The most recent articles from What PC?

LaCie Hexa Media Drive

Cliff Joseph — 2002-06-06T11:52:23.000Z

Cliff Joseph, What PC?, Thursday 6 June 2002 at 11:52:23

The Hexa Media Drive is one of the most versatile media readers available.

The good thing about standards, as the old saying goes, is that there are so many of them. And that's certainly true when it comes to the storage devices used by the peripherals and digital gadgets that you can plug into your computer these days.

If you're fond of gadgets you can easily find yourself with a collection of cameras, PDAs and MP3 players that all use different types of storage cards.

Connecting and disconnecting all these gadgets from your PC every five minutes can be a bit of a nuisance, so it's often easier to use a separate media reader to add or remove files from the storage cards.

These media readers simply treat storage cards like floppy disks, displaying them on the Windows desktop for easy access. Most readers work with only one or two types of card, but LaCie's Hexa Media Drive is the first one we've seen that works with all the main types.

As the name implies, it can work with six types of storage: CompactFlash, Microdrive, Secure Digital, SmartMedia, Multimedia Card and even the unloved Sony Memory Stick.

Setting up the Hexa Media Drive is straightforward. Once the driver software is installed the unit is plugged into a USB port, and that's it. Now, any storage card inserted into the drive shows up on the Windows desktop just like a floppy disk or any other type of storage device.

The three slots on the unit between them accept six different types of card. A small indicator light shows which slot is being used so that you don't accidentally remove a card during data transfer.

Specifications:

External media reader with USB interface
USB powered; requires no separate power supply
Supports CompactFlash, SmartMedia, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital card, Microdrive and Sony Memory Stick
Displays storage card contents on Windows desktop.

Price: £45.82 (inc VAT)

Minimum requirements: PC with USB port, Windows 98SE or later.

Contact: LaCie 020 7872 8000

www.lacie.com

Datamind Thumbdrive

Scott Colvey — 2001-02-23T24:00:00.000Z

Scott Colvey, What PC?, Friday 23 February 2001 at 00:00:00

High-capacity removable storage that's compact and flexible - but far from cheap.

How much can you store on a floppy disk? Actually, perhaps a better question nowadays is: how little can you store on a floppy disk? It may have seemed extravagant in the 3.5in drive's Eighties heyday, but today, 1.44Mb is barely enough to hold a few modern documents.

What's needed is a new high-capacity removable storage standard: something compact, cheap and able to work in all computers. So, is the ThumbDrive befitting of such description? Yes, mostly...

Yes, it's the size of a thumb, but strictly speaking it's not a drive. It's actually a solid-state memory card with a twist. Ingeniously, tacked on to the end of the ThumbDrive is a USB connector. Installation - if you can call it that - is a matter of plugging it into a USB port and installing the driver from a floppy disk.

Once in place, it appears to Windows like any other disk drive. Files can be dragged and dropped to and fro, deleted, zipped, whatever. Being solid-state, copy operations are swift indeed and the only visible sign of activity is a small LED which flashes as data is transferred. When you're done, just unplug the ThumbDrive, pop it in your pocket and off to the next destination.

But it's not all sweetness and light. We said at the outset that the floppy disk's big problem is its small capacity, but at least it's cheap. The ThumbDrive is available in capacities ranging from 16Mb to an impressive 256Mb - but at a cost. The most basic model comes in at just under seventy quid while the top-of-the-range choice carries a staggering £659 price-tag; so you'll be left with plenty of room in your pockets to transport your chosen ThumbDrive.

Despite the decidedly amateur-looking box and literature, the ThumbDrive proves that good things can come in small packages. Want one? Start saving... Contact

Datamind: 0800 970 1416, www.thumbdrive.org.uk

Iomega Jaz 2Gb

Chris Cain — 2001-02-23T24:00:00.000Z

Chris Cain, What PC?, Friday 23 February 2001 at 00:00:00

Ideal for the user with lots of data to store, but software can be a frustrating experience.

Originally released with a 1Gb capacity, Iomega's Jaz drive was designed for those who need more removable storage than its popular Zip system can offer. What normally takes at least five Zip disks can be squeezed onto one Jaz cartridge. December 1998 saw the arrival of the 2Gb version.

