Portable Storage?

An anonymous reader asks: "I need a portable storage solution, as I strongly desire to keep my personal stuff separate from my work stuff. In the past I have used some types of portable external hard drive (via USB connection), but I wasn't too pleased with the quality of the barebones models I found at Fry's. With so many new types of portable storage out (USB keys, 2.5" drives, full drives with enclosures, etc) I would appreciate some feedback from others using this type of device regarding what their favorite brand or model is. Remember: bigger storage is better, as is smaller size."

Comments

ximeta

[Bob Cat - NYMPHS]

usb and ethernet, well done

www.ximeta.com

USB Keys

[gr0ngb0t]

I've got a 512 mb Kingmax USB key, and it's awesome - never had any hassles with it. my dad has got a whole range of sizes of theirs and has had for a few years now - he's happy with them.

Two birds with one stone

[Anonymous Coward]

Use this AND be a babe magnet!!!

Um, ThinkGeek? Hello?

[ElForesto]

You call yourself a Slashdot reader and yet you didn't check out ThinkGeek? For shame! I found this model on there that may fit your needs. I haven't used it before though, as a disclaimer.

Re:iPod?

[UberPfloyd]

The RIO Karma player is another storage/music solution to consider. It play Ogg files too. http://www.digitalnetworksna.com/shop/_templates/i tem_main_Rio.asp?model=261/

ars technica usb review

[KI0PX]

Ars Technica has a good USB 2.0 Hi-Speed drive review covering several USB flash drives. I got a 256MB SanDisk Cruzer Mini from newegg for $37 and was very pleased (works on Linux well).

I'll second the vote for an iPod if you want more than that. I just bought a 20GB 3G iPod from our local university bookstore for $250, since the new 4G model just came out.

Re:iPod?

[mj_1903]

As someone that writes software for the iPod, I can ensure you that it would be impossible for Apple to lock someone out of the hard drive. It is a standard Fat32 mount on all systems.

I have also never heard of data loss caused by an iPod. It's a standard hard drive. Treat it as you would most devices that store data and it will work fine.

Re:ximeta - MOD PARENT UP

[BenFranske]

As others have said, the Ximeta drives are not really good at standards support. They sound really cool and all but they're really just USB drives with a strange USB to ethernet adapter built in. They require you to install driver to access the drive. Let me repeat they do not use smb they use a driver that emulates a local USB port over ethernet. I don't know if it has changes but one of the ones I played with didn't even support TCP/IP it used a strange protocol on top of ethernet meaning the device wasn't even routable and had to be on the same segment. I would stay away from these if you're serious about the network ability of the solution. As far as I can tell they are ok for USB access though.

Overall it's a good idea, but very poorly implementd

Re:iPod?

[evn]

It is a standard Fat32 mount on all systems.

iPods configured to sync with a Macintosh will be using an HFS+ file system. A PC formatted iPod will use a FAT32 partition which apparently allows you to use your iPod on Windows and Mac OS X computers without paying any special software. I would guess that most Macintosh based iPod users have HFS formatted drives--especially if they use it as an external hard disk.

Not the end of the world, but it is something to keep in mind if you're going to be working in a mixed environment. Tossing your term-paper onto your iPod only to find out that Windows can't read your data when you get to school is just not a pleasant situation to be in.

Re:iPod?

[mj_1903]

Indeed you are correct about it being HFS+, but when it comes in the box it is Fat32. If you don't run the updater on it, it can remain Fat32 and still be synced to the Mac. I probably should have been a little more obvious in my parent post.

Also something of note, Windows has a certain tendency to want to format HFS+ devices plugged into it and this can be dangerous if you don't know what to do.

Re:iPod

[arivanov]

Crap price per G, crap performance, not suitable for the job. The question was not about iPod avertisement solicitation. The question was about portable storage solution and at the moment there is only one answer that is reasonable as far as price/performance is concerned. It is Iomega Rev

• 35G capacity
• Fully supported without extra drivers on Linux 2.6.5+, Windows 2K and XP and MacOS X. 2.4 requires the write-DVD patches. Anything you write is also 100% portable because it uses UDF filesystem which prevents the relevant OSes from doing silly OS specific things
• The cartridges are around 30£ (40$). which smacks iPod, removable harddrives and flash silly
• The device is about the size of an external 2.5" hard drive enclosure so you can carry the device around instead of having one at home and one at work.
• Blazing fast. Blazing fast to the point where I am seriously considering it as a suitable drive for network backups in a small to medium size office. It has roughly the same price as a DLT tape per cartridge, 5 times lower price per drive, 10 times the speed and the cartridges are only a fraction of the size. Add to that years worth of shelf life compared to months for an average tape...

So let the iPod do what it does best - play music. It is not a good personal storage solution.