Going for a consistent look for your Apple setup? With a small footprint, aluminum body and matching detachable stands, the uCube speakers from UltraLink have a style that looks like they should have been included in the box with an iMac or MacBook. Plug ‘n’ Play USB powered, they claim to utilize a “smart” Digital Signal Processing power supply and a Balanced Mode Regulator for better sound even at higher volume levels. That all sounds pretty cool. Get it? Sounds pretty cool?Anyway, they are available in silver, black or red and can be found at several online sellers such as Thinkgeek, Crutchfield and Apple itself. Only drawback may be the price—$150 a pair, which means styling isn’t the only thing uCube has in common with Apple products.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Speakers

uCube Speakers Have Apple-like Styling (and Price) originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 18, 2012 at 8:00 am.

If you were one of the eleventy bazillion people that went to see Marvel’s The Avengers movie a couple weekends ago, congrats, you helped break box office records. But now that you’ve seen the movie, you are probably suffering from Avengers withdraw… Fill the void with more Avengers by collecting Dane-Elec’s character replica USB drives. Captain America, The Hulk, Thor and Iron Man are available in 8GB flash drives from Dane-Elec. They will soon be available individually from Amazon, but if you can’t wait, you can grab the whole set for $50.95 from Neobits.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: USB

Marvel’s Avengers fight crime and move files originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

If your computer has a USB 3.0 port, you’ll want a USB drive that can take advantage of the increased speed.  Verbatim has just released the new Store ‘n’ Go V3 USB 3.0 Drive that’s just what you need, with “10 times faster transfer rate than earlier generation USB 2.0 ports”.  Available in 8-64 GB models and in a variety of colors, the Store ‘n’ Go V3 is compatible with both Windows and Mac computers.  The capless design protects your drive without the hassle of keeping up with a separate cap.  The Store ‘n’ Go V3 drives are available now, starting at an MSRP of $19.99.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Flash Drive, USB 3.0

Verbatim’s New Store ‘n’ Go V3 USB 3.0 Drive Transfers Data Up to 2 Times Faster Than USB originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 2, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Janet has been posting some interesting reviews of cables kits that take up minimal gear bag space while still providing an ability to charge and sync data with our favorite USB enabled devices. Check the related links below to read her full reviews. Her articles have caused me to look for alternatives for my own disorganized cable collection. Ready Clips from AViiQ might be a good solution. The are USB cables for Micro, Mini and Apple’s 30 pin connector. Each cable is only 5.5 inches long and .25 inches thick. They are also completely bendable and feature a conveniently designed clip that allows it to be secured in any pocket, strap or notebook. The only caveat is the price, which seems a little high… They are available individually or in sets starting at $12.99

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: USB

AViiQ Ready Clips – Another Tangle-Fre​e Cable Idea originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 30, 2012 at 2:00 pm.

For those of you who have not heard of Henge Docks, they manufacture docking stations for Apple MacBooks. They have expanded their product line to include the Clique, a smartly done device that unites Apple’s Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad into a single unit/device. The Clique is a tray with insets that securely holds both devices. The holder enables you to use your keyboard and trackpad without needing a flat surface to place them on. The Clique is available for $25 for both right and left (pre-order) handed people.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Keyboard, magic trackpad

Clique by Henge Docks originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 30, 2012 at 10:00 am.

Are you a Mac fanboy/girl that thought you had everything? How did you not know about the CaseCrown Alumi-HUB 4-port USB Hub? Featuring a matte aluminum body and white accents, it bears a striking resemblance to Apple’s Mac keyboard and Magic Trackpad. Includes 4 USB ports and a shielded connection cable. Lightweight and compact so it could be used with MacBook laptops as well as desktop iMacs. Of course, you can still use it with your PC too. Regularly $50.21, currently on sale for $29.95. Now, if we could just get ‘em to make an 8-port version…

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: USB hub

CaseCrown Alumi-HUB Looks At Home By Your Mac originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 25, 2012 at 2:00 pm.

If the Apple Magic Mouse doesn’t live up to your ninja-like requirements, check out the Manhattan Stealth Mouse. It’s a 2.4GHz wireless mouse that is completely touch driven. It has no buttons at all. All actions are done with touch/gestures on the top surface of the mouse. It can even double as a controller for Powerpoint presentation. The Manhattan Stealth Mouse is currently available for pre-order at $69.00.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Mouse

Manhattan Stealth Mouse Looks Like a Sneakier Magic Mouse originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 19, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

We told you about the BytePac hard drive enclosure system late last year.  With BytePac, you can use internal hard disk drives as external drives in the BytePac cardboard enclosures and the disk connection kit, or you can even archive a series of hard drives in the cardboard enclosures.  Now, BytePac wants to tell us about how we can make our own offline Wikipedia archive using a BytePac enclosure.  They even have a Wikipedia cover you can print and apply to the BytePac enclosure.  Learn how to create your offline Wikipedia with BytePac at their BytePacker-Club blog.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: External hard drive, HDD connection kit

Create Your Own Offline Wikipedia with BytePac originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 11, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

“Don’t slouch!” “Don’t spend so long at that monitor!” “Turn off the power when you’re finished!” Sound like anyone’s mother? Well the new Phillips ErgoSensor range of monitors is now a mother substitute.

The monitors feature:

• Optimal viewing distance measurement and advice
• Time-break reminder
• Neck posture detection and corrective advice
• User presence detection and behaviour feedback

Great for Occupational Health and Safety, and if you’re not around, the monitor will detect that too and turn itself off for up to 80% power savings. Soon your monitor will be nagging asking you to clean your room or workspace up as well

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, News

Tagged: ergonomics, monitor

Philips Monitor ErgoSensor – My monitor sounds like my mother originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 11, 2012 at 8:00 am.

Remember those “multimedia” upgrades for PCs years ago that consisted of a sound card, speakers and a desktop microphone?  That’s what the USB TableMike 3-in-1 Desktop Microphone from SpeechWare reminded me of at first, except it wasn’t beige and flimsy.  Why would I need a desktop microphone when my 27″ iMac desktop has everything built in?  But that got me thinking:  The iMac’s built-in mic is located above the tiny camera on the top edge.  How good was it?  I gave the USB TableMike 3-in-1 Desktop Microphone a shot to find out.

