SysOpt Holiday Gift Guide 2006: Portable Storage For All!- Page 5/10
December 12, 2006
By
Thomas Soderstrom
For HP/Compaq PC Owners: HP Pocket Media Drive 80GB
You're certainly welcome to put your choice of drives into your choice of enclosures, but several companies are willing to do the work for you, perfect for easy gift giving! Hewlett Packard's Pocket Media Drives offer easy external USB connection and the added convenience of plugging into the docking bay already included on several HP/Compaq PC models.
The external USB connection means this drive isn't exclusively for HP/Compaq owners, but the HP/Compaq docking bay is a useful added feature. HP uses a full-sized Type B USB connector to make the connection easier, rather than the mini-USB connector usually found on similar enclosures.
HP includes a warranty guide and card, installation CD, USB cable, and carrying case. The CD does not include drivers for last-century's Windows versions, but is supported by Microsoft's USB Mass Storage device driver.
Applications include Sonic MyBackup 6.0 recovery software and a Windows Media Center media file transfer tool.
HD Tach RW shows a few interesting things: First, the 35MB/s drive interface speed is the fastest we've tested, and second, that the internal drive is easily detected as a Seagate Momentus 5400.2 80GB ATA100 unit. Yes, this is the second USB record-setter in a week of testing!
The impressive performance stirred within us the desire to find out what part was responsible, so we ripped it apart to find an unassuming-looking Prolific PL-2506 USB 2.0 to ATA controller chip.
Because HP's primary intent is to allow both docking bay and external use, the ideal gift recipient will be an HP/Compaq user whose system has the custom bay installed.
SysOpt Product Info
Product: Pocket Media Drive
Category: Storage
Avg. Price: $150
Manufacturer: Hewlett Packard Company 3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185
(650) 857-1501
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