Needless to say I contacted someone at Hitachi and asked for a referral to a distributor. After getting the price I wanted, I went to a nearby computer mall, shopped around for a low-cost (ok, cheap) USB 2.0 metal case for the hard drive. I also contacted a small trader specializing in corporate premiums, and presto... I started producing portable, 40GB external USB hard drives.

Today I don't have to do what I did back then to buy myself a portable harddrive. If you've ever been to any of the local computer malls in Hong Kong, you will find external portable harddrives from recognizable brands like Seagate, Maxtor, Lacie, etc. If you are the adventurer, you can also opt to build one yourself - like I did. I still have 3 portable harddrives - all home assembled.

I also bought a 120GB Lacie brand for my wife since she wanted to regularly backup her office PC - after suffering from a failed harddrive earlier this year.

Anyway, I recently got a call from Andrew Peters from PacificWest PR in Singapore to try out the eSys No Touch NT2500 portable harddrive. The box arrived one day before I left for an overseas trip - which was great because I wanted to make sure I had a backup device for my 80GB HDD. The NT2500 came with 250GB so it was more than enough to backup my entire notebook and then some.

The NT2500 came formatted and ready for use. It included an IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files software (version 3.1). The NT2500 hardware itself is very quiet. It took over two hours of continually plugged to the USB port of my notebook before I felt the noticeable warmth on the bottom of the drive. Throughout that time the unit itself was dead quiet.

The often used measure to test how a backup drive performs is backup and restore times. But both metrics are dependent on several factors including the make and model of the computer, RAM and harddisk space, other applications running during backup, type of USB port from which the drive is connected, and file type and size. It took me about 12 minutes to backup 6 Outlook PST files totalling 11.5GB. This was using a drag and drop approach. It would be great if it were faster than that but I can't complain. It was just slightly faster than the fastest homemade portable drive I have - using Sarotech from Korea.

What I like about the NT2500:
Quiet
Simple and sleek design
Works 100% out of the box - really plug and play

What I don't like about the NT2500:
Glossy surface is fingerprint magnet
Dimension-wise the packaging is longer than most other portable drives making it less portable than it should
IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files version 3.1 is not very intuitive (call me dumb but I haven't figured out how how to backup my notebook's data to the NT2500).
It can get very warm when it is performing backup or restore

In reality its very hard to see anything unique about portable USB harddrives. You see one, you've seen them all. You just need to make sure: (1) there's enough capacity to store what you need (I can tell you there is never enough GB); (2) is it really portable - can I stow it in my hip pocket?; and (3) does it need special software to work? Cool factor should only come in when you've answered these first three. All else is garnishing.

NT2500 Specifications:
Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Linus Mac OS X 10.3.0 or later
USB Format: USB 2.0 (USBB 1.1 Backwards Compatible)
Rotational Speed: 5400rpm
Product Physical Dimensions: 150mm X 84mm X 16.5mm (2.5")
Weight: 0.2kg
Software: IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files version 3.1

Third-party reviews of the NT2500:
Living: Digital: Touch Me Not
Hardwarezone: EZY Technologies Announces its NoTouch External Storage Devices

** Word of Warning: If you happen to buy the NT2500 or its bigger sibling, the NT3500, do not install and use the IBM Tivoli CDP for Files, it is one of the worst backup software I'd ever have the distinction of installing on my PC. It is slow, difficult to use, and not very flexible. You'd be better off using WIndows Explorer to manually copy files to the drive. If I find a good software, I'll write another blog on that.

via MacNN

They range in size (both physical and capacity), with the 500GB being a very tidy small(ish) unit, through to the 2TB (and beyond) which are very large physically, but also with an obvious massive capacity.

The interface is USB, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, and my current favourite - eSATA.

In very rough terms, USB2 operates around 35 MB/sec transfer, which is similar to Firewire 400.  Firewire 800 doubles that, and eSATA runs at a quiet 165MB / sec (if you are transferring onto a RAID 0 configured drive, such as the 2TB).

Not everyone requires that sort of power / speed / capacity, but good to know they exist.

