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The Lego Brick Hard Drive
Billosaur writes "With Lego being in the news after completion of their lawsuit against Mega Bloks, I found this interesting little tidbit on Boing Boing, about a company that makes stackable Lego Brick-shaped Hard Drives. With Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface, it offers the fast data transfer rates required for substantial jobs like downloading digital photos, saving MP3s or transferring home videos from a camcorder. Available desktop models are: 160GB (white), 250GB (red), 300GB (blue) and 500GB (red). But can you build a Star Destroyer out of them?"
These hard drives are LEGO shaped but not LEGO sized. It mimics the look and feel of a LEGO brick but it really isn't compatible (unless the bottom has much smaller divisions).
Stackable hard drives is a fine idea but I'd like to take one apart to see how ventilation is. I've had a much higher failure rate in external drives than internal drives (almost 3:1) over the past 6 years. I still wonder if it is heat or just bad power supplies in these things.
I'm more of a monotoned desktop kind of guy -- if I'm OCD about anything at all, it is definitely crazy colors all over the place. I think on my desktop (where I could have up to 5 different sized external drives depending on projects in action), these drives could end up looking like a bad website from the early days: color hell.
I think the pricing is decent though, and would love a breakdown of what "Power Supply Kit" means and how hardy these things are.
if the surface of the enclosure was made from actual lego rivets so that you could build on top of it.
- what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
While we're linking boingboing... Why not stack the hard drives and have some crazy lego sex:l
http://www.boingboing.net/2002/11/13/lego_sex.htm
Maybe I can't build a Star Destroyer out of them, but I could certainly build a big enough block of P2P storage to destroy the Enemies of the Empire -- the **AA's.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Subtle, yet generates buzz. Mad propz, Taco!
I too have felt the cold finger of injustice.
But it was a total failure. I totally underestimated the entrenchment of the IDE bus standard in the Lego world. My hard-drive-shaped Lego brick only supported SATA.
Google has just built a LEGO castle.
LEGO should come out with instructions for building different models with hard drives. That'd be some crazy space!
Why build one when you have Slashdot at your disposal. Just aim it at any site, and KABLAM, they're gone. Nice job taking out lacie. Slashdot strikes once again and shows no mercy (queue evil empire music).
gasmonso http://religiousfreaks.com/More practically, i hope they properly lock together like lego blocks, so you can get a nice solid stack of them. Even better would be built in docking so you can just stack another disk on top when you need more storage space.
Drag n' Drop DVD Recommendations
That would be pretty funny. Or a full house built with these things...suddenly you measure your rooms in tera- or petabytes instead of square feet. Think of all the pr0n in the walls...
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We used to lug our trusty, stacks of punch cards on our backs each time we wanted to transfer data. Nothing builds character (and balls) like having to restack a pile of 1K+ punch cards that have fallen over on a Friday evening.
No sirree, we didn't play these childish games in the computer room in my day, and that's how we liked it.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
...my server's a total brick
I used to like Legos, but now I only like sheeps.
It should be noted that these drives are more Duplo than Lego.
(Yes, I am aware that Duplo is in fact a line of Legos).
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
Different Lego-like knoblets on top and bottom of each brick would correspond to different interconnect functions (one or more knoblets each for +5 VDC, +3.3 VDC, Optical-PCI, Optical-ATA, etc.). Aligned vent holes throughout the stack would allow the base PSU brick to pull cooling air from the other bricks. Adding a new video card or HD would be as simple as snapping the card to the top of the PC.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
In the snow, uphill, both ways. You know the drill.
It would compliment the emerging desktop fabricators quite nicely.
Imagine the new "Do It Yourself opportunities.
Thoughts on the Emergence of Computing Intelligence
I must have my Lego Death Star Hard Drive!
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I can't RTFA because it's slashdotted but I've been a fan of LACIE hard drives for a while. My currebt 80Gb drive is supposed to be Porshe designed. That's as maybe, I just know that I get a very good bytes/bucks ratio and pretty fair performance.
init 11 - for when you need that edge.
THE LEGO PC, our lego-brick structure makes adding that new hard-drive and video card a *snap*. No longer will you have to deal with cables, our patented block power and data-transfer system codenamed LPCI(Lego PCI) can support even the most bandwith and power hungry components.
NO~, I read Slashdot because I think it's stupid.....
With Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface, it offers the fast data transfer rates required for substantial jobs
Someone's an idiot. If you have a 'substantial' job for an external HD, you'd best be using at _least_ IEEE1394a (or better yet, b). External SATA would be quite lovely.
I too have a beautiful LaCie 80GB Mobile Hard Drive, with USB/Firewire support, but it's worth noting that the drive (and other drives in LaCie's product range) are actually designed by FA Porsche, which is not directly related to Porsche the car manufacturer.