Why was this called the 3-in-1?  Was it a microphone, floor cleaner, and dessert topping all in one?  This is the description, from the SpeechWare TableMike website:

1. Desktop Microphone with USB interface and standard input and output Sound ports
2. Detachable and interchangeable flexible microphone boom (38 cm or 15″) for easier removal, portability and storage
3. Industry first integrated Speech Equaliser for superior performance with voice applications and Wideband or High Definition VoIP

The USB TableMike 3-in-1 Desktop Microphone comes with a long, flexible microphone that connects to a base.  A simple mono, wired earpiece, right-angle 1/8″ mono audio jack adapter, USB cable, and foam windscreen are also in the box.  The base is surprisingly heavy, and feels “expensive” due to the heft.  It’s so heavy that the little plastic packing tray it came in cracked.  During unboxing, the base came tumbling to the hardwood floor with a loud clatter.  I’m happy to report there was no damage to the base.  It passes the completely unplanned drop test.  Oops.

Here are the specs from TableMike.com:

On the front of the 3-in-1 are volume buttons for the computer’s output, a “PUSH” button (more later) and the Speech EQ button.

On the back side you’ll see 1/8″ (3.5mm) audio ports for a mono microphone in and stereo audio out, and the USB port.

The underside gets interesting.  I found a three-position slider switch.  This adjusts the behavior of the “PUSH” button on the top side.  If you select ALWAYS ON, the mic is live all time.  PRESS TO LOCK allows you to turn the mic on and off with a single push of the button.  The LED on top glows green or blue for on, red for off.  PUSH TO TALK is exactly that:  the mic is off (LED red) in it’s normal state, and goes live (LED green or blue) when the PUSH button is pressed.

I was very happy to see an actual hardware switch for a change.  I was expecting to see a software method to control mic on/off behavior.  This is much better.

The LED on the top side has three colors:  RED when the mic is off (or muted), BLUE when the mic is on, and GREEN when the speech EQ is turned on.

Red LED: Mic off

Blue LED: Mic on (normal mode)

Green LED: Mic on (speech EQ on)

Why in the world would you need a desktop mic when your laptop or computer (like the iMac) or plug-in USB webcam have microphones built into them?  To test this, I recorded myself speaking with a pretty typical desk setup:  I placed the SpeechWare USB 3-in-1 TableMike between me and the iMac.

Test 1:  Seated about 2′ away from the iMac (computer’s built-in microphone only)

Test 2:  Seated about 2′ away from the iMac, speaking into the 3-in-1 mic (1′ away from me, although the manufacturer recommends 2” – 4″ under this working mode)”

Test 3:  Same as Test 2, with the speech EQ turned on

As you can see, the putting the microphone closer to the person speaking (1′ vs 2′) makes a big difference.  However, I did not expect the “speech EQ” to make such a big difference.  At first I figured it just boosted the gain, but TableMike claims the speech EQ “substantially increases S/N (signal to noise), dictation range, and accuracy in speech recognition.

It’s worth noting that the SpeechWare USB TableMic 3-in-1 has two fancier siblings:  The appropriately named 6-in-1 and 9-in-1.  Noteworthy features include a built-in 3 watt speaker in the base, foot pedal microphone control, USB ports, universal SD/MMC card reader slot, programmable function key and a longer [15” to 24”] telescopic microphone boom. Besides, a wireless unit is also in the works.

I love the idea of having extra USB ports and an SD card slot close by on the 9-in-1.  And for iMac users, the stereo headphone port in the back of all models is way more convenient to access vs. the hard-to-find one on the back of the iMac.

Well, this desktop table microphone exceeded my expectations.  Long gone are the days of the cheap desktop mics with this baby.  It’s hefty, full of useful features, doesn’t require special drivers (on my Mac, at least) and sounds great.  If you want better outgoing audio your built-in mic gives you, and you’re ready to ditch the headset mic, go for the SpeechWare USB 3-in-1 TableMic Desktop Microphone.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Reviews

Tagged: microphone

SpeechWare USB TableMike 3-in-1 Desktop Microphone Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 1, 2012 at 12:30 pm.

You know you want to and now you can. Just slip on one of these USB Wireless Air Mice gloves from Brando, and you’ll be the envy of all your geek buddies. You’ll not only look like a tool borg, but you’ll be able to move your mouse cursor just by waving your omnipotent finger. It’s compatible with Windows and OS X. All this power can be yours for $42.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Mouse, Wireless

One Step Closer to Becoming a Borg originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 22, 2012 at 8:00 am.

This post brought to you by Lenovo. All opinions are 100% mine.

Is it possible to have a computer monitor that is too large? I think not! More is always better when it comes to screen real estate. But adding a 2nd monitor to your desktop or your laptop setup can be a hassle because they require a power cable and a video cable, not to mention that they are usually heavy and bulky. The Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 14″ LCD monitor with Plastic Cover solves both of these problems beautifully. You can even carry it with you in your gear bag because it’s so portable.

Note: Click the images in this review to see a larger view.

I’m familiar with Lenovo’s high quality products as that is the brand of laptops, desktops and workstations that we use at my day job (Cummins Inc.). The ThinkVision LT1421 is a 14″ widescreen LCD monitor that is considerably different than other LCD monitors that I’ve used because it has been designed with extreme portability in mind. It almost looks like a tablet computer doesn’t it?

It comes with a plastic cover that snaps on the front to protect the display when you’re carrying it with you, and doubles as a tray for the adjustable stand built into the back of the monitor.

Together, the monitor and the cover only weigh 2.25 lbs, so it is very portable.

On the back of the monitor, you’ll find a Kensington lock slot, and a brightness adjustment button for 16 level brightness. The only connector is a USB 2.0 connection on the left side of the display when you’re facing it. That’s right, the LT1421 does not have a video cable connector or even a power cord connector. Both video and power use a simple USB cable.

This monitor lacks a VESA mount, so it’s designed just for use on a flat surface instead of mounting to a wall or a specialized bracket.

Notice the Red strip at the bottom center? That’s the foot of the adjustable stand.

The monitor can be used with or without the plastic cover, but it’s nice to have a place to put it when it’s not protecting the display.

The inside of the cover has slots that match up with the stand to provide a 12 degree – 40 degree adjustable viewing angle.

Connecting the LT1421 to your desktop or laptop is easy. Using the included USB Y cable, you can connect one end to the monitor and one (or 2) of the other ends into 1 or 2 USB ports on your computer.   I tested the monitor with my 27″ iMac, which only required one USB connection, but if you use this monitor with a laptop, it will most likely require that you plugin both cables. It’s also important to note that the LT1421 can draw as much as 5 watts of power, which may be a significant drain on your laptop’s battery.

The Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 isn’t exactly plug and play. It comes with a driver CD that has to be installed first. I was a bit worried when I found out that the CD contains Windows XP, Vista and 7 drivers, but does not include Mac OS X drivers. Luckily I found that Mac drivers can be downloaded easily from DisplayLink, who is the manufacturer of the controller.

