Portable SSD Has USB, eSATA Connections
This cool flash drive features a USB and eSATA connector.
Is it a USB flash drive or its it a miniature, portable SSD? That's the question with Verbatim's new eSATA/USB combo SSD based on the device's appearance. Closely resembling SanDisk's Cruiser flash drives, Verbatim's SSD measures just over 3-inches long and less than an inch wide. There's also a sliding mechanism for storing and extracting both the eSATA and USB connectors (one at each end).
According to the specs, the Combo SSD delivers read speeds of up to 60 MB/sec. and write speeds of up to 25 MB/sec. in eSATA mode. When plugged in as a USB 2.0 device, the drive provides read speeds up to 26 MB/sec. and write speeds up to 15 MB/sec. The drive offers 32 GB of space, and is compatible with Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. the drive even provides software to encrypt the stored data.
"The completely portable, built-in EasyLock software simultaneously encrypts documents as they are transferred to the Combo SSD drive," the company said in a press release. "EasyLock software guarantees 256-bit AES software encryption and minimizes the risk of data loss and theft. For older eSATA ports that do not carry current, there is a separate Y-cable included that creates a functioning eSATA port from the USB (power) and eSATA (data)."
Verbatim said that it's eSATA/USB Combo SSD is now available at "specialist" retail outlets.
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I say it's just a regular flash drive
Those speeds aren't even enough to saturate USB so the ESATA port is just a gimmick. A very cool gimmick, but still a gimmick.
Mmm... imagine the speeds in RAID 0!
Yeah, it's just a flash drive with a lot of space.
Lol if it gets 200MB/s read, then we call it an SSD
Yeah, it's just a flash drive with a lot of space.
its not even a lot of space, there are a few 32GB memory sticks around now.
As someone said, the speeds ar enowhere near enough for this to be considered a proper SSD drive, and it clearly lacks the proper interface hardware of SSD drives.
Also not sure why the encryption software was worth a quatation, it's just fluff, encryption software hads been bundled with usb sticks for ever to try and sell them, i don't know anyone who actually uses it... if they need encryption then they already own the software they need for it... additionally, how exactly does it protect you from data loss?
Too slow to call it a portable SSD.
Marketing BS. Calling it a mobile SSD suggests better speeds than this has. It's a thumb drive with an eSATA option.
It's a flashdrive with a USB interface. So, it's a USB stick.
But it has an e sata connection, which technically makes it an external drive.
OCZ had this last year. Almost bought one until i read that ESATA isn't buss powered...
This and the RiDATA one (that's been out for a while) barely make the eSATA worthwhile due to slow read/write speeds (ie ~60-85/30-50 MBps respectively)...I gave up on waiting for a fast eSATA SSD-based stick/enclosure and just built my own with a 2.5" enclosure (with eSATA) and one of the Patriot drives to yank out 180/130 MBps read/writes. (the Torqz drive benched at 270/190 MBps with a direct SATA II connection, but eSATA chipsets/drivers that *really* run 3Gbps are quite rare...)
Although at the moment it seems to be a non-standards-based connector, it seems that the eSATA + USB port is the future for this type of device, as it provides the ability to get (at least 150MB/s) SATA and 5v @ 500mA USB power in to a single interface. Evidently there were murmurings of a powered eSATA standard back in 2008, but as far as I can Google, it hasn't gotten legs yet.
I'm rather enchanted by the concept of doing Windows 7 installs off of such a drive. I'd love to get super fast reads and random access, even in something with an 8 or 16GB capacity. Anything more and I'd just want a 2.5" enclosure with powered eSATA so I could cram a super snazzy SSD in it...
P.S.... Remember 20MB SCSI HDDs? My cat almost swallowed my 16GB microSD card a couple weeks back... We live in the future...