As with the Zip, the Jaz has been redesigned to provide a smaller and sleeker backup system. Finished in a smart grey, the Jaz is still a sizeable beast but now sports a more modern, curvaceous casing. Two SCSI interfaces sit at the rear with a power switch; disks slot in at the front as before. These can be thought of as little hard disks.

The 2Gb drive is backward compatible with 1Gb media. PC or Mac users without SCSI on their machines can connect the drive to a USB port using an additional adapter. Installing the hardware with either interface is straightforward.

Software, though, is another matter. After several frustrating system crashes, we discovered we had been supplied with version 2.2.1 of Iomega's drivers whereas version 2.5 had been released in June. Surely five months is enough time to update driver disks? Iomega's quality-control needs a good talking-to.

You can use the Jaz through Windows as you would any other drive, but the Iomega Tools installation provides programs to copy and search disks, as well as back up important files. New is the highly useful QuikSync 2, which will automatically back up specified files or folders whenever they are modified. All the utilities can be mastered in ten minutes.

The disks aren't cheap, but the convenience and capacity of the Jaz 2Gb make it ideal for any user backing up and transporting large data files. If you've outgrown your Zip, it's the perfect step up.

Contact

Iomega: 020 7365 9527, www.iomega-europe.com

Amacom FlipDisk

Julian Prokaza — 2000-10-08T23:00:00.000Z

Julian Prokaza, What PC?, Sunday 8 October 2000 at 23:00:00

A handy add-on for upgrading your notebook when a normal disk upgrade would require throwing away the old one.

Notebook PCs aren't renowned for their expansion capabilities and this is particularly problematic when it comes to hard disk drives. Fitting a new one isn't hard but since there's only room for one hard drive inside a notebook PC, it's a case of out with the old and in with the new. If you don't fancy a costly paperweight with sharp edges, though, the Amacom FlipDisk is a possible solution.

The FlipDisk isn't new and we've reviewed its various incarnations a number of times over the last few years. Just to recap, it's a standard 2.5in notebook hard drive in a caddy that connects externally to a notebook PC. It's not unique in this respect, but it's the only device we're aware of that connects via a PC Card socket.

A Type II PC Card folds out from under the case and connects to a notebook just like any other PC Card. No additional drivers are needed and the FlipDisk is powered by the notebook it's plugged into - plug and play doesn't get any simpler.

There are a couple of new features this time round, though, and while the translucent blue case may not excite you, the USB connection option might. This means the FlipDisk can be used on any PC with a USB port, and although it's not an ideal option for expanding a desktop PC, it does mean you can easily share the drive between two or more systems.

The FlipDisk comes with a padded wallet to protect it during transit but there doesn't appear to be any shock-absorbing material around the drive itself. This isn't a big problem but it means you should probably treat the drive with particular care, especially when it's being used.

Iomega Zip 250 USB

Richard McPartland — 2000-02-09T11:30:15.000Z

Richard McPartland, What PC?, Wednesday 9 February 2000 at 11:30:15

For file storage or system backup, a Zip drive is the perfect solution. This 250Mb USB version provides plenty of space and is fast, too.

On first sight we found it hard to believe that the slimline Iomega, with its sexy transparent blue cover, was actually capable of holding, let alone using, 250Mb Zip disks, given that the drive is just 2cm thick and the size of a small paperback book.

Iomega promises data transfer rates of 0.9Mb/sec, not bad when you consider the 250Mb SCSI version scores only marginally better at about 1Mb/sec. Although manufacturers' claims often prove optimistic, this drive proved a capable performer in our tests, taking just one and a half minutes to copy 50Mb of data.

As it weighs less than a kilogram the Zip 250 USB is particularly suited for use with a notebook. And because the optional PC Card adaptor draws its power from the notebook's batteries, you don't need to carry the power supply unit around with you.

The unit is compatible with 100Mb and 250Mb Zip disks, although a 100Mb drive can't read a 250Mb disk.

For less than £150 this Zip drive is great value for money. Our only quibble is that although one of the advantages of USB is the ability to hot-swap peripherals, unplugging a USB device daisy-chained to the Zip 250 will result in data loss if you're writing to and from the drive.

But if ever there was a reason for jumping on the USB bandwagon, this is it, as Iomega says a similarly sleek parallel port drive is unlikely. Although the 250Mb parallel port Zip drive works well, it's just not as good-looking as the USB drive.

Contact Iomega 0800 973194