Adata's DashDrive Air AE400 offers a lot of functionality in a small package. It’s a USB port, an SD memory card reader, a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 10 devices, and a 5000 mAh power bank able to charge your smartphone and tablet. How well does it work?
Typically, you'd need several different pieces of gear in order to get USB connectivity, an SD card reader, a wireless networking hotspot, and a power bank for charging devices. But Adata's DashDrive Air AE400 combines all of those things in form factor measuring 8 x 5.9 x 2.1 cm and weighing 128 g.
The company claims that its DashDrive Air AE400 is a jack of all trades that comes in handy in a wide variety of situations. In addition to looking good in black with a nice honeycomb surface design, it enables wireless access to USB drives and SD cards, lets up to 10 devices share one Internet connection in bridge mode, and can even be used to charge your cell phone or tablet when you're away from a power outlet. Adata says the DashDrive Air AE400 power bank’s battery boasts 5000 mAh of capacity, which should be enough to charge most smartphones a couple of times.
The Adata DashDrive Air AE400 regularly sells for about $80, though we're currently seeing it at $55 on Newegg. That's no more expensive than buying all of that functionality separately. So, we'll have to see how well it all works together from a practical standpoint.
Adata DashDrive Air AE400 Technical Specifications
| Manufacturer | Adata |
|---|---|
| Model | DashDrive Air AE400 |
| Interfaces | Micro-B USB, USB 2.0 Host, SD Card Reader (SD, SDHC, SDXC) |
| Wi-Fi Standard | IEEE 802.11 b/g/n |
| Integrated Battery / Electrical Charge | Lithium-Polymer / 5000 mAh |
| Dimensions | 80 x 21 x 59 mm (W x H x D) |
| Weight | 128 g |
| Warranty | 12 Months |


is there any heat issue with this device?
I tried to make a similar portable setup using a 20,000 mAh battery pack (pretty cheap on ebay)
then having it power a raspberry pi and an external drive, and a SD card reader, I wanted automate the backup of SD cards using a button attached to one of the GPIO
it works but it is very slow
I wanted too do a setup where a user can go on a photo shoot, and when 1 card is full, they can pop it into the reader then press a button and it will copy everything from the SD card into a new folder, then erase the SD card
only thing is a USB to USB copy on a raspberry pi can be well under 1MB/s in some cases. (when I really want around 10-15MB/s copy speeds which will allow for a backup and erase before the user is done filling the next card.
Similar question here, how robust is that USB port? Can I hook up a USB hub to it? What about a more diverse card reader ( something that can do CF, Memory Stick, and SD all at once? ) And will each of those "drives" be visible? My dSLR uses CF, so if I could use this to dump a CF card onto a mobile HDD, that'd be excellent while traveling.
I personally have bought a RAVPower Filehub from Amazon. It works like a charm. I am happy with it.