back to article Freecom Hard Drive XS

Freecom appears to be taking a leap out of LaCie's book. Once known for cheap but plain looking storage products, Freecom has been bitten by the design bug. Freecom XS Freecom's XS: do hard drives really need clothing-style labels? Take the XS, claimed by its maker to be the world's smallest external 3.5in hard drive. This …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. handle

    Faster USB under Windows; vibration; heat

    So, you can install a USB driver to give faster access under WIndows. Begs the question: does this then give better performance under MacOS and Linux, or are they just better written in the first place so there is no NEED for third party code? Can you do a comparison of transfer speed with the other OSs please?

    As to vibration, in my experience 3.5" external hard discs can cause annoying vibrations which are often heard as much as felt. I have a rubber pad under mine to cut down on them. So it IS an issue; whether the thin coating on the faces of this drive damps it significantly is a moot point.

    Rubber isn't a very good conductor of heat - I wonder how much the casing raises the temperature of the drive compared with a metal enclosure?

  2. Chika
    Coat

    :9

    Freecom have been doing a 2.5" version for a while now.

    Mind you, "rubber-clad external hard drive" is a bit of a mouthful. Couldn't we just call them Gimpdrives instead?

  3. Tony Smith (Written by Reg staff)

    @handle

    Enabling faster USB in Windows then unplugging the drive and connecting it to a Mac doesn't change the data-transfer speed on the Mac. The faster transfer speed is solely between Windows PC and external HDD.

  4. handle

    @Tony

    Yes I understand that - it's a USB driver for Windows. What interests me is how Windows performs with that driver compared with default MacOS and Linux, as in your summary you say that "for Windows users Turbo Mode speeds up file transfers" from which it could be inferred that Windows has an advantage over the other OSs when using this driver. However, it might be the case that the other OSs are faster in the first place.

  5. Anton Ivanov
    Grenade

    Re: Faster USB under Windows

    The more interesting question here is "HOW"?

    If you look at the graph they all scream the same thing "USB Bus Limits". So in order to overcome it you either have to compress or to somehow tweak the protocol. Interesting... which one are they actually doing.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Can it be a trend please ?

    we need more rubber clad implements.

    I just wonder how long it takes before this part of the industry discovers transparent latex :)

    But a whole shiny black rubber computer setup.. Much better then any piano white device.

    Heck, I'd even polish it with silicone..

  7. Bassey

    @ Tony and @Handle

    I don't think that's what Handle meant, Tony. I think Handle was suggesting that the Turbo USB drivers under Windows would probably only bring transfer speeds up to those you would get by default under Linux or Mac OS's - the assumption being that Linux/Mac drivers will be far better written than Microsoft ones - and was looking for you to produce evidence to support his fanboi-ism.

  8. Bob Gulien
    Thumb Up

    @handle

    I have the 1.5Tb version. There is no fan and no, it's not running hot. Also there is absolutely no noise.

    I have to hold my hand on the disk to feel it working. The rubber damping the noise as well.

    It's running at a adequate speed on my Mac, but my LaCie firewire 800 is obviously a lot faster.

    I use the Freecom as a Time Machine backup repository, and for that task it is fast enough. Recommended!

  9. Mathew White
    Coat

    Missing design element

    They forgot to add the Zip.

  10. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    @all

    That seems a reasonable request. I shall report back...

  11. Colin Miller

    @Anton Ivanov

    I suspect it does on-the-fly compression of data being transferred.

  12. handle
    Happy

    @Bassey

    You'll have to invent a new pejorative term I'm afraid - it's not "fanboi-ism" towards both MacOS and Linux (indeed how could it be towards two such philosophically-different OSs?); it's "!fanboi-ism" towards Windows!

    Remember there are plenty of reports of slow file transfers under Windows Vista.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Bring out the GIMP!!!

    They missed a trick here.

    A rubber hard drive enclosure...

    Surely it should have come pre-loaded with a copy of a certain OSS image-manipulation program?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    "how often does your desk shake away like a washing machine on a fast spin cycle?"

    Every Saturday night, for the weekly office porn shoot.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Can it take the heat?

    Pun not intended, but really, rubber is a rather good heat insulator. Can the drive, being sealed in the rubber case, run for extended periods of time without going whack? Heck, can the case withstand the heat without becoming sticky in a month or two? Especially when used in a tropical climate?

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like