External hard drives are pretty nifty but if you really want some decent external storage you have to carry around the hard drive, USB cable and power adapter. That was the case until now. Western Digital’s My Passport Essential SE is now available in 1TB and 750GB models that get their power via USB doing away with the need for a power plug and additional cord.
The 1TB version is going to cost you $300 or–if you can do without the extra 250GB of storage–you can get the 750GB model for just under $200.
With USB 3.0 on the way I don’t know who would want to buy a 256GB USB thumb drive. On Kingston’s website it doesn’t specifically say that it is going to be USB 2.0 but I would assume since it is currently on their site that it is.
On the site it boasts the ability to store 10 Blu-ray discs, 54 DVDs or 365 CDs. With USB 2.0 it would almost not even be worth it. Yes right now there are external USB hard drives that are larger than that and there are many uses for them but with USB 3.0 right around the corner I think it would have been smart for Kingston to wait to release this then.
One way or another having 256 GB of storage on your key ring is still pretty awesome but if the rumors of the price being around $900 I think I may hold off.
From the Kingston website:
Features/Specifications:
- Capacity — 256 GB
- Speed — Data transfer rates of up to 20MB/sec. read and 10MB/sec. write
- Safeguarded — includes Password Traveler security software for Windows
- Convenient — does not require Administrator rights to access the Privacy Zone
- Dimensions — 2.78″ x 0.88″ x 0.65″ (70.68 mm x 22.37 mm x 16.45 mm)
- Operating Temperature — 32° to 140° F (0° to 60° C)
- Storage Temperature — -4° to 185° F (-20° to 85° C)
- Simple — just plug into a any 1.1 or 2.0 USB port
- Practical — durable, capless design
- Guaranteed — five-year warranty
- Enhanced — for Windows ReadyBoost™ on Vista-based systems
USB 3.0 was announced around a year ago. We were told it would be late 2009 before we actually saw ‘SuperSpeed’ USB 3.0 on the market and it looks like that estimate was pretty accurate. The Asus P6X58 motherboard boasts 3 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports. What is the difference? USB 3.0 ports are blue.
Pretty earthshattering huh? Well there–fortunately–is much more to it than that. Current USB 2.0 is rated at speeds of as high as 480Mbps. Real world you will see speeds as high as about 320Mbps. USB 3.0 is rated at 4.8Gbps! We will have to see how much of that we are actually able to utilize. To put this in perspective right now the fastest consumer level hard drive is rated at 3.0Gbps but most you see in retail stores are still 1.5Gbps.
What does this mean to you? Currently to drag over a 27GB HD movie via USB 2.0 you are looking at 15-20 minutes at least. With USB 3.0 you are going to be able to do that in less than 70 seconds. Can’t beat that. This opens up a whole new world of opportunities. For instance Red Box could just give everyone a USB drive instead of a DVD. You go to the Red Box, make your selection, plug in your thumb drive and boom in 10 seconds you have the 4GB DVD on your thumb drive with a 24 hour self destruct.
Or instead of buying PCs with hard drives everyone will just have a portable hard drive that is on their key chain or is simply their smartphone. When you go to work you just dock your thumb drive or iPhone and boot up. You leave for the day and go home and dock again and you can pick up where you left off.
This would not only be convenient but safe. You wouldn’t have to worry about someone getting onto your computer when you weren’t around because you would have all of the data with you. If we see this manifest itself in the future I want my commission.
After a big upgrade to our 386 my Uncle–plainly–explained to my Dad that, “…you will never need more than 80MB”. I remember several years later upgrading to 500MB on our 90MHz Pentium PC and thinking, “I will never run out of room for my games”. Of course 6 months later I was hurting for space again while I tried to install SimCity 2000 and didn’t have the 20MB of space required for the install.
It has continued like this even after upgrading to hundreds of Gigabytes. Pulling 30 minutes of HD home videos from your camera takes up almost 5GB. Installing the latest game can take well over 10GB. Every PC sold from your local electronics store comes with several hundred Gigabtyes. While it is true that alot of that space goes to waste soon even the standard home users will be in need of Terabytes not just Gigabytes. The picture below from Mozy gives us a look into what we will need in the near future.
