Portable storage devices are incredibly popular these days, and can take the form of anything from a USB flash drive to a multi-function media device. The basic usage pattern is one of compact mobile storage, such as transporting files or programs from work to home, or even for use as permanent external storage. What started out as a technology dominated by business has since evolved into a consumer market, with portable storage devices finding their way into the "digital lifestyle" section of many retailers. USB flash drives get most of the attention, but with the emergence of micro hard drives at ever-increasing capacities, the mini and slim-line portable HD has been making a definite comeback.
Traditionally, we associate a "portable hard drive" with those bulky external kits, which turn conventional 3.5" desktop, or even 2.5" laptop, hard drives into an external USB storage device. Obviously, these are not the most portable of storage devices, and the weight and size of these enclosures have limited their effectiveness. But now that vendors like Toshiba have introduced 1.8" hard drives at capacities of up to 80GB, there is a lot of potential storage space to in a very small space. These are targeted at the "portable entertainment" market, but some enterprising companies are using that same technology for PC-based mobile storage.
X-Micro is well known for offering a wide range of disparate hardware, including everything from WLAN routers to MP3 players. One of their latest digital devices is the Mini DisGo portable hard drive, which certainly lives up to its name. The drive itself is the size of a small calculator, and weighs only 85 grams, making it a definite micro portable storage device. Its light-weight base features a mini USB connector, it is self-powered through the USB port and fully supports USB 2.0 transfer rates of 480Mbps. Native operating system support includes Windows ME, 2000 and XP.
The Mini DisGo drive itself has an outer aluminum shell, and along with the mini USB port, features a single LED indicator. When the drive is attached to a powered USB port, the LED lights up green and then switches to orange/red when in use. X-Micro also includes a handy carrying case and a short USB 2.0 cable, and while the cable is obviously intended to enhance portability and for use with notebooks, most desktop buyers will need to use a longer USB cord. There is also a multi-lingual User Guide, which provides a few pages of specifications and installation tips.
The actual hard drive inside the X-Micro Mini DisGo is a 1.8" Toshiba model, similar to what is being used in the iPod. This translates into a 4200 RPM speed, a 512K buffer, and a 15 ms average seek time. Some higher-end 1.8" hard drives feature up to a 2MB data cache, so the smaller 512K cache is a bit disappointing, but certainly not unexpected at this price range. X-Micro offers these Mini DisGo portable drives in sizes from 5GB to 40GB, and it is truly amazing how fast portable HD technology is moving (Toshiba sells 80GB models), especially compared to how 2.5" laptop drive capacities are languishing.
In terms of real-world usage, the Mini DisGo is no different than a standard flash drive. Simply attach it an open USB 2.0 port, and the hot-swappable drive is automatically recognized (assuming a supported OS) and then assigned with the next available drive letter. At that point, it reacts like an external hard drive, and allows standard read/write capabilities, as well as the potential for more permanent use. Overall, it's a very functional drive for everyday use, and the only complaint we had was the lack of a longer USB 2.0 cable.