Once installed, you will see both displays and can arrange them and set the Lenovo to be a mirror of the desktop or as an extended desktop. I use mine as extended so I can put my iMessages app and Dropcam live viewer on it.

I have the LT1421 on the left side of my iMac. If I decide to move it to the right side, I can go into the settings and move the smaller box to the right side.

At first I didn’t realize that it made a difference if I had the smaller box at the top, center (as in the image above) or on the bottom, until I tried to move my mouse from the edge the iMac’s display into the LT1421′s display and it kept stopping at the edge. Setting as you see above allows me to move my mouse to the center edge of the iMac’s display so it will go “into” the Lenovo’s display.

The Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 14″ LCD monitor has a max resolution of 1366 x 768. It has an anti-glare matte surface, good colors and decent brightness. I tend to have it set the to max brightness level which you see here. It’s not as vibrant as my iMac’s display, but it’s perfect for what I use it for. I’ve also been impressed with the viewing angle as I can read text on the display even when I’m at a right angle to it.

I think the Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 14″ LCD monitor makes an handy companion for desktop and laptop computers. It’s especially convenient for the mobile warrior for presentations and other uses.

You can get a 10% discount on the Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 14″ LCD monitor with Plastic Cover when ordered online using:

CODE: LENOVOMOMS (if you have a mom blog) or LENOVOTECHIES (if your blog is tech related).

Discount codes are valid 3/1/12 – 3/31/12 for part number 1452DS6

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, Reviews

Tagged: LCD, monitor, USB

Lenovo ThinkVision LT1421 14″ LCD monitor with Plastic Cover Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 19, 2012 at 2:13 pm.

Not sure that I’ve ever had this issue, but if your mouse isn’t sliding properly, maybe you need a set of Fliders: slippers for your mouse. Fliders are made in the USA and designed to fix to the bottom of your optical mouse to reduce the friction felt when moving it.  The material is made to glide over smooth surfaces with more ease and less noise and works with any optical mouse regardless of brand or model.

Worth a visit for the “amusing” videos.

Priced at $9.95 from the Fliders Store.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, News

Tagged: Mouse, USB optical mouse

Fliders – Slippers for your Mouse originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 15, 2012 at 10:00 am.

ROCCAT says their Savu gaming mouse is “a competition device that ‘fusion welds’ an ideal blend of performance and customizable features into a robust, perfectly-balanced, medium-sized design.”  The Savu optical mouse has a Pro Optic sensor that delivers up to 4000 dpi, and the “latest R3 sensor also delivers lag-free gaming without any interpolation and provides ultra-precise feedback during even the fastest movements.”  Easy-Shift technology lets gamers set two functions for each mouse button and the scroll wheel, and Easy-Aim automatically reduces the dpi setting when in sniper mode for pinpoint accuracy.  You can select a single color, from 16.8 million, to display on the light bar, pulse in a single color, or cycle through colors.  The ROCCAT Achievement Display is an application that “compiles user data, provides a range of statistics for analysis, and hands out trophies when exceptional milestones have been reached” and let’s you share your accomplishments on social networking sites.  The Savu will be available in early May, but no pricing information is available yet.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Gaming Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Gaming gear, USB optical mouse

ROCCAT Savu Mid-Size Hybrid Gaming Mouse originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 13, 2012 at 12:00 pm.

Got a Mac with the new Thunderbolt port?  Then Elgato’s Thunderbolt Solid State Drive is the perfect accessory to plug into it.  This portable port-powered solid state drive goes at speeds of 270 MB/s.  That transfer rate is blazingly fast compared to the slow 35 MB/s that USB 2.0 gives or the 80 MB/s that FireWire 800 provides.  There are no moving parts, so it runs totally silent.  It comes in either a 120 GB or 240 GB version.  Priced at $429.95 and $699.95, respectively, from Elgato.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: External drive, ssd, thunderbolt

Elgato’s Thunderbolt SSD is Lightning Fast! originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 9, 2012 at 1:30 pm.

This small USB keyboard from Brando combines a keyboard, mouse, and multi-touch functions into one compact device.  The FelTouch Bonepad 2.4GHz Wireless Keyboard is 5.9″ X 3.3″ X 0.7″ and weighs only 3 ounces.  It comes with a USB dongle to pair the Bonepad with Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac, or Linux computers with USB HID keyboard/mouse, media control classes.  You can pair up to five FelTouch accessories with a single USB dongle.  The Bonepad has standard keyboard mapping and PC mouse functionalities.  The capacitive multi-touch screen is used for typing or for gesturing to zoom in/out, rotate, or scrolling.  The two buttons on the top of the Bonepad can switch modes, so they can be used as right and left mouse buttons or for other functions.  The Bonepad is $55.00.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: USB accessory, USB keyboard

FelTouch Bonepad 2.4GHz Wireless Keyboard and Touchpad originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 1, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

There are a lot of exciting and interesting gadgets out there.  Unfortunately, this is not one of them, but it does the job and if you’re running a small business or do a lot of calling from your desk, this could be the way to go.  To differentiate itself from the masses the KX-TG9471 from Panasonic has an interesting hook which is…..the ability to link to Microsoft Outlook for originating calls and displaying detailed information on incoming callers from the Outlook address book.

Features:

• DECT 6.0 Technology
• 1.9GHz Corded / Cordless Phone Combo
• 2-Line Operation
• Voicemail Compatibility
• Expandable Up To 6 Handsets
• Night Mode eg: Program Individual Handsets To Ring Or Remain Silent For Specified Time Periods
• Handset Speakerphone
• Dual LCD Display (Base & Handset)
• Backlit Keypad
• 50 Station Name / Number Caller ID Memory
• 100 Station Phone Directory / Dialer
• 3-Way Conferencing
• 4-Step Handset Volume Control
• Ringer ID
• Customize Ringer ID for Incoming Calls
• Handset to Base / Handset Intercom
• Call Transfer
• Easy Operation (Menu Driven)
• Handset Locator
• Chain Dial
• Auto Answer
• Softkeys
• Copy Phonebook Between Base & Handsets
• 10 Station Redial Memory
• Hold
• Flash
• Clock & Alarm
• 7 Hour Charge Time
• Headset Jack

A closer look at the desktop phone.  You’ll notice the USB indicator in the right hand corner.

On the right side of the desktop unit is the connector for the mini USB to USB cable that connects to a PC running Microsoft Outlook.  The cable is provided.

On the back of the unit are two phone jacks, and they are different.  One is 2 pin and the other is 4 pin.  Color-coded phone cables are provided.  When connecting 2 lines the first uses the 2 pin cable and the second uses the 4 pin cable.