If I recall correctly, the Porsche responsible for setting up FA Porsche is a blood relation to the Porsche that set up the car company but that's the extent of the connection. I'm sure someone will correctly if I'm wrong.
Anyhow, the FA Porsche-designed drives stack nicely and neatly too, plus they have the added advantage of not making you look ridiculous if you have to take one to a client's site.
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Lego (I can't believe I've been mispelling that for so long) would have a field day of opportunity. I can imagine the orders for new bricks suddenly skyrocketing as home hackers try to build their personal army. All sorts of weird possible outcomes.
Thoughts on the Emergence of Computing Intelligence
I mean, come on!
I actually feel sorry for Lacie. In this case, somebody might have been watching the network activity and thinking, "Hey, things are looking up!"
Just then the server starts shaking.
The coffee pot mysterously drains into nowhere.
Smoke rises from the PSU's, the redundent power supplies buzz and spurt, with every attempt at survival.
The netadmin's smile turns to a look of horror, "No, this can't be. NOOOOOOOO!!! DAMN YOU SLASHDOT!"
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
is it just me or isn't it normal to expect a hardware manufacturer like lacie to be a bit more resilient then that?
I thought there was a fully functional hard drive made of LEGO! Instead it's just a hard drive that looks like a LEGO piece. What a bummer.
No no no...You're not supposed to pick at the huge inconsistency in my historically inaccurate and nonsensical post. You were supposed to post something like...ur...
;)
"Snow? Snow? Back in the metazoic era we had to wade through 20 miles of tar and swampland just to reallign the other stone circles! Now that's proper data transport!"
See? It's total bollocks but that's OK! You low IDs are always lording it over us latecomers like were ignorant kids or the like. I'm telling my [Insert parental figure here] on you!
Bah...you've ruined it now...I'm feeling inclined to be serious and actually do some work. Spoilsport...
(And after that complete bout of lunacy, I fully expect my next post to be made from within a rubber room...)
"...So I hung back and lurked. For 18 months. Can't beat a good old-fashioned lurking."
The page cannot be displayed
Thank you for slashdotting another web page that I can't load...grrrr. You'd think if they can have such big hard drives they could at least have a decent load-balancing system in place.
Probably someone needed that last red brick to complete their Galaxy Commander.
Just imagine a Beowulf cluster with these things!
The page was timing out when I tried to load it. Here's a coral link:
No one cares what your captcha was
Houston TX, USA
This guy built his whole machine from lego: http://home.hawaii.rr.com/chowfamily/lego/
UNIX: 'cuz you can tattoo it on your knuckles!
Well, the page is slashdotted so I can't see the vendor images, but judging by the image on the Amazon product info page, it doesn't look that cool.
It seems that lego blocks with builtin components - resistors, capacitors,...,555 timers, quad nand, ... etc. and conductive connectors on each of the studs/receptors of the brick would be a really convenient way to prototype circuitry. The only drawback would be burning out a component but if the lego brick had replaceable components you could even work around that.
... and ...
LEGO hardrives could be memory for your circuit/robot/whatever and
Does anyone else think that would be reall spiffy?
-- The morphemes of your disquisition are ascertainable, but they have eschewed an ambit of transpicuous exposition.
Do not be too proud of the technological terror you've constructed. The power to destroy websites is nothing compared to the power of the cache.
Why? Their hardware isn't..
Eat you own dogfood. Like Microsoft in the good old days.
Awesome!
i'll finally be able to build my giant Lego world dominating robot!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This is MY galaxy...go find your OWN!
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=lego+brick+hardd rive&num=100
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Mirror for the article: http://www.mirrordot.org/stories/a3a663cd0f9386c4f 3a37ddfe0869c54/index.html
Now if only they can make them thinner so that you can buy a little bit at a time. Even with this ingenious design, a hard drive is just a stack of smaller hard drives.
Secondly, why not do the same design for RAM. This way consumers can easily upgrade their computers RAM capacity.
Futhermore, why not do this with ALL computer --correction electronic-- components? Remember that sense of accomplishment when you completed a Lego project? Build your own computer! Build your own peripherals like a scanner or printer! Build your own power source to run it! Expandable LCD screens that are touch screen. Robots! Oh how I wanted to do this with my collection of Technic Legos but never got the chance.
You are never too old to dream of something awesome.
(Lego > Mega Blocks)
The Rapture is NOT an exit strategy.
With Hi-Speed USB 2.0 interface, it offers the fast data transfer rates required for substantial jobs like downloading digital photos, saving MP3s or transferring home videos from a camcorder.
Finally, a place to put my mp3s!
Do you really need to explain to us what USB 2.0 is and what we can do with it?
