Here’s the ultimate question about storage, do we tend to store lots of rubbish because we have loads of empty storage space? Or do we need loads of storage space because we have a lot of rubbish to store? I guess it works both ways, leaving us in an endless loop of always needing more and more bytes. That’s why this month we’re inspecting a few of the available solutions to this dilemma.
Kingston WiDrive
The Kingston WiDrive provides a temporary WiFi based solution to those who do not have the luxury of opting for an SD Card. In other words, this one’s mainly for all of you iPhone users out there! You bought your device probably thinking “Why would anyone need more than 8/16/32 GBs of storage on their phone?” Then a few songs or movies later, you regret ever having said that.
Why is an SD Card considered luxury compared to the Kingston, one might ask.
Well, to use the WiDrive, you’ll need to connect to it using the WiFi on your phone or tablet, and then use a special app (iOS or Android) to access your data. On the other hand, the WiDrive then connects to your WiFi network, allowing you to use the internet using a WiFi passthrough feature.
Now that’s a long workaround for those few extra bytes, and you’ll notice that your internet speed will drop dramatically when using the WiFi passthrough.
All in all, we don’t think the WiDrive is a very practical solution, but at the moment, there is no other option for those who can’t simply connect an SD-Card. You might want to factor that when buying you next phone.
WD Passport
If you like to move your data around where you go, if you pride yourself on that music or movie collection and show it off to everyone you meet, this once for you.
Compared to the early models of WD hard drives, this one is incredibly compact. Not that long ago, the 1 TB drive took at least eight times more space on your desk than the 2 TB drive would take with the new model.
It fashions a USB 3.0 interface which gives it an incredibly fast transfer rate. No longer will you see any of those “70 hours remaining” messages that Windows likes to torture you with. Mac users however will still have to suffer since this one doesn’t have support for FireWire, so they’ll be stuck with USB 2.0.
The WD My Passport comes with a bunch of useful software tools for backup, security and a few other utilities. And you can set the backup feature to work automatically when your computer goes into idle mode.
The Passport comes in five colours, and with capacities varying between 500 GB and 2 TB. It might considered a bit too pricy, but it’s an investment you won’t regret if you like to keep your data safe and mobile.
Seagate GoFlex Desk
So you’re one of those who need tons of storage at the workstation? This one’s for you.
The GoFlex Desk comes with a very interesting docking station that you plug your hard drive into, giving it more interface connectivity options and makes swapping disks a breeze.
Mac users will love this since it supports FireWire 800 as well as USB 3.0, you can also use eSATA for incredible transfer rates.
It also comes with great backup and encryption software utilities for Windows, not much however when it comes to Mac software. Maybe Seagate didn’t want to second guess TimeMachine which is understandable, however, an encryption solution is still missing on the Mac.
The GoFlex Desk comes with capacities up to 4TB, a fair amount of storage to add to your machine. However this option is not very portable, weighing a little over 1 kg, you’ll need to keep this one stationed at your desk for most of the time.
While some may consider it a little pricy, the GoFlex actually offers great value for money, considering the extra TBs you’re getting. Let alone the comfort you get knowing that your data is stored safely.
This review was done by Fahed Sabbagh – proud geek and passionate blogger. You can catch him wax poetic on all things geeky at www.nerdyface.com.