There’s nothing remarkable about the wireless handset except that it can access 2 independent phone lines.  One of the features I did appreciate is the headphone jack, so I can connect a headset.  Many of the newer phones I’ve seen have eliminated this feature.

Over time somehow I’ve accumulated 8 different phone numbers and 3 independent lines.  All of these are active and it gets confusing when a phone rings at our house, because I have 3 different phone systems with multiple handsets.  The Panasonic unit allowed me to consolidate my Obi lines and magicJack line in one telephone device, cutting down on the confusion and clutter.

After charging up the batteries in the handset, I installed the phone.  This consists of using the supplied color-coded telephone cords to connect the Obi and magicJack to the desktop unit and of course, plugging the desktop into AC power.  At this point I was able to make and receive calls on both handsets.  I also went through the setup menu on the desktop unit and set parameters to my liking.  Although the device has an answering system, I chose not to turn it on, because I prefer the voice mail provided by my connected phone lines and the unit is voice mail aware.  It does check for the stutter tone and indicates that there is a voice mail message on its display.

To get the maximum benefit of the KX-TG9471, you’ll want to install the Outlook plugin.  This software is provided in the package and is easy to install.  Do the install before plugging in the USB cable.

Here I’m all connected and ready to make some calls.  Click on the photo above and you will see a green indicator next to the USB label.  This says we’re all set to use the plugin.

In order for the plugin to work, Outlook must be running.  It can be minimized to the task bar.  Upon receiving a call on either line, and if there is caller id information, a screen like above will pop up.  If the caller is not in the outlook address book, an underpopulated form with only the phone number will be displayed allowing you to add additional information and save the caller to your address book.

To initiate a call there are several options.  The plugin adds a new toolbar to Outlook. To begin you select either the call from line 1 or line 2 button.  This will bold the dial number box.  From here you can type in a phone number and press enter and the number will be dialed, or you can click the drop down arrow on the call number box and your recently called numbers will show up.  Select one and hit enter and the number will be dialed.  Also, after selecting the call from line box, you can drop down the call list and select a number to dial.  These numbers are the last ones received.

The most convenient way to dial a number is to use the contacts list in Outlook.  Here I searched for a certain person and after double clicking the results, I can use the drop-down in the phone numbers box to select and initiate the call.  However, if I knew the number, I found it faster and more convenient to just punch it in on the phone keypad.

Where the Panasonic shines is on incoming calls.  I wish I had this when I was still in the Corporate world.  I would have had all my clients personal information detailed in  Outlook, so that when they called and before I even picked up the handset, I could refresh my memory about their accounts and personal details.  Little things can make the difference between having an excellent customer relationship or not.

This device has a rich feature set which is shared by most telephone sets available today.  What sets it apart is the linkage to a PC running Microsoft Outlook.  It’s not a device for the home user, but is appropriate for Corporate or small business operations, especially those in the sales or customer service fields.  Lastly, I was very impressed with the voice quality of the corded unit, but then again it’s something Panasonic is known for.  My only nit with the device is that the handset cord is too short.  If I leaned back in my chair, I kept pulling the unit off the desk.  Panasonic does sell a longer cord as an accessory.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Telephone

Panasonic KX-TG9471 Telephone System Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 1, 2012 at 11:00 am.

This 12-Port USB Hub with Power Adapter and 2 Switches from Satechi is for the person who has everything – and needs to charge/sync it!  The USB 2.0 hub has two switches that allow you to turn on the first six ports, the last six ports, all, or none.  It has a data rate of up to 480Mbps and a slim “power strip” shape that doesn’t use up too much desk space.  It works with PC or Mac and requires no software.  You can even travel with it.  Normal price is $39.99, but Satechi is selling it for $27.99 at the moment.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: USB hub

Satechi 12 Port USB 2.0 Hub originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 27, 2012 at 8:15 am.

I reviewed a Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Ultra-Portable Drive and eSATA Upgrade Cable  a while ago (see related posts for a link to the review), and I’ve been using the drive since.  I replaced my Dell computer with a MacBook since that review, so I can no longer use the eSATA cable with the external disk.  That’s no problem, though.  The beauty of the Seagate GoFlex disks is their flexibility – you can convert your external disk from USB to eSATA to Firewire 800 simply by replacing the interface cable.  Although I back up my laptop everyday, I’ve recently purchased a second Seagate GoFlex disk to use as a secondary backup just for my pictures, music files, and ebooks.  Even using the Firewire 800 interface cable, copying over the tens of thousands of files that I have takes a while.  My MacBook Pro has a Thunderbolt connector, and I’ve been waiting anxiously for Seagate to release a GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter for the GoFlex hard drives.  The wait is over!

Most of the images in this review can be clicked for an enlargement.

First of all, what is Thunderbolt?  Apple says it is “an incredibly fast input/output technology that just about anything can plug into.”  Thunderbolt is based on PCI Express and DisplayPort technologies.  PCI Express is built-in to all the internal components in Apple computers, so you’ll be able to connect external storage devices to your computer and get PCI Express-level performance from them.  There are two I/O channels, each with 10Gbps of throughput for lightning speed.  Apple quotes that you can “move data to and from peripherals up to 20 times faster than with USB 2.0 and up to 12 times faster than with FireWire 800.”  Thunderbolt provides up to 10W of power to connected peripherals.  You can also connect Thunderbolt video displays with these cables, but I’m not interested in that right now.

This image only is courtesy of the Apple website.

Thunderbolt also has more than enough bandwidth to allow you to daisy-chain multiple high-speed devices without needing a hub or a switch.  The Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter must either be connected directly to the Thunderbolt connector on the computer or at the end of the daisy-chain.

There are no accessories or cables that come with the GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter.  You get only a quick start guide and a warranty booklet.  It’s bus-powered, so there’s no power cable.  You’ll need to provide your own Thunderbolt cable.  I went to the local Apple store and picked up a Thunderbolt cable for $49.  Ouch.

Unlike other GoFlex adapters, which consist of only a plug and a cable, the GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter looks a bit like a sledge.  The end looks similar to the other GoFlex adapters with the big plug and the two power lights.  It measures 4.75″ long X 3″ wide X 0.75″ tall.  Surprisingly, there’s a magnet near the Seagate logo that you can see in the above picture.  I’m not sure what the magnet is for.

The sides and the  bottom have cooling vents.

The connector end also has cooling vents.  And it has a connector for the Thunderbolt cable.

I have two Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex disks.  The thicker one on the left (above) is the 1TB disk I reviewed in October, 2010.  I use this 1TB disk for file transfers, temporary file storage, and the like.  The thinner one on the right is a 14.5mm, thinner-profile 750GB FreeAgent GoFlex disk I bought just for my secondary backup disk.

