Reviews related to : Storage
Storage requirements always grow - never shrink. Gone are the days when a simple Word document would fit on a floppy disk (if you remember those!).
This section covers reviews of all things 'storage' - from mobile flash drives to high capacity hard disks (internal and external). If you need more storage then check the review below.
Combining portable convenience with encryption protection, this next product will safeguard tour important data.
The popular USB device has been around now for a good number of years. Often originally used as a give-away by various companies to promote their products rather than a printed flyer or catalogue, the USB device has appeared in various guise as it acted as a WiFi receiver, television receiver, a dongle type product or even more recently as a storage device as it USB capacity increased considerable and additional functionality was implemented into its feature set.
This is an SSD drive that is encrypted so unless you enter the correct password it remains unreadable by any software. It is connected to a PC or other such device by either a USB ‘C’ or USB cable.
In the box are the 500GB drive, a USB ‘C’ cable, a USB cable. Also the all-important Getting Started Guide and a padded zip up case so you can take the drive with you. The face of the drive has three LEDs, numerals 1 to 0 and two other buttons red and green. Read the Getting Started sheet as there are combinations that will not be accepted. First you need to set an admin passcode, once this is set other subsidiary passcodes can be set if others are to use the drive.
Video files are often very big, and while they can of course be moved around by Wi-Fi it is often easier to have them on removable storage, a USB drive is still quite large but these days a USB stick can be very small even to being able to attach onto a keyring. If you do then it’s important as in this case that it is made of metal as keys can damage plastic.
Here I am telling you about a 128GB storage stick that is only 4cm long a tad over 1cm wide and .4cm wide. This latest offering from Kioxia is the ideal way to move around with video, audio and photos.
Taking your data with you on the road can be useful. But how do you keep it safe? iStorage has a solution.
As a long-time user of various products from iStorage, I was keen to check out the company's latest offering. The chance to do this arose with the arrival of the DATASHUR SD which promised the dual capacity of easy mobility and encrypted security of data accessible from different locations. Giving the appearance of a lengthy USB stick drive, with measurements of 90 x 17 x 10 mm (L x W x D), the DATASHUR SD device could easily fit into a pocket or bag or be attached to a key-ring.
OWC are a company that produce internal and external solid state drives, enclosures and cables for both PC and MAC users. The unit I am looking at is a 1TB external SSD drive usable on PC or MAC. They also do a similar model – Envoy Pro SX - that is Thunderbolt only so as far as I know that makes it almost a MAC only unit as currently although a USB ‘C’ cable will fit it the power is not there to format it.
This 1TB SD drive from OWL measures 11.2x7x1.4cm and weighs 231grams. It is very solidly built, it comes with an OWC format utility that will create a single Windows readable drive and give that drive the next available drive letter. Once formatted – a far faster one than if Windows does it – you have from this 1TB unit 893GB of free space available.
A lot of rather nice Tablets and Laptops come with only a 256GB SSD drive and once a few larger programs and Apps are loaded you start to see a smaller than 50% of free space load a few videos and things start to become critical. So this offering of an external SSD unit of 512GB – or even 1TB – is a very nice option to have.
This fingerprint secured external SSD from Verbatim provides 512GB of storage, measures 11x4x1.2cm and it comes with a 60cm USB lead. The lead plugs in to the top end of the SSD drive .5cm from the top of the unit is the 2.5x1.6cm finger print reader.
Keeping your data safe even when on the move is possible with this next product.
About 18 months ago I took a look at a security conscious, portable, external hard drive from Apricorn. This was the company's Aegis Fortress L3 product. Now it is the turn of the Apricorn Aegis Secure Key 3NXC offering. Like its bigger brother this small pocket-sized device offers the user automatic protection as part of its feature set.
Keeping your data safe and secure when transferring it between locations can be a worry. This next product could help.
Adding to its range of portable protective storage devices, iStorage has developed their DISKASHUR M product. This is a Solid State Drive (SSD) with encryption delivered by FIPS PUB 197 validated AES-XTS 256-bit technology. iStorage has opted to offer this device with storage capacities of 120/240/500 GB and 1 or 2 TB versions. This review is based on the 1TB model of the DISKASHUR M .
Combining extra functionality connections and plenty of storage capacity is a device from OWC.