I'm currently running the biggie - 2 terabytes of storage capacity, but configured to RAID 1.  What that means is there are 2 physical 1TB drives inside the case, and RAID 1 means they run in parallel - I put data on one, and it is automatically mirrored onto the other drive.  If either drive fails, I simply change it out, put in a blank drive, and it remirrors itself again.

Great data redundancy.  It means I only have 1TB of actual storage capacity, but that is 1TB of PROTECTED capacity.

USB 2.0 Multimedia Hard Disk

500GB

• • Enjoy digital movies, music & photos on your TV
  • Optical output for surround sound
  • User-friendly interface & remote control
  • High capacity storage for your entire media library

This is one paysite that I would consider joining If you are a real tightlacing enthusiast then this site is for you. Lacie from Germany is one of the few models that really go all the way when it comes to waist reduction. This is a woman that knows her corsets. All the corset models she chooses seems to be of the longline variety, no doubt specially designed to fit her specific needs.

A nicely designed set of computer speakers is always a must on an efficiently designed workspace. The latest USB speakers from LaCie were designed by famed industrial designer Neil Poulton. These speakers are in the shape of ship-vents.

My latest from Unplggd...

Apparently if I had read the manual properly, I would have seen this information on page 38.

That would have been very interesting to know.

Pity both the manual (PDF) provided with the drive, and the manual I just downloaded from the LaCie website only goes up to page 36, and neither mention to expect that sort of time for the initial synchronisation (whether the drive is empty or full).

All that is stated is if one drive has a solid blue light, and the other is blinking red, and the front light is blinking red and blue, then there is a fault.

The story continues.

In the meantime I decided to have a look at the existing Maxtor drives that I was using (the main drive, and the one I run as its backup).  How odd- the backup looks NOTHING like the main drive.  Seems that at some stage (months?) ago, the backup software failed to continue to do the regular incremental backups it was supposed to, and I've been operating on, confident that my drives were regularly (daily) being backed up.

Guess the only safe way is for me to handwrite everything, then photocopy the page.  Certainly can't trust the IT solutions to work, even when they appear to!

It can be configued as RAID 0, so both drives pretend they are one large 2TB drive, or RAID 1 so that it appears as a 1TB drive, and the second automatically mirrors the first, so in the event of a hardware failure in one of the drives, the second has an exact copy of the data, and you can simply replace the drive that failed and the RAID controller will ensure that the new drive mirrors the old one again.

Great, thought I, until it appears that one of the drives (or the RAID controller) is DOA.  So I'm still stuck without a replacement drive.

Perhaps I should have stayed with Maxtor.

(DOA - dead on arrival)

Excelente producto de LaCie en su relación calidad/precio. Además para aquellos usuarios de MacBooks que hallan tenido problemas con el HD de Hitachi o WD, es un excelente recambio y de bastante mejor calidad; por cierto es de Samsung.

Estes discos rígidos externos da fabricante coreana apostam em um design similar a alguns modelos da LaCie, mas com acabamento em cores que irão ressaltar ao colocarmos junto ao nosso computador.

Estarão disponíveis em quatro tamanhos distintos: 120 GB, 160 GB, 250 GB e 320 GB, todos eles com discos de 2.5"  e utilizando uma interface SATA II. Para conectar-los ao computador dispõe de uma porta USB 2.0, através da qual se alimentam eletricamente.

Disponíveis nas cores preta e roxa, e até o momento a LG não anunciou qual será o preço nem a data de lançamento dos LG XD1.

Via Xataka.

LightScribe:

VitalBodies installed a DVD burner in our new Lenovo D10 Workstation but had not attempted to setup LightScribe in Ubuntu. LightScribe allows you to burn a label on your disk rather than using a pen or label. Why burn a label? Some pens, over time, can eat right through the disk and damage your data. Some labels will throw the disk (spinning at high RPM) off balance.

Vitalbodies did some research and testing and here is what worked for us.