The second picture shows two GoFlex upgrade cables.  The left one is the USB 3.0 cable that came with my new thinner-profile disk, and the right one is the Firewire 800 cable that I normally use to connect my GoFlex drives to my MacBook Pro.  I also have a USB 2.0 cable that came with the 1TB disk.  I actually use the USB 2.0 when I need to transfer files to other computers that don’t have Firewire.  I haven’t actually used the USB 3.0 adapter, because the computers I have access to don’t have USB 3.0.

The thinner-profile 750GB hard drive fits easily into the Thunderbolt adapter.  It’s just the right thickness to fit evenly with the connector end of the adapter.  I was a bit worried that the thicker 1TB disk wouldn’t fit.

The placement of the connector slot on the 1TB disk allowed it to fit easily onto the connector.  It doesn’t fit flush with the shape of the Thunderbolt adapter, but that’s not a problem.

Thunderbolt cables are only available in 2m lengths.  That’s too long for my needs, but there was no other option.

When plugged in to my laptop, the two bars light up to show the disk is ready.

To test out the speed of my disk, I copied files both to and from the Seagate GoFlex 750GB disk.  I copied a folder with three subfolders and a total of 457 items and 1.25GB of data.  I also copied a single file that was 1.83GB in size.  I tested the speed of the copies using the USB 2.0 adapter cable, the Firewire 800 cable, and the Thunderbolt adapter.

I first tested speeds when copying from the hard drive of my laptop to the Seagate GoFlex disk with each of the connectors.  The Thunderbolt adapter is significantly faster than either of the other two adapters in both tests.  Speed of writing to the Seagate disk is of the most interest to me, because I’ll be doing frequent backups to the disk.

Next I tested the speeds for copying from the Seagate GoFlex disk to my laptop’s hard drive.  Again, the Thunderbolt adapter is significantly faster in both tests.  I’ll be able to restore my files more quickly using Thunderbolt, should I ever need to do that.

Report from my rsync backup showing a transfer rate of over 20,000,000 bytes/sec with the Thunderbolt adapter

Even though I have a script that uses rsync to perform incremental backups, it took a while to complete a backup using the Firewire 800 adapter with the Seagate GoFlex disk.  Now that I have the Seagate Thunderbolt adapter, I’ll be able to complete backups in less time, meaning I’m more likely to bother doing it daily now.  The Seagate disk is small enough that I can throw it into my purse when I’m out of the house.  I’ll know I have a recent backup of my most important files with me, even if something happens to both my laptop and my Time Capsule while I’m out of the house.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Apple's Thunderbolt, External hard drive

Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 17, 2012 at 11:00 am.

The One Keyboard from Matias is designed to plug into your computer (PC or Mac) for use as a keyboard and a 2-port USB 2.0 hub.  The standard model (shown above) is also designed to “connect wirelessly” to your iPhone or via Bluetooth to other smartphones for easy data entry.  You switch between the computer and phone with just a button click.  The keyboard shown is designed specifically for iPhone, but there are other models: one specifically for Blackberry, a slim keyboard that omits the numeric keypad and the on-board phone dock, and one that incorporates the phone dock into Matias’ Tactile keyboard.  Prices range from $79.95 for the slim, to $99.95 for the phone-specific models, to $199.95 for the Tactile version.  The keyboards are shipping soon; you can place a pre-order now.

Filed in categories: Bluetooth Gear, Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: iPhone 4 Bluetooth keyboard, Keyboard with USB hub

Matias One Keyboard Works with Both Your Computer and Your Smartphone originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 30, 2012 at 10:00 am.

The new wide-format Artisan 1430 inkjet printer from Epson gives you prints up to 13″ X 19″.  This printer has  advanced color and lighting correction for amazing photos, and it includes Adobe® Photoshop® Elements for more editing features.  You can print Ultra Hi-Definition prints (5760 x 1440 optimized dpi) on paper or photo paper, and you can print on CDs and DVDs.  Photos are smudge, scratch, water and fade resistant thanks to Claria® Hi-Definition Ink, and they’ll last up to four times longer than photo lab prints.  The Artisan 1430 is wireless, so you can share it with everyone on your network.  The MSRP is $299.99, but there’s currently an $80 mail-in rebate.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Printer, Wireless

Epson’s New Wide-Format Artisan 1430 Printer originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 18, 2012 at 8:03 am.

Got a new Mac with the brand new Thunderbolt port but no accessories to connect to it?  The only accessories out now for the Thunderbolt port would be the $999 Apple Thunderbolt Display, a Thunderbolt to HDMI adaptor, or those pricey Thunderbolt External Hard Drives.  Don’t you just wish you could do more with that Thunderbolt port?  That’s where Belkin’s Thunderbolt Express Dock comes in.  Announced at CES 2012, this dock packs 3 USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire 800 port, HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet jack, 3.5mm audio jack, and a pair of Thunderbolt ports capable of daisy chaining.  This will be something that I’ll definitely get for my Macbook Air 11” which only has 2 lonely USB ports.  As much as I would want this, the price of $299 is quite expensive for this dock.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Dock, thunderbolt, USB

Belkin’s Thunderbolt Express Dock originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 10, 2012 at 8:00 am.

Logitech has just announced the Cube.  It’s a powerful mouse  that connects with your computer (PC and Mac) via the included Unifying Receiver, which features Logitech Advanced 2.4 GHz connectivity with the “reliability of a cord with the convenience of wireless, along with the option to connect up to six compatible devices.”  The Cube mouse is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand or in a pocket.  It has a rechargeable battery and an off switch so you don’t waste battery when you don’t need it.  Using Logitech’s Flow Scroll software, stroke your finger along the top panel and you’ll experience smooth, continuous scrolling that’s similar to scrolling on a touchscreen smartphone.  It also functions as a presenter.  Just lift it into the air and wait a moment while it switches modes, then you can advance slides by simply “clicking” the top of the mouse.  When you need to go back, turn the Cube over, then click again.  It’s available online only for $69.99 at Logitech.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, News

Tagged: Mouse

The Logitech Cube – A New Type of Mouse originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 6, 2012 at 8:21 am.

