SmartDisk FireLite USBFLB60 60 GB USB 2.0 Hard Drive
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- Capacity: 60 GB
- Interface: USB
- Enclosure: External
- Spindle Speed: 4200 RPM
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It's portable. It's a hard drive. It's a portable hard drive.
Pros
60Gb plug-and-play ease. Why I didn't get one earlier is a mystery.
Cons
None that I've found.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Great for backus, or moving large volumes of data around. All my MP3s are now on one of these and I just plug it into whichever PC I'm on.
I got the SmartDisk FireLite for moving MP3s about between my office and home PCs. As it turns out, I ended up buying a second one as a form of backing up my home PC too. I'd been using DVDs and backup software, but it seems so much easier to use something like Norton Ghost with a plug-in hard drive.
The idea here is that the drive can be powered from the USB port. Plug in the supplied cable, and if you're using a recent O/S such as Windows XP or Mac OS9/10, it will simply turn up as an available drive for you to use. One thing to note : XP seems to have a problem with removable devices if you have network drives mapped. For example, I have physical devices on my PC ranging from drive letters A: to F:. I then have a network folder mounted as G:. Whenever I plug in a flash drive or in this case, portable hard drive, XP insists on using the next available PHYSICAL letter - ie. G:. But G: is already mapped so the new device never shows up first time. If you have this problem, right-click on "my computer" and select "manage". In the window which opens, select "disk manager" and on the right hand side is a list of your physical devices. You'll see the hard drive sitting there with a shared letter. Right-click on it and you'll be able to change the drive letter XP uses for it. From then on it will be fine.
This drive works best on a powered USB2.0 bus. If you're using a USB hub, make sure it's in "powered" mode otherwise it likely won't provide enough juice to the drive for it to work. If you're plugging straight into the USB on your PC, then it should be fine.
In the event it doesn't work, the unit comes with a second cable which plugs in-line into an available PS/2 port (keyboard or mouse) to draw power from there instead.
There's not a lot more to say about this unit. 4200rpm doesn't sound like a lot but the bottleneck is really the USB2.0 transfer speed. Having said that, I can push 1.2Gb of MP3 files in around 2 minutes so it's really not a problem.
It seems to be pretty weather- and shock-resistant. I commute by motorbike in all weathers. This morning it was a brisk commute in -3?C weather with the drive in my tank bag so it was uninsulated and subject to engine vibration. Plugged it in and transferred data with no problems.
SmartDisk do this same drive in a bunch of different sizes. I would have got the 80Gb one if the local BestBuy had had one. My advice would be to buy the biggest one you can find.
I got my 60Gb one for $62 plus tax in April 2005.
Oh, and the disk activity light is a cool blue :-)
The idea here is that the drive can be powered from the USB port. Plug in the supplied cable, and if you're using a recent O/S such as Windows XP or Mac OS9/10, it will simply turn up as an available drive for you to use. One thing to note : XP seems to have a problem with removable devices if you have network drives mapped. For example, I have physical devices on my PC ranging from drive letters A: to F:. I then have a network folder mounted as G:. Whenever I plug in a flash drive or in this case, portable hard drive, XP insists on using the next available PHYSICAL letter - ie. G:. But G: is already mapped so the new device never shows up first time. If you have this problem, right-click on "my computer" and select "manage". In the window which opens, select "disk manager" and on the right hand side is a list of your physical devices. You'll see the hard drive sitting there with a shared letter. Right-click on it and you'll be able to change the drive letter XP uses for it. From then on it will be fine.
This drive works best on a powered USB2.0 bus. If you're using a USB hub, make sure it's in "powered" mode otherwise it likely won't provide enough juice to the drive for it to work. If you're plugging straight into the USB on your PC, then it should be fine.
In the event it doesn't work, the unit comes with a second cable which plugs in-line into an available PS/2 port (keyboard or mouse) to draw power from there instead.
There's not a lot more to say about this unit. 4200rpm doesn't sound like a lot but the bottleneck is really the USB2.0 transfer speed. Having said that, I can push 1.2Gb of MP3 files in around 2 minutes so it's really not a problem.
It seems to be pretty weather- and shock-resistant. I commute by motorbike in all weathers. This morning it was a brisk commute in -3?C weather with the drive in my tank bag so it was uninsulated and subject to engine vibration. Plugged it in and transferred data with no problems.
SmartDisk do this same drive in a bunch of different sizes. I would have got the 80Gb one if the local BestBuy had had one. My advice would be to buy the biggest one you can find.
I got my 60Gb one for $62 plus tax in April 2005.
Oh, and the disk activity light is a cool blue :-)