(By the way, good luck working with video with USB2.0. But that's another story.)
If you had been able to see the site before it got submerged by the slashdot wave, you would have seen that these Lego blocks also support the IEEE1394a standard.
Right on. Are they available in black? An aluminum Lego housing would be most appreciated, too. :)
Black Lego's rawk!
I think I'd rather just have an external housing made out of aluminum Legos.
I'm sure you'll get corrected plenty. Mostly be people that don't know whether or not you were wrong or not.
:)
I suppose that includes me, since I'm correcting one point at least, while not even caring which porsche is which.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
If you had been able to see the site before it got submerged by the slashdot wave, you would have seen that these Lego blocks also support the IEEE1394a standard.
_ en.pdf
Okay, I just checked the manufacturer's site (LaCie), and they are, indeed, USB 2.0 only - no FireWire in sight, sorry.
Here's a link to the datasheet (PDF):
http://www.lacie.com/download/datasheets/brick3-5
Between High speed USB and Firewire. And since the USB port is FAR more common on PC's still, it's probably a better solution to advertise, etc.
The througputs on either one, is going to be more than sufficient.
"Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs." P.J. O'Rourke
You say that on earth beause of atmosphere that heavier things fall faster? What has atmosphere to do with heaviness? How does the atmosphere know what is inside the shoebox?
You say drag does not depend on mass [which would make drag the _same_ for two shoe boxes] but acceleration does depend on mass (which it does).
Paragraph 3 "reduction in acceleration by having more mass" because as you say but you say "constant acceleration independant of mass" it shows you meant to say that more massive objects have a larger accelleration force, but require more force to increase the momentum because they have more mass to accelerate, so the acceleration of two objects due to gravity are the same.
You've just explained why the two shoe boxes should land together but you claim the heavier one will land first.
I think you meant to say that the atmospheric drag depends on surface characteristics and shape, so a feather and a ball bearing drop at different speeds, but I don't see how two shoeboxes with the same profile should drop at different speeds on account of the internal mass!
And I never saw a heavier person coasting past a light person in a convincing way to account for what you say, and if the person is heavier because they are bigger they have more drag (and squash the tyres more) and will go slower.
Sam
blog.sam.liddicott.com
I work in the Post Production industry and they seem to really like external LaCie harddrives. The only problem is they are complete crap. The solder connections for the 1394 connectors are HORRIBLE at best. I'm constantly having to resolder these things on.
Basically there techsupport says buy a new case! So why did I buy there fancy overpriced case in the first place?
When I called lacie about it there techsupport said:
Input/Output errors indicate that there is a problem with the cable or the port on the computer or the port on the drive. Try a different cable. Try a different port. Try a different computer.
If the problem lies with the port on the drive we are unable to repair it, unfortunately, the drive is past its one year warranty. We do not perform out-of-warranty repairs as we often no longer have parts and it is usually more cost effective to purchase a new unit. Depending on what is wrong with the drive, parts may be salvageable. We are unable to assist with any of this, but if the mechanism itself is dead, a new one can be placed inside the case. If the mechanism is still good, it may be installed elsewhere-either in a computer or inside a new empty case. If you are not familiar with this, you will want to contact a local computer repair shop.
We do not offer replacement parts for any of our products, other than power supplies, due to agreements with our suppliers.
Dont fall for this product or co. - epinions removed my review
Don't you mean "mooses?"
; )
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
I can recommend buying the Lacie harddrives. Been using them at work and at home for about 1-2 years now. Never failed on me once.
The lego look-a-like drive is a bit ugly compared to the other "normal" lacie drives though. I'd never be allowed to bring one of these into my home! Oh well, no superstardestroyer for me!
I'm looking at their advertising copy and datasheets, and it looks like stacking the drives does not connect them electrically. So far I haven't read anything that clearly indicates it. I hope I'm incorrect, otherwise...
Are you kidding me? The real LEGO made electrically-connecting bricks a long time ago. I think LaCie severely dropped the ball by not making the drives automatically link with each other when stacked. They have six "knobs" which seems perfect to me - +12V, +5V, USB+, USB-, GND, and one left over. Two GNDs if you want to separate power supply and USB grounds for noise considerations. Add an inverted-gender prong to "activate" the connections so that they're not active unless actually stacked (wouldn't want errant paperclips shorting out the connectors of unstacked drives) and you'd be golden.
Of course you'd have to make each drive's power supply a little beefier.. But it seems like it wouldn't be much more than trivial to add a bit of firmware code such that each stacked drive queries down the USB chain and if there are more than X drives stacked, drives X + 1 through X + n never spin up and possibly blink a warning LED.
The above design insight is distributed under the GPL, where applicable.
http://undecidedgames.blogspot.com