Keyboards have been around for years.  They come in different shape, sizes and colors.  But what if I want a keyboard that can change functionality depending on which program I have open?  Art Lebedev’s Optimus Popularis is a beautifully engineered keyboard where each key is actually a mini screen.  Each key on the Optimus Popularis can be programmed to change functionality and to display whatever you want on that mini key.  There’s also a long screen that goes across the keyboard between the function and numeral keys where you can display a custom range of information such as temperature, stocks, CPU usage, etc.  Art Lebedev’s Optimus Popularis is the ultimate keyboard for those that can afford the $1,086 price tag.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, News

Tagged: Keyboard

Art Lebedev’s Optimus Popularis Programmable Keyboard originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 1, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

The team at Drobo asked The Gadgeteer to review their Drobo S, generation two, a five bay USB and/or Firewire storage enclosure.  For those unfamiliar with Drobo, the company came on the storage scene in the middle of 2007 with a focus on making storage simple.  I like to think of Drobo as the black-colored Apple of the USB and Firewire storage market. The reason that I think of Drobo this way is that the Drobo team has a similar mindset and focus as Apple with their desire to take an old idea and give it a new and useful spin, all in a glossy black coating.  Drobo may not be the the first to deliver innovative features, or the least expensive product in the market, but they have a loyal following.  In this review we will see if the Drobo S, at $799 from the Drobo Store, can deliver the ease of use and performance that has converted many consumers to avid followers of the shiny little black storage box.

Over the years Drobo has done a good deal of listening to their customers as well as to the market and has added new products to the mix including Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems designed for the small and medium business marketplace.  Personally, I can remember when Drobo came to market in 2007.  At the time, many storage vendors were moving to deliver NAS offerings, and Drobo lagged in the market by a few years with only USB and Firewire connectivty.  When Drobo delivered their first NAS product to market it was a kludge at best, requiring an external networking box to connect the Drobo to the network.  This kludgie time period within the Drobo corporate history is securely in the rear-view mirror of the company as they are now delivering a full family of storage solutions for the home and business market including a NAS offering in a single package.

Drobo delivered their Drobo S, second edition, and I opened the package to find a well packed product that is reminiscent of my opening my first Mac, albeit in black versus the Apple Mac white.  I had to stop myself from thinking outloud if Drobo is the yin to the Apple corporate yang. All joking aside, the second generation of the Drobo S differs from the first edition in that it adds a USB 3.0 port where the first generation only offered USB 2.0 along with Firewire.  The Drobo box includes a simple-to-open secondary box, labeled “Welcome to the World of…” as well as the Drobo S unit wrapped in a black felt-like material labeled with the Drobo logo.  Upon opening the secondary box, I was greeted by the Drobo company logo.   I was now officially “Welcome(d) to the World of Drobo.”
I must admit that the packaging was the first of its kind that I had seen in an external or NAS storage device, and it made me think about the thought that went into the packaging and how the Drobo team really cares about its products.  In my opinion, caring about packaging is something all of the technology and gadget vendors in the world could do with a little bit more of.  Understandably, having this kind of packaging adds to the cost of the overall unit and may be one of the reasons that many vendors stay away from delivering it along with their products, but I think that charging a little extra for great packaging that delivers the value of the company brand is worthwhile in the long run as it ensures that the company is burned in the mind of the consumer.  I am getting off of my soap box now and getting back to the review.

The secondary box contained;  USB 3.0/2.0, eSATA, and Fireware cables, power adapter and US three prong power plug, a CD with software, and 1/2 inch thick instruction manual.  For those that know me, I am not much a RTFM kind of guy in my regular life, but when doing product reviews I spend a good deal of time reviewing the instructions and following each direction as a good consumer should, but I was a bit shocked to find a 1/2 inch thick instruction manual in the box as this should be as easy as setting up any other storage device:  install software, connect up power and connectivity, add drives, and away you go.  The team at Drobo elected to include an instruction manual with four languages to ensure worldwide applicability.  The English section of the instruction manual comprised 40 pages of the manual and the first few pages were a glorified advertisement for the Drobo, which you would have already been happy to have purchased and then see more advertising.  I remember a movie that I saw in the past, I think it was Dave, in which a fake president asked his cabinet to cut their budget and one of the line items was for an advertising campaign to ensure the consumers that purchased American cars were happy with their car purchase.  From this reviewer’s perspective, it just does not make sense to advertise to your customers that have already purchased  your products when it was obvious that they had already convinced themselves to have purchased the products to begin with.  What I really liked about the packaging, was the top part of the secondary box that when opened showed you three simple steps to getting the product setup:

1)  Install the Dashboard from the Drobo provided CD

2)  Insert drives in Drobo, starting with at least two drives

3)  Connect power and computer cables and follow Drobo Dashboard directions.

Could it really be that simple?  The answer is yes, it really was that simple.

The Drobo unit itself is very pretty in a gloss and flat black finish.  In fact, the gloss black front cover is so glossy I had a hard time taking pictures of it with my DSLR, so I resorted to using a Drobo-provided product shot.  Be warned, if you like your products clean and shiny, the Drobo will not make you happy as it is a fingerprint magnet of the highest order.  The Drobo S is 5.9″ wide, 7.3″ high, 10.3″ deep and weighs in at 8lbs without any hard drives or the power supply.

The front of the Drobo has a number of lights on it, including;

• Five bay status lights on the right hand side arranged vertically to mirror the drive bays they show the status of
• Power light on the left hand lower corner
• Capacity lights in blue from lower left to right that light up to show you available capacity as a percentage in 10% increments, or a total of ten lights
• Access light that shows when the unit is being accessed for read-write operations

The front door of the Drobo unit is magnetic, a first in the storage devices that I have reviewed, and makes for easy removal and re-installation, albeit prone to being installed upside down.  In my case I installed the door upside down several times.  The air flow and venting are symmetrical so there are no concerns with installing the door upside down.   On the back of the door is a legend that clearly shows the meaning of the various drive action status lights and the actions that are required, including:

• Green:  None, system healthy
• Yellow: Add a drive here soon
• Yellow/Green:  Don’t remove this drive
• Red:  Add a drive here
• Red Flashing:  Drive failure, replace

One thing that I did notice about the front of the unit and the sides is that there seems to be a very small amount of air flow vents cut into the surfaces.  Most units of this design have larger air vents to allow the air to flow from front to back as it is pulled by a cooling fan.  We will have to see how the Drobo S fairs in terms of cooling in our testing.

On the back of the Drobo S one can find the following:

• 12V power connector
• eSATA connection
• Two Firewire 400/800 ports for primary connection and daisy chaining a secondary Firewire device
• USB 3.0/2.0 port
• Power toggle switch
• Kensignton Cable Lock Connector to keep the Drobo S in place when would-be thieves come calling

Much of the surface area of the rear of the Drobo S is occupied by venting for the cooling fan.  The team at Drobo elected to fit five drives into the standard size drive enclosure where other vendors would normally fit four.  One of the main design considerations for this trade off was where to place the AC transformer, inside or outside of the unit.  The team at Drobo elected to go with external placement to keep the form factor of the Drobo S smaller, while adopting a laptop style AC adapter to the packaging.

