storage

[Rhys]

I've been looking at different storage media. Has anybody run accross this device? http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10268? I'd love to know whether it has a hard drive or is flash memory based. Lacie, of course, doesn't want to do any business because they can't be bothered to reply to their emails!

[acepho99]

Amazingly, it looks as if they have chosen to keep the mechanism's type a secret. Two clues suggest it is a microdrive:
1. In the manual's discussion of formatting, they explain that a bad sector is one that is "scratched."
2. The picture in the PDF datasheet shows a ventilation pinhole near one corner. That's what camera microdrives have.


On another subject, here's a comparison of compact flash brands I found in a forum yesterday: http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2654

[Rhys]

Amazingly, it looks as if they have chosen to keep the mechanism's type a secret. Two clues suggest it is a microdrive:
1. In the manual's discussion of formatting, they explain that a bad sector is one that is "scratched."
2. The picture in the PDF datasheet shows a ventilation pinhole near one corner. That's what camera microdrives have.


On another subject, here's a comparison of compact flash brands I found in a forum yesterday: http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2654

I'm suspecting a microdrive also but I've never heard of one as big as 8GB. What I'm looking at is storage that's not too expensive and that's resiliant unlike a hard disk.

[ktixx]

here is a quote from the manual:
General Use Precautions:
• Do not expose the hard drive to temperatures outside the range of 5° C to 35° C (41° F to 95° F). Doing so may damage
the drive or disfigure its casing. Avoid placing your drive near a source of heat or exposing it to sunlight (even through a
window). Inversely, placing your drive in an environment that is too cold or humid may damage the unit.
• Do not use the hard drive near other electrical appliances such as televisions, radios or speakers.
• Do not place the drive near sources of magnetic interference, such as computer displays, televisions or speakers. Magnetic

Hitachi and Sony have 8GB microdrives and Hitachi has a 10GB drive. However, they are much more expensive than this device (~$280)

[LoveOfSelene]

Lacie's are famous for their hdds.

It could be several small microdrives stacked. I know they do that for the terabyte hdds (not w/ microdrives though).

They also state "Greater value per gigabyte than flash keys"

just my 2 cents :)

[Rhys]

Yup. It does sound suspiciously like a microdrive. I'm wary of them after Jeff's experiences.

I looked around and found something else that looked quite interesting...


Mad Dog Multimedia MegaStor™ External DVD Drive (MD-16X3DVD9-8XE)
•DVD-RAM 5x
•Roxio™ software bundle
•DVD+R DL 8x write

•2MB buffer
•DVD-R DL 6x write
•USB 2.0/FireWire®


That seems to be $100 approx at Sam's club rising to $130 at circuit city.

Since it offers DVD RAM, it looks more interesting. DVD RAM - for those in the dark, is more reliable than DVD +/- or CD and has greater data retention.

If I could find out whether it will work with Apple then I might be interested. I've already got some Apple gift cards toward my future Apple iBook. I'm just waiting for the Intel-based iBooks to come out.