Wiebetech ComboGB Portable Hard Drive Review

Product Requirements:
Device:
Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Mac OS 9.1, 9.2 or OS X, Linux

I’ve been looking for a data backup device for my PC (and now my PowerBook) for what seems like forever. Having reviewed what I believe was the first Firewire keychain drive on the market 2yrs ago, I was already aware of Wiebetech’s reputation for quality storage solutions, when I went googling for my own solution. Of their various offerings, the ComboGB looked like it would be perfect for me, so I wrote asking if they might like a review. Lucky for me, they said yes!

The ComboGB is a light weight pocket-sized drive with a brushed aluminum enclosure that matches my PowerBook almost perfectly. The sides are a darker gray material with a rubberized feel to it that gives you a secure grip when you have to pick the drive up.

Hardware Specs

Hard drive: ATA-5 and ATA-6 2.5 inch notebook drives, formatted using FAT32
Dimensions: 5.4" x 3.2" x 0.8" (135mm x 81 mm x 20mm)
Weight: 8 ounces
Power: Bus or an optional 5V AC adapter

Available in 40GB, 60GB and 80GB capacities and with 4200 – 7200 RPM speeds, I was sent the 40GB 5400RPM model to review.

The front of the unit has 2 LEDs. One for power, which glows green, and the other for drive activity, which flashes red when a file transfer is in progress.

The back of the drive has 4 connectors. In addition to power, there is a Firewire 800 connector, Firewire 400 and a USB 1.1/2.0 connector. With all these connectors, this little drive can pretty much hook up to any computer out there! And, as long as you’re using a newer OS, the drive is totally Plug and Play. As soon as you connect the drive to a computer, the ComboGB is mounted and available just like any other hard drive in your computer. Out of the box, my 40GB ComboGB had 37.23GB available.

During my testing, I used this drive with my 15" 1.25Ghz G4 PowerBook running Mac OS X 10.3.4, my home built 2.8Ghz Athlon PC running XP Home, and a Dell 850Mhz Pentinum III Inspiron 8000 notebook running XP Home. The PowerBook has Firewire 400, 800 and USB 2.0 ports, the Athlon has Firewire 400 and USB 2.0 ports, and the Dell has USB 1.1 ports.

Right out of the box, I didn’t have any problems getting the drive to work using Firewire 400 or 800 on my PowerBook. The ComboGB ships with connectors for both port types. It even comes with a full-size Firewire 400 to mini-size Firewire 400 connector adapter, although I never used this adapter during my testing.

Cables anyone?

The first problem that I encountered was when I tried to connect the drive to the USB 2.0 ports on my PowerBook. The ComboGB comes with a standard USB cable and also a funky two headed USB cable with a pass-through connector and a power plug. This special cable allows you to power the ComboGB by pulling power from 2 USB ports. For those of you with PowerBooks, you won’t really care that much when you learn that the ComboGB won’t work with the included cables. First of all, the cable isn’t long enough to allow you to plug into both USB ports on your PowerBook. This is due to the fact that the ports on are on the opposite sides of the notebook. I even borrowed an USB extension cable so that I could plug both connectors in, but it still didn’t power the drive. In this case, the optional AC adapter would need to be purchased…

This isn’t a problem exclusive to the Apple PowerBook, I had the same problem when I tested this drive with an HP notebook. But I was surprised when I my older Dell notebook had no trouble whatsoever powering up the ComboGB using the special split cable. However, the Dell did give me an error saying that I had attached a Hi Speed device to a non-Hi Speed port. That said, it worked fine.

Ok, on with the speed tests.

The test consisted of timing the transfer of data to and from the ComboGB drive using a stopwatch. The test data that I used for the transfers was a 30mb uncompressed folder containing 1500 individual .jpg files, and a 26mb ZIP file.

As far as speed, I am super happy with Firewire 800! I like that a separate power brick or pass-through cable is not required in order to use it. I’m also very happy with how quiet the drive is during transfers and while idle.

Heat might be an issue that people consider when they are looking for a portable storage solution. During my testing the ComboGB was warm but far from hot to the touch.

The ComboGB is a great storage solution for those of you that want a variety of connection choices and a small compact size. The only thing to consider is that the fact that not all computers may be able to power the drive via USB without the aid of an AC adapter.

Price: $289.95 as reviewed ($119.95 – $399.95 depending on configuration)

Pros:

Connect via 4 methods
Small size
Fast transfer speed

Cons:

Connecting via USB may require an optional power adapter