One of the main features that I was looking forward to testing out is the BeyondRAID data layout and disk management utility that is built into the Drobo S unit.  Where other vendors stick with standard RAID configurations, from RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10, Drobo elected to utilize a proprietary RAID setup.  BeyondRAID  enables a consumer to use drives of different sizes and capabilities where most vendors with their standard RAID layouts require the same drive capacities and capabilities.  Also, recently the team at Drobo updated BeyondRAID to include an implementation of RAID 6, or parallel RAID, enabling the Drobo S to survive two disk failures out of five in the unit.  While the mathematics behind figuring out the case where two drives fail at the same time escapes me, the team at Drobo wants to ensure that your important data is available in the case of the unthinkable happening.

To ease the transition to BeyondRAID the team at Drobo has delivered a web-based Capacity Calculator.  The Capacity Calculator is a intuitive drag and drop application in which you select your drive capacity and add it to your Drobo unit of choice and the bottom line capacity is calculated and displayed.

At this point, it was time to add my SATA Hard Disk Drives to the unit.  The Drobo adds another innovative feature to the external storage market, carrier-less drives.  The Drobo does not require any mounting rails or enclosures for Hard Disk Drives, making insertion and removal a breeze.  No more fighting with the enclosure to fit the drive in or screwing in minuscule Phillips headed screws only to lose one and have to get on your hands and knees to find it.  A very nice touch for the Drobo S.

The drives that I used for my testing included the following:

• 2 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM SATA
• 1 x Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM SATA

To start the testing I installed two drives; a 1TB and a 500GB.  I then launched the Drobo Dashboard on my MacBook Pro and was told that it was ready to connect.  I then turned on the power to the Drobo S and was asked if I wanted to check for an update to the Drobo S, which I did.  There were no updates available.  Next, the Drobo Dashboard asked me to format the hard drives installed in the system as they had not been seen by the Drobo S before.  There were two choices available, HFS+, and FAT32.  I should take a moment at this point to explain that all file systems are not created equally, nor are they all accessible from every operating platform.  For example, Windows, Linux, and Mac systems can all see FAT32, but only a Mac can see HFS+.  That is one of the main differences between the various file systems.  There are many others, including performance, availability in the case of a device failure, maximize volume and single file size, data layouts, and application support to name a few, but this product review is not a review of files systems.  If you are interested in finding out more about file systems you can check out the Wikipedia’s File System Comparison chart.  The Drobo Dashboard tells you about the difference between HFS+ and FAT32 in terms of operating platform connectivity.  For this product review I selected HFS+ to ensure a high level of performance and reliability.

Next, I was asked how large I would like my volumes to be.  I selected the largest volume size of 16TB, not that I am going to ever grow to that size, but I may go there in the future, and the Drobo Dashboard tells me as much, by asking me to plan for the “foreseeable future.” Finally, I was asked to give the volume a name.  I selected Drobo-Vol1 so when it shows up on my Mac I know what I am looking at.  The formatting started and a message was displayed on the Drobo Dashboard that the Drobo formatting will take five minutes and require a reboot of the Drobo, along with a message to “Please be patient and allow Drobo to finish the format process.”  The formatting process took under five minutes, exactly 4:32 to be exact at which point I was shown the available capacity of my Drobo S at 432.99GB of free space. You may be saying “wait a minute, I thought that you said that you put a 1TB and a 500GB drive in the Drobo S, should it be more free space?”  Ah, but don’t forget that this is a BeyondRAID configuration and the Drobo S is capable of losing either drive and continuing on, in effect one drive is backing the other up, similar to a RAID 1 configuration, or a simple mirror.

As you can see above in the Drobo Dashboard, the usable capacity is broken down based on the BeyondRAID layout of the two drives, with the following:

• 434.89GB usable capacity for data
• 465.75GB reserved for expansion
• 496.62GB used for protection, in case of a drive failure
• 815.08MB overhead

After formatting I was told that an update of the Drobo S is available, to firmware v2.1.2 and if I wanted to update, I selected “Yes.”

At this point, the Drobo asked me to stop any data transfers and wait until the Drobo came back up, reminding me not to unplug or disconnect the Drobo while the update operation was in progress.  Once the update completed, the Drobo Dashboard asked me to reboot the Drobo, which I did. When the Drobo rebooted the lights on the device flashed and settled down to show the two drive bays occupied with a bright green.  Once that completed, the Drobo Dashboard told me that an update to the Drobo S had an updated version, v2.0.3a and would I love to install the update.  I said “Yes” and off I went to upgrade the Drobo Dashboard, which took approximately three minutes to download.  The time required to download the software will vary depending on the speed of your Internet connection.  Once download, it took another two minutes to install and I was back in the Drobo Dashboard, ready to manage my Drobo S.

While the Drobo S was running on my desk it was barely noticeable in terms of noise, and the unit stayed cool during my testing, nullifying my initial concerns about venting and airflow.

What is Thin Provisioning all about?

Once the Drobo S setup was complete, I opened Finder on my MacBook Pro to find the Drobo S was not available for content.  I select the drive and selected “Get Info” to see the capacity as seen from my Mac’s perspective and was told I had 17.59TB of capacity, as can be seen below.

At this point, you are probably saying to yourself , “wait a minute, there was only 400+GB available from the Drobo S a moment ago, how did the Mac see over 17TB’s of capacity?” The answer is in a technology called Thin Provisioning.  Thin Provisioning technology enables a device to virtualize the storage and make it appear to the operating platform, users, and applications that there is more storage available then there truly is.  In reality there is still only 450GB of storage available, but it looks to me as there is a much larger pool of storage available.  This works well for users that think they need a lot of storage, but tend not to use it, which will increase the costs for the organization without any really benefit.  While not a perfect solution, Thin Provisioning, is very useful for users that do not need as much space as they think that they do.  Thin Provisioning is in contrast to what the industry has come to call Fat Provisioning in which the full amount storage is actually allocated at the time of provisioning regardless of usage.  In the case of the Drobo S, the thin provisioning provides a bit of a buffer to expand the volume to almost double the size in the BeyondRAID configuration that I was working with.  This was all done automatically for me, which saved me a bunch of time during the setup process.  Most vendors do not offer Thin Provisioning at all, let alone in a package at this price point. If you would like to read more about Thin Provisioning check out the Wikipedia page on Thin Provisioning.

Is expanding storage capacity really that simple?

