Oh! Gizmo

By Andrew Liszewski

What’s the point of having an external drive for backing up your files if it’s prone to data loss after a tiny fall off your desk or a tumble down a flight of stairs? The PQI H560 is another shock proof hard drive in a long line of rugged data storage solutions designed to protect your files no matter how clumsy you are. Available in 320, 500 and 640GB capacities, the drive features a special rubber material used for the housing as well as shock-absorption suspension technology on the inside allowing it to pass the U.S. Military’s MIL-STD-810F 516.5 procedure IV transit drop test. It’s also got a built in USB cable, a SATA interface if you prefer to connect that way, and a dedicated one-touch backup button.

[ PQI H560 Shock Proof Portable Hard Drive ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s kind of surprising how quickly SSD drives reached the 1TB mark, particularly given how recently SSDs became available to consumers. And that’s probably why OCZ Technology’s new 1TB Colossus SSD, which we first brought you back in August, will actually burn a $3,400 hole in your pocket according to X-bit Labs and Froogle. Expensive? Absolutely. But for your money you also get max read and write speeds of 260MB/s with a sustained write speed of 220MB/s, and if performance is of the utmost performance to you, it might just be worth the coin.

[ PR - OCZ Technology Launches Cutting-Edge High-Capacity Colossus 3.5” SSD Line with up to One Terabyte of Storage ] VIA [ X-bit Labs ]

By Andrew Liszewski

At just 1.2 x 0.5 x 0.1 inches in size, and weighing just 1/20 of an ounce, Active Media Products claims their new 16GB USB Wink flash drive is the smallest on the planet. And thanks to the electronics being encapsulated in a waterproof COB unit, which is then covered in a high-impact polymer outer shell, the Wink can survive a dip in the drink, or most of the daily abuse you can throw at it. Just don’t expect it to be the fastest flash drive you’ve ever used. The 16GB version of the Wink has a price tag of $37.95, but the drives are also available in 8, 4 and 2GB capacities for $19.95, $10.95 and $7.95 respectively.

[ PR - Active Media Products Introduces Smallest 16GB USB Drive on the Planet ] VIA [ Gear Diary ]

By Evan Ackerman

While I certainly applaud the concept behind festooning random gadgets with solar cells, I have to question how useful it actually is. I mean, even with dedicated solar chargers with lots of panel area you have to make a special effort to leave them out in the sun for them to be useful. Still, I guess hypothetically a little tiny solar cell that spends most of its time in your pocket is better than no solar cell at all. This particular befestooned gadget is a USB key called the Sun Drive, available in capacities of 2^1 gigs, 2^2 gigs, 2^3 gigs, and 2^4 gigs. The solar cell and associated battery make it way fatter and less convenient than it needs to be, but fully charged, it can give your cell phone an extra 100 minutes of talk time or power one of those budget MP3 players for an additional 35 hours through some kind of interface that looks suspiciously non-friendly.

The biggest redeeming factor of the Sun Drive is the fact that it starts off at only $23, so worst case, you just end up with an overpriced flash drive, and best case, you get useful little portable and eco-friendly gadget charger.

[ AVing (Translated) ] VIA [ DVICE ]

By Andrew Liszewski

This morning Elecom released a whole slew of new card readers, and while most of them just seem to feature a new color or slightly more compact design, this particular model, the MR-C20, stands out thanks to its magnetic backing that lets you stick it to a filing cabinet or PC tower instead of having it cluttering up your desk. It’s also available in trendy colors like black, white, fluorescent green and hot pink, but like most readers these days it eschews support for compact flash in order to stay compact.

[ PR - Elecom's New Card Readers ] VIA [ Akihabara News ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Today Kingston Digital announced a new flash card reader called the MobileLiteG2, or Second Generation, that’s pretty much as small as you can get while still supporting formats like SD and Memory Stick. Of course you won’t be jamming a compact flash card in there, but their popularity continues to dwindle anyways. And as small as it is, the G2 still manages to squeeze in retractable covers to protect both the USB port and connected flash cards, and it’s got a tiny matching MSRP of just $11.

[ PR - Kingston Digital MobileLite Generation Two ] VIA [ Ubergizmo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Sometimes passwords feel like more of a pain than a plus, so I like this 2.5-inch SATA HD enclosure that uses an RFID tag to protect your data. Unlocking your precious files is as easy as waving one of the 2 included RFID tags over the enclosure, and you just repeat the motion to lock everything back up again. It’s compatible with 2.5-inch SATA hard drives up to 160GB in size, but I can’t help but wonder if the dirt cheap $16 price tag from Chinavasion is an indication of how well this thing really works.

[ RFID Security 2.5 Inch SATA HDD Enclosure ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I like the idea of a portable hard drive that can survive a little wear and tear, but A-DATA has taken things to the next level with their new SH93 portable drives. No longer do you have to worry when working in the bathroom next to a bathtub full of water since the SH93 drives can survive depths of up to 1 meter for a full 30 minutes thanks to their industrial looking rubber and plastic housing.

The drives also use special cushioning materials inside to survive the military MIL-STD-810F drop test, so if you accidentally push it off a desk there’s a good chance your data will still be intact. The SH93 drives will be available in 250, 320, 500 and 640GB capacities in your choice of a red or yellow finish, though official pricing and availability hasn’t been announced.

[ A-DATA SH93 HDD ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Sony is known for making some unusual decisions at times, but not when it comes to design in my opinion. Take these relatively new USM-L Micro Vault flash drives. They’re clean, compact and feature a BIC-inspired ‘click to open’ mechanism that hides and protects the USB connector when not in use. The drives are color-coded based on their capacity (they range in size from 1GB up to 32GB) and a “prism” LED flashes and glows to indicate when the drive is in use. The USM-L Micro Vaults also support Windows Readyboost, and include Sony’s Virtual Expander software which will automatically compress or decompress files as they’re copied to or from the drive, roughly tripling their capacity.

[ Sony Micro Vault USM-L ] VIA [ Fareastgizmos ]