OCZ shows off Rally 2 FireWire thumbdrives at CeBIT

If you're like us, you've probably filled all your USB ports long ago -- we're daisy-chaining hubs at this point -- and yet most of our FireWire jacks, including the front panel one, remain perpetually unoccupied. So instead of doing the four port shuffle every time you want to load up a thumb drive, why not get a model that connects via FireWire instead? OCZ is showing off a pair of its Rally 2 drives that do just that, with one featuring dual 4-pin and 6-pin FireWire 400 plugs and the other sporting a single FireWire 800 connector. Sustained transfer rates on both devices promise to outperform USB 2.0 versions, so you're getting both speed and convenience here. No word on cost or availability, but you can't really put a price on freed-up USB ports anyway.

[Via Engadget Japanese]

[Kev50027 @ Mar 16th 2007 12:42PM]

This is a great idea, except the fact that not many computers have firewire ports on the front. The places I use my thumbdrive (like the university library) just have USB ports on the front, and I don't even know if they have any firewire ports.

[Kiwi616 @ Mar 16th 2007 12:53PM]

If this is the case why not just make a USB/Firewire capable drive (1 connection on each end) or better yet make an adapter to use in any port Firewire or USB.

[kpluck @ Mar 16th 2007 12:54PM]

I'd love a firewire drive like this but they really need to make a model with USB 2.0 and firewire.

[Aron Trimble @ Mar 16th 2007 1:02PM]

This would be a helluva lot better with Windows ReadyBoost...

[Curtis @ Mar 16th 2007 1:06PM]

Only useful for a Macs.

I know a Mac Pro has both 2 USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800 ports in the front. I believe a Power Mac G5 has USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 ports in the front.

[LukeA @ Mar 16th 2007 1:10PM]

Most Windows computers have FireWire (aka IEEE 1394 aka i.Link) ports.

[Jim @ Mar 16th 2007 1:14PM]

And all MacBooks, PowerBooks and MacBookPros. Nice to see a device with a FW800 port.

[Jaxim @ Mar 16th 2007 1:23PM]

the advantage of using firewire over USB is that you don't have to guess how to position the drive into the port. Because the USB connection is a rectangle, it's hard to easily discern how you're suppose to plug in the USB device. With Firewire, there isn't that problem. You can easily see which side is which.

[Chocolate Starfish @ Mar 16th 2007 1:27PM]

how's about a USB hub in with a firewire out, turning that firewire port into several USB ports?

I dunno what the technical differences between the two standards really are, though.

[LukeA @ Mar 16th 2007 2:19PM]

That wouldn't work, seeing as FW is a peer-to-peer protocol and USB is a master-slave protocol. The technological difficulties in producing such a device would be immense.

[KC @ Mar 16th 2007 2:02PM]

Sign me up, I'll take two of the Firewire 800 model.

I've been waiting for years for Firewire thumb drives to come out.

[Jesse S @ Mar 16th 2007 2:59PM]

They've been out.

http://www.kanguru.com/fireflash.html

[justin.johnson3 @ Mar 16th 2007 3:18PM]

But will it work with ReadyBoost??

[spaceman @ Mar 16th 2007 5:12PM]

Since the 4pin firewire doesn't supply power, how is it going to get power? A USB adaptor maybe? Hmm that sure makes sense? :)

[Spencer @ Mar 16th 2007 6:10PM]

spaceman, it has to supply power, as that is something used for data transfer. Flash chips don't require much power so it probably just functions off the power provided for data.

Too bad so few people have 1394. It would be really cool to have a device with high-end flash chips pumping 50MB/sec thorugh your bus during boot, etc. since USB never gets anywhere close to its limit.

[Bloobie @ Mar 16th 2007 8:34PM]

4-pin FireWire 400 does not contain wiring for power. That is what the 2 additional pins in 6-pin FireWire are for.

[CapWKidd @ Mar 17th 2007 3:15PM]

Yes, a model with both firewire and USB would be ideal .... if it is going to be firewire, it should have a firewire in port on the other end so you can chain it...

Jesse S, that firewire thumb drive does not mention the capacity... I like how they bost that it is so small.... they must not have seen the Son Micro Vaults, now they are SMALL...

And someone else mentioned not knowing which way the USB plug goes in.... that is where drives like the iStick, or Sony Micro Vault come in, easy to tell...

[Ethan @ Mar 18th 2007 8:16AM]

The whole reason usb drives are so useful is because of how prolific usb ports are. Firewire is not in use very much, and hence is not on a lot of comps. I think the whole point of the flash drive is that its fast, easy, and you can use it on just about any pc thats worth moving files to and from.

[dean @ Mar 22nd 2007 1:13PM]

I woudn't go far as to say they are "only useful for a Macs". Plenty of PCs have 4pin connectors on the front panel. Perhaps "more useful" for macs, since your PC's bios need to support booting from Firewire. Macs do it out of the box. In a mac centric envronment (especially at an art school), this is very convenient. We've been making boot volumes with FW flash readers for a few months now, and this will make things a bit easier. We've found that Firewire boot blows the doors off USB2. We'll see how pricing is.