One of the major claims from the team at Drobo is how easy it is to expand the capacity of their Drobo units, and I set about testing this claim by adding a 1TB 7200 RPM drive to the unit, and it did not miss a beat.  It took under five minutes to add the new drive and grow the volume.  When completed, the Drobo S turned the drive bay light green to mark that it was added.  I must say that it was a very smooth and seamless process that impressed me.  With other vendor’s storage products, one usually has to plan for drive expansion and allow time for the new drive to be added and the system rebalanced to deliver maximum performance and usable capacity.

After adding the 1TB, drive the Drobo S updated the volume layout within the BeyondRAID configuration and provided a new set of capacity metrics, which can be seen below.

By adding a 1TB drive the following usage was available:

• 1.30TB available for data
• 0GB reserved for expansion
• 992.11GB used for protection, in case of a drive failure
• 2.3GB of overhead

Another view of the Drobo Dashboard showing the capacity of the newly expanded BeyondRAID configuration can be seen below:

I must admit, that I like the Drobo Dashboard; it is intuitive and very pleasing to my eyes.  Other storage vendors in the market should take note of the simplicity and workflow of the Drobo Dashboard and look to incorporate its simple and glacial approach to storage management.  With that said, at the price point of $799 it should be this simple and one is paying for this level of simplicity.  I remember from almost a decade ago that several analysts said that the initial cost of storage was some 15% of the overall cost, while the other 85% was born out of the management expense of the personnel and other costs.  From an enterprise perspective these costs may be hard to justify a higher initial out of pocket, but I realize that over time the amount of time that I personally devote to managing my storage is costly and having this kind of management interface and capabilities ensures that I will not be spending hours and hours working that I have done in the past when the management capabilities were not as intuitive or well laid out.

Also, the Drobo S has a strong of blue lights on the lower part of the unit that show the usable capacity in 10% consumption based increments.

Performance

I created a number of file sets to test the Drobo S with, including a small file set composed of thousands of smaller 1MB files, and a large file set with 100 1GB+ files.  I utilize my MacBook Pro and connected the Drobo S via USB 2.0 for the first test.

The performance of the Drobo S with three drives was 27.5MB/s write and  34.2MB/s read.  While not super impressive for the small file test given that there are three 7200 RPM SATA disks in the Drobo S, I am not surprised as the USB connection could not sustain a high level of writes.

During the large file test, the Drobo S faired a bit better with 34.5MB/s write and 40.3MB/s read.

Both tests show that the Drobo S can handle most of the workloads that it will run into on a daily basis, including streaming SD and some lower-resolution encoded HD video.  I did not test it personally, but I believe that HD content encoded in true HD will present a challenge for the Drobo S as one needs consistent 40MB/s performance to stream a high quality HD piece of content.  Personally, I would expect the performance to be a bit higher, but I am not familiar the specifics of the internal processor and memory of the Drobo S.

Reliability

I wanted to test the reliability of the Drobo S, so I set a test in place that would see how the Drobo S does under load when a drive was pulled out.  First step is to create a test load, which I did using my large file set.  The system was humming along at a hair over 30MB/s when I pulled the lowest drive, a 1TB 7200 RPM drive.  Immediately, the lights on the Drobo S changed from a green to a flashing green and yellow signifying that I should not remove any drives and that the unit was in a recovery mode.

Also, on the Drobo Dashboard, which I have come to find installed itself as a startup application-a mixed blessing we all know well – that a red warning message appeared telling me that my “Drobo cannot currently protect your data against hard drive failures.”

The Drobo S continued to copy the files, albeit a bit slower.  Performance dropped to 14.8MB/s during the reconstruct.  I opened the Drobo Dashboard to dig a bit deeper into the status and I found that the management software displayed very useful information, including a time estimate to complete the reconstruct of six minutes.  True to the estimate, the Drobo S completed the reconstruct in just a hair over 5:30.

During the reconstruction, the file copy completed and the unit returned to normal operational mode, as you can see in the screen shot of the Drobo Dashboard below.

Finally, to test that the Drobo S could fully recover, I reinserted the failed drive, which was never actually a bad drive, under the same load, and the Drobo S instantly recognized the drive as one it had seen before and added it to the BeyondRAID configuration.  During the reinsertion of the drive, performance was as seen before with this file set of 37.2MB/s.

One other note on the management capabilities of the Drobo S.  The Drobo Dashboard includes a proactive email capability that supports sending email alerts to a user or administrator of choice in the case of a failure or other useful information.  This is a very nice feature for those in a corporate setting in which the user may not manage his or her own systems, especially with a USB device that does not sit on the network, nor is centrally managed.

Backup?

The Drobo S can serve as a backup target, or Time Machine target for Macs.  For Time Machine, I would strongly suggest creating a separate volume within the Drobo to keep your files and backups separate.  Finally, the Drobo S has a Drobo Copy function available from within the Drobo Dashboard that can automatically backup source folders to the Drobo S at a scheduled time and day.  This is a nice feature for those that want to automate the backup of Windows, Linux, or Mac file sets without having to load a third party backup software package or run Time Machine.  I did not test the Drobo Copy capability during my testing so I do not have any information or review to share on this capability.

Conclusion

So, the big question, will the Drobo S live on, or will it go to the gadget graveyard?  The answer isn’t a simple cut-and-dry one as it is in most of my reviews.  A few years ago I purchased a NetGear ReadyNAS and have been using it as a consolidated storage pool for all of my systems in my home where I backup and store all of my content.  I also have a few USB storage devices that I use for travel and scratch space for my video projects that are starting to fill up and I need to spend the time to clean them out, so from that perspective the Drobo S will find a home on my desk, but in the long term I see it going to the gadget graveyard as the performance and price tag are not what they need to be for me to use the Drobo S on a daily basis.

Overall, the Drobo S is a very well executed USB and Firewire storage product.  The major selling points for me are the simplicity and usability found in the Drobo Dashboard coupled with the efficiency found in Thin Provisioning and reliability of the Drobo S.  The mediocre performance and exorbitantly high price detract from what otherwise is a very well rounded storage unit.  I would like to see how the Drobo network storage solutions perform as I see users, including myself, migrating away from USB and Firewire disk enclosures to network attached storage products that can be placed within a centralized location, like my wiring coat closet, or even in a small and medium business wiring closet with the telephone equipment and centralized server.  Even home users are moving to centralizing their storage and consolidating down the number of storage resources, if not for any other reason, but to share the content.  There are some markets, such as digital video editing that will always require a direct connection of some kind to the workstation for scratch or temporary disk space where the Drobo S and other like it will find homes, but I see their time drawing to a close as well as networks and NAS devices increasingly will compete and win this market.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, Reviews

Tagged: External hard drive storage

Drobo S Storage Array Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 31, 2011 at 11:00 am.