Live from CeBIT: the WiDRIVE WiFi drive enclosure

Feisty Singapore startup EDS Lab is showing off their WiDRIVE in a small booth tucked deep in the bowels of CeBIT. The WiDRIVE is an 802.11b/g WiFi drive enclosure for 1.8 and 2.5-inch drives. There are other wireless disk solutions available, but WiDRIVE claims theirs is the only portable solution (yeah, it has a rechargeable battery rated for 2-hours of continuous op) which provides direct access to disk from your laptop. In other words, if you're running XP then it looks just like a regular ol' disk drive -- hell, you can even boot your OS from it...or so says EDS Lab. We got a demo of the product running video off the WiDRIVE which er, worked. However, it lurched noticeably at times albeit in a convention center hall flooded with about 80 different WiFi networks. So that means it won't work in the Engadget mansion but it should work in your largely interference free living room without a hitch. Should. Still, they have a few months to work out the kinks since the WiDRIVE won't be turned-out proper until July for about $95 -- Europe first, and still you gotta pony up for the disk, son. More pics of the guts after the break.

It's all packed in -- no external antenna protruding from these enclosures.


Available in white or black as these things generally go.

[Desmond @ Mar 13th 2006 10:00AM]

Uhh, it's kind of big isn't it?

[Bob @ Mar 13th 2006 10:19AM]

ASUS has had one of these out for well over a year, http://usa.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=12&l2=44&l3=0&model=460&modelmenu=1

[enumerated @ Mar 13th 2006 10:44AM]

I always felt Apple should have had an option for a 2.5" hd in the AirPort base station. It might not be the fastest option in the world but I would be very convienient as a public folder.

[BT @ Mar 13th 2006 11:06AM]

That is a 1.8" Hitachi drive, so this enclosure should be the same size as a normal 2.5" one with that drive inside. Pretty normal size then, not big like some have posted.

[ravuya @ Mar 13th 2006 1:13PM]

Seeing as my Windows XP machine and my OS X machine both bitch about having a disk removed from the system without "ejecting" I'm wondering how this drive will solve the problem of, perhaps, the user leaving the operable range of the hard drive while a transfer is active.

[..........? @ Mar 13th 2006 1:19PM]

The $95 is in us dollar and that covers only the case. You have to supply it with a 1.8" or 2.5" harddrive. In asia people prefer to buy a external case then buy a cheap harddrive to put in it. The case is cheap and you can look for cheap harddrive to go with it. Also, you are not retricted to the size of the harddrive. Buying in combo is a north american thing. There is a stereotype that people in north america prefer take the lazy route and buy what is there and not question about what they are getting.

[Taylor Alexander @ Mar 13th 2006 1:40PM]

I'm thinking this would go well with my HTC Apache, since it's got wifi and media support. Install it in my car and I have unlimited tunes on the road! :)
-Taylor

[Yem @ Mar 13th 2006 5:53PM]

How do you set the WPA key on that thing? DIP switches?

[jgrnt1 @ Mar 13th 2006 6:00PM]

I have one of the previously mentioned ASUS enclosures, with about 350 albums of mp3's on it. It shows as a network drive on my iPAQ 4700. I use it to play the mp3's through my car's stereo.

Regarding setting keys -- I believe that, at least with the ASUS, the enclosure loads Linux. You log onto the drive as the admin and set everything.

[Coolie15 @ Mar 13th 2006 9:19PM]

looks like everyone is thinking PCs...but does anyone else see a lucrative market for a wifi enabled, battery powered, hard drive that your newly purchased wifi digicam can empty pics into (in the field i might add)?? Toss in a built-in LCD to view files (or at the very leaast indicator lights) and this little Singapore shop can price point themselves 2-3 times higher.

[Simon @ Mar 13th 2006 11:18PM]

A smaller, cheaper drive enclosure that hooks up with USB and that will not need any recharging ever, will always be superior to this, IMHO.

I can see the use for illegal activities, but I guess with most of the guys here it's just that wanna-be-James-Bond-flair that makes them drool about it ...
Not that I can't empathize, I'ld like to be James Bond if just for the girls ... and the tech of course ...

[Richard @ Mar 14th 2006 6:07AM]

You could stick it in a rock and use it for spying...

[cheng @ Mar 15th 2006 12:48AM]

hi: i am from eds lab. just want to share why we created sucha product. the widrive is not meant to be compared to a usb drive. we didn't add in a bunch of processors just to replace a 2 dollars cable.

the widrive can function as a block device (i.e a SAN, not a NAS or file server).
it's a lot easier to use and setup with our drivers. it has web and ftp access built in as "spare" connectivity. this allows capabilities like joining an access point and getting your friends on another part of the world to download your files. also, as coolie pointed out, it can talk to a wifi digicam and seamlessly offload the images. i think apart from the james bond quirkiness, we think it will be useful to a media center pc. yea, a usb drive can be connected to one, but what?? i got to leave my couch???

thanks guys for reading.

[muan lim @ Jan 14th 2008 5:52PM]

is there any literature on how to use it once you get the device

[Chen @ Jan 29th 2008 2:09AM]

Yes. there is a user manual in the device, and it is very clear,easily to follow each steps.

[finghard @ Mar 20th 2006 3:28PM]

in my eyes this device is genius . its been long awaited by myself and all other ppc/pda users .
lack of storage space has always been a problem .
would love to review it for the england market .

[Richard Fiagbe @ Oct 25th 2008 4:48PM]

This is cool.
what ip version does the device support and what other protocols does it support?
Allowing the device to have public ip will help, we may use it as a server one day.
Is the hard drive indoor use only or out door as well?
Love to use it for vpn.
Thanks