Linux Downloads For LightScribe:

• 4L: LaCie LightScribe Labeler RPM and Host Software:
  • http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10803
• 4L: LaCie LightScribe Labeler DEB:
  
  • http://uploads.mitechie.com/lightscribe/4l_1.0-r6_i386.deb
    
• LaCie LightScribe Labeler Manual:
  • http://www.lacie.com/download/manual/LightScribeLabelerLinux_en.pdf
• Portal To All Of The LightScribe.com Linux Downloads:
  • LightScribe System Software (Required)
  • LightScribeSimple labeler
  • LightScribe Linux Public SDK
  • Template Label Gallery
  • Label Gallery
    
  • Portal: http://www.lightscribe.com/downloadSection/linux/index.aspx

Download The Required System Software:

Download the LightScribe SYSTEM software from http://lightscribe.com/downloadSection/linux/index.aspx?id=814

There are RPM and DEB files to choose from and for Ubuntu choose the DEB files.

NOTE: This SYSTEM package MUST be installed BEFORE your LightScribe labeling applications to maintain the necessary dependencies.

Installing The SYSTEM Software:

Change Directory to the location where you downloaded the DEB file.

cd Desktop

Change <<filename>> to the match the file you downloaded.

For 32-bit Ubuntu:

sudo dpkg -i «filename»

Thus:

sudo dpkg -i lightscribe-1.14.17.1-linux-2.6-intel.deb

For 64-bit Ubuntu:

dpkg -i --force-architecture «filename».deb

Thus:

sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture lightscribe-1.14.17.1-linux-2.6-intel.deb

Check the status of the installation:

dpkg -s lightscribe

Download The Labeler Program or Programs:

• 4L: LaCie LightScribe Labeler for Linux DEB:
  
  • http://uploads.mitechie.com/lightscribe/4l_1.0-r6_i386.deb
• Simple Labeler:
  • http://www.lightscribe.com/downloadSection/linux/index.aspx?id=815

Install The LABELER Programs:

For 32-bit Ubuntu:

sudo dpkg -i «filename»

Thus:

sudo dpkg -i 4l_1.0-r6_i386.deb

For 64-bit Ubuntu:

sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture «filename».deb

Thus:

sudo dpkg --force-architecture -i 4l_1.0-r6_i386.deb

Simple Labeler:

sudo dpkg -i --force-architecture lightscribeApplications-1.10.19.1-linux-2.6-intel.deb

Create A Menu Item For Lacie Labeler:

Right click your menu (IE Applications Places System) and click "Edit Menus."

Click the Category in Menus on the left you want to place the menu item in (like Graphics or Sound and Video).

Click the "New Item" button on the left.

Create Launcher Properties:

Type: "Application"

Name: "4L LightSribe Labeler"

Command: "sudo 4L-gui"

Comment: "Burn label LABEL SIDE DOWN".

Icon or description: Up to you, but here is a suggestion. "Burn gray scale text and images on to LightScribe disks".

Click the Ok button to save your changes.

LightScribe Simple Labeler

Create A Menu Item LightScribe Simple Labeler:

Right click your menu (Applications) and click "Edit Menus."

Click the group on the left you'd like to place the menu item in (like Graphics or Sound and Video).

Click "New Item" on the left.

Create Simple Launcher Properties:

Type: "Application"

Name: "LightScribe Simple Labeler"

Command: "gksudo /opt/lightscribeApplications/SimpleLabeler/SimpleLabeler"

Comment: "Burn label LABEL SIDE DOWN".

Icon or description: Up to you, but here is a suggestion. "Burn gray scale text and images on to LightScribe disks".

Click the Ok button to save your changes.

Odd Anomalies:

VitalBodies got disks to burn and everything works. There were a few Anomalies along the way. Like trying to start the software using the menus did not work until we rebooted.

EDIT: I had just burned a label with LightScribe for this blog article. I did not need to add data to the disk as I was just checking the label burner. I flipped the disk to the data side for whenever the next data burn might be and thus BROKE Nautilus. Turns out you could get a SEGMENT FAULT error from this command:

sudo nautilus
Initializing nautilus-share extension
Segmentation fault

Removed the blank disk and that FIXED Nautilus.

Just a side note: This error does not happen with the disk label side down but only data side down.

In other words, only when the data side is towards the laser.

I wondered if this only happens with blank disks?

Answer, yes...

Suggestions:

VitalBodies burned a disk and it came out light (low contrast) so we burned the same disk again to increase the contrast. Looks great. The original image was low contrast. Consider higher contrast text and imagery for better results. VitalBodies made a new GIMP and Inkscape template for burning. The image at the top is from the new