Small storage options abound at macworld... 1-11-02
As we prowled around the show floor, we were amazed by how
small storage devices have become. A few USB 2.0 devices are
beginning to surface, but Macworld seemed to be FireWire's
coming out party. You couldn't complete one isle without encountering
a FireWire CD-RW drive, scanner or hard drive. In the 50GB
and under range, FireWire hard drives are amazingly small.
We even came across a FireWire storage device that measures
1.75" x 2.35" x 0.85" and
weighs just 2 ounces! If you want to build your own drive,
several outfits offer enclosures. Below, we provide you with
photos of the more attractive and exciting offerings. Click
on any of the images for a larger version.
This Cobra drive from EZQuest
packs 48GB into a modern looking enclosure that would
compliment any Mac nicely.
The M2 from QPS
isn't exactly new, but the stackable design (showcased
above) makes it worth pointing out. The M2 has garnered
high
praise from the Mac press. The M2 is currently available
in 6, 10 and 20GB configurations with 30GB on the horizon.
FireWire
Depot is one of several outfits offering FireWire
and combination FireWire/USB enclosures. Slap in a hard
drive and you are good to go...
Two offerings from WiebeTech.
The most exciting is the blue "FireWire Keychain"
pictured above. The FireWire Keychain uses flash memory
making it both compact and rugged. Pricing is not set
at this point, but will be announced at the end of this
month so keep an eye on the WiebeTech
web site. Capacities will range from 64MB to 1GB!
The red device , is WiebeTech's new MicroGB drive which
sports both FireWire and USB 2.0 connections. The latter
is backwards with USB 1.1 of course. The MicroGB is available
with 20, 30 and 48GB drives or without a drive. Both devices
are enclosed in anodized aluminum and use the Oxford 911
bridge chip.
The SmartDisk
drives are, without a doubt, the sexiest hard drives we
saw at the expo. Pictured next to the green pen, the FireFly
is ultra small (2.5" x 4" x .5")
and comes in FireWire and USB 2.0 flavors. The bad news
is that the drives are 5GB only. The FireLite offers greater
capacity 20, 30 or 40GB and is only slightly larger, 3.25" x 5" x .75."
The FireLite is FireWire only. Both the FireFly and FireLite
can run off bus power.
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