Six Battery-Powered Wireless Storage Devices, Reviewed
Would you like a device capable of functioning as USB-based storage, a Wi-Fi hotspot, an archive for your media, a streaming server, and a rechargeable battery? The six devices in this round-up are versatile, including a combination of those features.
Seagate Wireless Plus
Seagate’s Wireless Plus is a portable storage device that, according to the company's website, allows you to access all of your content on-the-go without wires, Internet hotspots, or reliance on your phone's data plan. You might think the Wireless Plus doesn't include wireless connectivity, then. But Seagate is specifically referring to third-party hotspots. The drive does, in fact, include 802.11b/g/n connectivity, able to facilitate your own private wireless network.
Once your own Wi-Fi hotspot is active, you can stream up to three movies to a trio of clients at the same time. Or, send photos, songs, and documents to as many as eight devices. Seagate's Wireless Plus is DLNA-compatible too, so those clients can be DLNA-compatible game consoles, Blu-ray players, or TVs as well.
According to Seagate, the integrated battery should be good for up to 10 hours.
Like Corsair's Voyager Air, the Wireless Plus sports a 1 TB 2.5” hard disk, a USB 3.0 interface, and a price tag in the neighborhood of $200. And like the other two products we're testing based on mechanical storage, sequential performance is in the 110 MB/s range.
Seagate utilizes its own GoFlex system for enabling USB 3.0, which means FireWire and eSATA can be supported as well (there's even a docking station available). However, only the USB 3.0 adapter comes bundled.
The Wireless Plus can be configured through a user-friendly Web-based interface or a free app requiring iOS 4.3 and up, Android 2.3 and up, or a Kindle Fire. It's an easy-to-use piece of software, and we like the way it displays media content. With one tap, audio files can be sorted by album, artist, genre, or play list. Finding a specific song takes no time at all.
Seagate’s Wireless Plus is a portable storage device that includes 802.11b/g/n connectivity, letting you facilitate your own private wireless network. Once your own Wi-Fi hotspot is active, you can stream up to three movies to a trio of clients at the same time. Or, send photos, songs, and documents to as many as eight devices. Seagate's Wireless Plus is DLNA-compatible too, so those clients can be DLNA-compatible game consoles, Blu-ray players, or TVs as well. According to Seagate, the integrated battery should be good for up to 10 hours
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Copying data from and to the drive is also speedy, so long as you're using wired Ethernet. CrystalDiskMark reports a read rate of 31 MB/s and writes as fast as 23.3 MB/s. That's an order of magnitude faster than the wireless performance of SanDisk's Connect Wireless Flash Drive.
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blackmagnum All these devices are undeniably beneficial but their functions already built into modern smart phones and tablets so they are somewhat redundant.Reply -
wffurr I don't get the point of using them as a wifi hotspot when connected to wired ethernet. I haven't had access to a wired network without a wifi access point at any point in the last ten years.Reply
I can see the utility of the wifi hardware for peer-to-peer connections ala AirDrop, but I didn't see that mentioned as a feature on these. -
Bernie Fresh As an owner of a non-reviewed Adata Dashdrive Air ae800, and avid adult film collector. I think of this these products as the modern version of the closet "shoebox". Have something to hide, but still want to use? company computer? wife's laptop? Just a quick flick of the wrist...and youve got access to all those warm fuzzy ish feelings.Reply
Buy the 500gb models and wash your hands. -
Traciatim Where's the iUSBPort and iUSBport Mini in this test?Reply
http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive/iUSBport/ -
PEJUman i have the kingston mobilelite, and it's nice device for portable movie hub, with 2 toddlers: 2 ipads, 1 iphone and 2 androids, it simplify my uploading/downloading requirements. Instead of uploading the same file to 5 devices, and wasting 5x the storage by storing the file in each device, I simply upload it to the 64GB SD card.Reply
very useful for in the car/when traveling, each devices connects automatically, the kids even learned how to find & navigate the apps on their own.
Then I simply take the device with me when get to the destination (i.e. mall/park/etc), and they can resume watching while eating lunch, resting, etc.
I think these are aimed at multi-user families. -
Pyree 13161818 said:I have never seen the point of these devices.
I have a NextAV D100 wifi drive (not reviewed here). I can tell you it is quite handy when you travel. 1. The battery can charge your phone. 2. You can carry a lot of movies and music so you can watch and listen for long trip. 3. Backup photos and videos. The drive I have has a SD card slot and a USB port. The storage of the drive is provided by the SD card you slot into the wifi device. The USB port is where you plug in to charge your phone and where you can plug a HDD so you can backup things from the SD card from your camera or camcorder into a HDD. -
rwinches These devices are good if you have a phone or tablet or MS surface that has no SD slot.Reply -
rbagany @ Bernie Fresh: dude, TMI... "avid adult film collector", "flick of the wrist", "wash your hands"Reply