The Apricorn Aegis Ultra Portable Mini Usb Hard Drives-Perfect For People On the Move
The introduction of the 1.8” portable hard drive for ultra portable laptops and MP3 players like the ipod have ushered in a whole new generation of portable usb hard drives for the portable traveller or businessman.
Previous to the introduction of the ultra portable 1.8” drives the only external hard drives were the 2.5” small drives used in laptops. While these were better than their bulky 3.5” bretherin, they also their share of problems. While the older drives required an external power cord for power, the 2.5” portables also needed an extra power source either in a small adapter or an extra usb cord.
The small form factor convenience was mitigated by the extra power cord requirements. You either had to carry a bulky adapter or give up one of the precious usb ports on your laptop.
Toshiba’s introduction of their ultra portable hard drive in 2004-2005 finally allowed a drive to be powered directly from a single usb port without problems. Getting an even smaller and lighter drive package to carry around was an extra bonus.
Since the drive’s introduction the hard drive manufacturer Apricorn have used that drive to come out with ultra miniature portable mini usb and firewire hard drives from 30gb, 60gb, 80gb to 100gb.
From my personal experience having travelled to the Phillipines, Canada, Japan and Europe with one of their drives beside my tablet pc for backup I can attest to their ruggedness and portability. Their new Aegis portable drives are no bigger than a bundle of keys.
Apricorn have been making portable drives for years and they really know the subtlties that make a good hard drive for travel. Apricorn makes their mini portable drives in both USB and Firewire versions. Things like a built in cable that stores itself within the housing and including backup software to the purchase are what makes them unique. I hate having to unwrap and plug in a cable like you need to do with other small drives. I did some research and found the Aegis Portable features a 16-point omni directional shock mounting system, protecting the drive from accidental bumps and knocks.
Because portable usb drives are still somewhat of a special item, you won’t normally find it in any computer store. I’ve found the best availability at Buy.com
which serves both US and Canadian customers. Canadians just need to go to their Canadian domain http://www.ca.buy.com
. That’s great news for people in Canada like me as many computer stores stocking exotic hardware in the US don’t deliver there.
I have had good experience ordering from them so check them out.
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Verbatim 12gb Store n Go
Verbatim has been promoting the U3 usb flash drive application interface for a while. Their latest U3 based flash drive hits a flash drive storage milestone. The Store n Go is available at up to 12gb and sells for $179. With USB flash drives only reaching 4gb for the mainstream at the moment, it’s nice to see manufacturers like Verbatim pushing the envelope.
Twelve gigabytes in a 3 inch by 1.4 inch case with flip out usb connector gives us portable travellers one more storage option between the 4gb, soon to be 8gb flash drives and the 20gb and up 1.8” hard drives.
Benefits of this drive over the 1.8” hard drives are durability, a even smaller size and lower power drain.
Of course Verbatim’s Store ‘n’ Go USB HD Drive includes their own Windows software, Mobile Launchpad, allowing you to carry applications, personal data, email settings and browser preferences with you wherever you go. You can also plug the drive into any USB port Mac or Linux computer but U3 applications are not supported.
Windows U3 application like Skype, AOL IM, Thunderbird email app, and others can run off it.
Expect prices to drop within six months. Of course by then the 16gb Store n Go will be out.
WE RECOMMEND THESE FOLKS FOR MORE USB DRIVES