a set of screws, driver + installation disc, USB cable and the enclosure itself, tucked away securely in a leather carrying case.

Vantec EZ-Swap EX 2.5 Inch HDD Enclosure 09-16-2007

Today I will be looking at my second 2.5" HDD enclosure in as many months, in the Vantec EZ-Swap EX 2.5" drive enclosure. This enclosure offers a different mix of features, which may prove to be more useful that those on the Icy Box.

Icy Box IB-266StUS-B External HDD Enclosure 08-23-2007

Laptop hard drives are now being used in external enclosures instead of traditional 3.5" drives for a number of reasons. These drives are much smaller and generate less heat and noise than 3.5" drives. Write speed and capacity limitations were once a point of concern for laptop drives, but that is now a thing of the past. Today I will be looking at the Tagan Icy Box IB-266StUS-B, an external 2.5" drive enclosure that offers a variety of connection configurations and flexibility.

Cirago 10GB External HDD 07-29-2007

There are a variety of ways to carry data with you. You could buy a notebook computer and schlep it with you everywhere. That can be helpful if you need processing power or internet access on the move. Not everyone, however, has the extra cash for another computer, or the shoulder muscle to tote around a heavy laptop.

OCZ Secure Digital HC 8GB Card 06-25-2007

I will be testing the SDHC card using my laptop (HP Pavilion tx1119us) and digital camera (Nikon D80 DSLR). I will be using HD Tune and SiSoft Sandra to measure read / write, access times and such.

Galaxy TVisto Multimedia External HD Case 04-08-2007

One of my favorite features of the TVisto is the ability to play .ISO files directly. This means that you can rip a DVD and have the TVisto play the .ISO file as if it were the actual DVD, complete with menus, special features, etc. This is a great way to back up your DVD collection and take it with you anywhere you go.

Western Digital 320GB USB/FireWire My Book 04-03-2007

Right away it's clear to see where the name of the product comes from - it looks like a book! The front of the My Book has two clear rings. The inner ring is lit with a blue LED to show the remaining free space on the drive. The outer ring also has a blue LED and acts as an activity light, flashing when data is copied to or from the My Book.

Vizo Technology Luxon 3.5 Inch HDD Enclosure 12-23-2006

Now, let's consider power. I don't particularly care for getting power by USB, and that isn't an option here if you are using SATA interface. An internal power supply causes a few problems. It adds to the size and weight of the enclosure, plus adds heat. Vizo decided on an external AC adapter, and was kind enough not to use a "wall wort" style.

OCZ 8GB Mega-Kart USB2 Drive 11-18-2006

I tried two different approaches, the first using a single large (700MB) ISO file, followed by a collection of around 500 smaller JPG files (250MB) and recorded the amount of time it took to copy these to the drive (Write) and from the drive (Read) separately. Transfer rates were calculated from these times and the Read and Write speeds were averaged to compare to results from HD Tach and HD Tune.

OCZ Technology 2 GB Secure Digital Dual Memory Card 09-21-2006

OCZ began to diversify their offerings in 2004 with the release of power supplies aimed specifically at gamers. Since that point, OCZ has continued to expand their horizons, now offering cooling solutions to go along with their already wide array of products. Today we will be taking a look at yet another one of their new innovative products in the 2 GB Secure Digital Dual Memory Card.

OCZ Ultra-Slim Mini-Kart USB 2.0 Flash Drive 07-25-2006

After getting the Mini-Kart out of the packaging, you find that it has it's own clear plastic carrying/storage case. This storage case does come in pretty handy really and will help you keep track of the drive. If you have any sort of clutter at all on your desk, you stand a good chance of losing track of the drive; it's that small. Trust me, it happened to me more than a few times.

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