We haven't seen a ton of
eSATA flash drives, but OCZ is entering the fray with the Throttle, which looks a lot like the
Ao-Lab unit we saw back in October. No pricing or release date is given, but Register Hardware estimates it'll be $32 for the 8GB model, $56 for 16GB and $160 for 32GB. For eSATA ports that don't provide power, the Throttle has a mini-USB port to give it some electrical juice that can also be used to transfer data, which should cover most scenarios unless you're at a phantasmagorical computer that somehow has only FireWire ports.
[Via
Maximum PC; thanks, Havok]
Read - Official press release
Read - OCZ readies USB eSATA Flash drive (Register Hardware)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt @ Dec 15th 2008 6:26AM
Don't forget about the serial port!!
RoboDan @ Dec 15th 2008 11:36AM
My current laptop has USB ports
But who knows... if I upgrade to Apple's next gen of Macbook I may not, because it's too much of a "Pro" feature (ala firewire)
sam @ Dec 15th 2008 6:44AM
holy crap, 90mb/s read, 30mb/s write. absolutely fantastic!
Andy @ Dec 15th 2008 7:24AM
If it's limited to 90 millibits per second read, then I think I'll pass.
CVMagic @ Dec 15th 2008 7:32AM
Milibits? Good God man what storage scale is that, Kilo -> 1000, Mega -> 1000kilo, Giga -> 1000Mega, Tera -> 1000Giga .... Mili -> 1/100 bytes? Technically if you think of it 90milibytes is almost 1byte per second
Dopefish @ Dec 15th 2008 7:34AM
God Andy you pedantic wanker! =P
Dopefish @ Dec 15th 2008 7:37AM
Oh and if your going to reply (im looking at you CVMagic) at least know your stuff.
lower case m is the scientific prefix for milli, and lower case b means bits so technically Andy was correct in what he said.
Upper case M means mega, and Upper case B means Bytes so MB/s is what he meant.
KarlW @ Dec 15th 2008 7:49AM
@Andy
You're not being clever. The 'bit' is a quantised unit, meaning that you cannot divide it by 1000. There can be no amount of data less than a bit.
Pedantry beaten by yet more pedantry.
Beastage @ Dec 15th 2008 7:53AM
@ KarlW
You ruined my day!
Ken J @ Dec 15th 2008 8:24AM
@ CVMagic
FYI milli- = 1/1000, centi- = 1/100
@ KarlW
I thought quantized is spelled with a z (IE sux). I also thought that with rates you can absolutely have less that your quantized value. Example: 1 bit per minute (bit/minute) = .0167 bit per second (bit/s).
404 @ Dec 15th 2008 8:42AM
@ Ken J
Quantised is the Brit version of the word. Nothing wrong with it.
KarlW @ Dec 15th 2008 9:14AM
A rate is amount/time (i.e. amount per unit time). Since you can't have less than one bit, the amount part of that is nonsensical.
Nonetheless, it is commonly used because a common unit makes comparing things easier. It's technically wrong. Since the poster was pedantic enough to go for capitalisation, I felt it acceptable to refute his point with more pedantry.
Dave Chappelle @ Dec 15th 2008 6:48AM
I really like eSata but OCZ is about five years late on this one... meh, i was going to go berserk on how happy i was about this but reality hit me.
linuxamp @ Dec 15th 2008 6:59AM
Besides the speed, this will be really nice for getting around those funky BIOS/OS USB boot issues.
Geqxon @ Dec 15th 2008 7:13AM
Phantasmagorical?
Yeah, I had to Google that one...
KarlW @ Dec 15th 2008 8:01AM
It's just engadget catering to their high-brow demographic. Next week they're starting a 'spotted in the hood' series where we can laugh at poor people and their outdated gadgetry.
Mobius_1 @ Dec 15th 2008 8:06AM
First gen iPhones, for example. ;)
BobTurbo @ Dec 15th 2008 7:15AM
Awesome, I have an eSata port and I like filling all of the holes on my computer with dongles. Now I will just have to go clean the dust off the eSata port and stick this thing in.
I hope that didn't come across as sexual.
RyanTV @ Dec 15th 2008 9:02AM
oh, it did... and you wanted it to!
Level 5 @ Dec 15th 2008 7:21AM
This would be really awesome for a portable, bootable OS once these things can put up SSD numbers. Even with something as small as 32GB you could put XP or Vista on it with most of your programs and setting, etc. If there was a way to keep the OS install from flipping its lid about booting it amongst completely different hardware, this might actually be really awesome.
I know people techically already do this with eSATA hard drives but who has time to keep an eSATA cable and possibly a power cord or AC adapter?
Professor STFU @ Dec 15th 2008 7:24AM
Give me USB 3.0 already!
birthday is 1990 @ Dec 15th 2008 7:39AM
How do you plug it into two ports at once? Does it have a built in battery?
KarlW @ Dec 15th 2008 7:53AM
I'll suppose it has a female connector on the other end, so you'll have to power it from behind.
Don't hear enough geek sex jokes...
Coolty @ Dec 15th 2008 8:34AM
I am so tired of everything getting the label "SSD" becuase it doesn't have a moving drive in it.
Tom @ Dec 15th 2008 9:01AM
I f*cking tired of Rick Astley...
Level 5 @ Dec 15th 2008 10:05AM
That's what solid state IS man. Anything thats flash or eeprom and is non-volatile is solid state. It's a pretty broad term, even the memory cards on a 15 year old PSone are solid state from a technical POV.
0megapart!cle @ Dec 15th 2008 10:11AM
Yea, this isn't an SSD. You really should correct the headline. An SSD for those prices would be a fantastic idea, but, alas, it is not meant to be.
Technology.com.au @ Dec 15th 2008 7:53PM
OCZ usually put out some pretty decent gear so hopefully this is another quality addition.
jupiterthunder @ Dec 16th 2008 1:45AM
Mondo bonus points to Engadget for using my all-time favorite word.