Available in capacities ranging from 2 to 32TB, the OWC Mercury Elite Pro Dual product combines drive storage capability with a 3-port hub functionality. Adopting a rather sturdy appearance, the Mercury Elite Pro Dual device is a silver coloured, aluminium box with dimensions of 240 x 140 x 85 mm (D x H x W) and a weight of 1760g. Included with the main drive unit are a power cable, USB Type C cable and a USB Type C to USB type A 3.2 cable.
When transferring data, SSD can offer a fast solution for carrying out this task.
When I think of SanDisk my initial thoughts tend to drift towards memory cards although I do have fond memories of the company's small MP3 player which is still providing good service and its plans to release popular albums in memory card format. However the company does have other products including the Extreme PRO device which is a portable SSD for allowing fast access to video and photos stored on a computer.
Coming to the rescue of over-burdened iPhone/iPad devices is a data transfer tool.
Recently I looked at the SanDisk Ultra Disk USB Drive. This product provided a means of transferring data between devices with standard and micro USB connectivity. SanDisk also has a product which performs a similar function for devices, such as iPhone, iPad and computers, that rely on standard and Lightning connectivity. This product is the SanDisk iXpand™ Flash Drive Go which is the subject of this review. With dimensions of 53 x 12 x 12.
Keeping your data safe and secure is the task of this next product from Western Digital.
Combining local network and Cloud accessible storage is the aim of the WD My Cloud Home product. Whether it is photos, videos, documents and other files, the WD My Cloud Home provides the capability to gather and store the relevant data from anywhere that has an Internet connection. The gathered data is stored on this central location that can be 2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB or the 8TB of my review sample.
Often when used as a mobile entertainment device, a smartphone requires plenty of storage space.
Have you heard your smartphone whimper? It is not a pleasant sound, some would say pitiful, and one that you should attempt to avoid hearing at all costs. Well perhaps not at all costs. The situation can be alleviated by the act of introducing your favourite mobile device to a memory card with appropriate capacity such as the SanDisk Ultra microSDXC™ UHS-1 Card. Promising speeds of up to 95 MB/s, I have been looking at one of the higher capacity cards from this series.
While restrictions are being placed on passport travel, they do not apply to this offering from Western Digital.
While a traditional passport will prove useful when travelling between countries, Western Digital (WD) believes its passport offering can perform important facilities for your computer system and environment. The WD My Passport is a portable storage device which offers features that include automatic back up, password protection and data encryption. I have been looking at the Ultra version of the product which is available in 1TB (my review sample), 2TB, 3TB and 4TB capacities.
If your smartphone or tablet is running short on storage space then this next product could help.
A few years ago I took a look at SanDisk Ultra Dual USB Drive providing connection compatibility with a choice of standard and microUSB connectivity and supporting capacity of up to 64GB. Since my original review, standards have changed and the all-metal SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive has undergone a make-over to reflect these changes and what the user expects from such a device both in appearance and specifications.
When moving around as a gamer, you might be looking for an appropriate addition to your kit.
The WD_Black P50 is a portable storage device that has been designed specifically for gamers, especially those of the hardcore brigade, who find it difficult to be separated from their favourite games at any time.
Let me open with a question for those who were involved in the past with building their own computer or just upgrading their current system with a harder capacity hard drive.
Do you remember the price and capacity of the internal hard drive that was to be included in a new or upgraded system? In my case I can distinctly remember scouring through adverts in several computer magazines for a hard drive that would increase my computer's storing capacity. As my budget was around £200, my choice of possible drive was limited to those drives with a maximum capacity of 200MB (this is not a typing mistake as MB was the current standard at that time).
I am sure we all have a number of USB Sticks often they have information from vendors of course these may contains ‘cookies’ or much worse but we squirrel away information and data and hope it’s not corrupted when we need it.
Most come as a single solid stick and if we stick in our pockets or bags the contacts are exposed and may pick up dirt, they could rip clothes and maybe worst of all get damaged. Here is a drive that retracts at the push of a button on the side so it’s a flat surface with no contacts exposed, push the grey end and it clicks out ready for use. This unit also has a hole cut in the grey end to allow it to be attached to a key ring.
As traditional hard disk drives have grown in size and reduced in price, so SSD products have followed a similar trend
External drives are useful but they do need a layer of protection such as that provided by encryption.
Nowadays when it comes to the time than selecting a hard drive for storing valuable data is called for, yes there is the Cloud but this is not everybody's favourite storage location, we could be considered as being rather spoilt for choice. I can still remember struggling to decide whether I could manage with a 100 MB drive or stretch my budget to afford going larger with a 200 MB unit (and the capacity is not a typing mistake).
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