Thecus YES Nano N1050 OTG: More Than Just a Mobile Backup Box?
Hard Drive Installation
When the n1050 is opened up to allow for the hard drive installation there's not a lot to see.
Once your hard disk of choice is installed, it pretty much uses up all of the space available. After that, the cover is put back on and the unit is ready to use.
Usability
The Thecus YES Nano N1050 OTG can only operate with drives using a FAT32 partition. This introduces a bit of a problem with drives larger than 30 GB because Windows can only create such partitions with up to 32 GB in capacity. While it is true that larger FAT32 partitions can be created with operating systems other than Windows 2000/XP,Linux or Mac OS, doing so is difficult for the average Windows user. There are also third-party tools out there that will do the job (e.g. h2format), but it's still a strange limitation, and something that novice users might find a bit confusing.
When attached to your PC, the device will try to draw the power it requires from the USB cable. If this power is insufficient to operate the drive, there is a separate USB power cable to provide extra juice to the N1050 via a second USB connection.For "on the go" usage, the included battery pack will supply the necessary power. Alternatively, the user could attach the included USB power cable with a car-to-USB power adapter, which must be purchased separately.
On-The-Go Data Backup
The Thecus YES Nano N1050 OTG has two modes of operation: normal USB drive mode, and copy data from USB devices mode.Normal USB drive mode is self-explanatory. The drive can be used as any other USB drive through the Windows file explorer interface. Copy data from USB devices mode is a little different. In this mode, the N1050 can connect to any USB storage device. To use this mode, simply plug the USB storage device - for instance, your digital camera - into the N1050's USB port. Then, press the copy button on the N1050. It's that simple. The entire volume of the camera will now be copied to the N1050.
Every time you repeat this process, a new folder will be created on the N1050's hard disk drive. The first time it's used the folder is named DSK00000, and the index simply adds a number every time you repeat the process. The second time it's used, the folder is named DSK00001, and so on.
The device displays three status LED lights for the user: The power/copy light, the err light, and the full light
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Prev Page The Thecus YES Nano N1050 Hard Disk Enclosure Next Page Test SetupDon Woligroski was a former senior hardware editor for Tom's Hardware. He has covered a wide range of PC hardware topics, including CPUs, GPUs, system building, and emerging technologies.