NewerTech's Voyager Q converts SATA HDDs into hot-swappable external drives

Man, talk about a hasty refresh cycle. NewerTech just unleashed its original Voyager in early December, and barely a month later we're being treated to the Voyager Q. Delivered at Macworld today, the quad interface device (USB 2.0, eSATA, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800) sports a sleek, glossy exterior, hinged flaps to cover the gaps when your internal HDDs are being used internally and support for hot-swapping, too. Both 2.5- and 3.5-inch SATA I / II drives are supported, and yes, both OS X and Windows platforms are fully supported. If you've finally lost the inability to avoid procuring one of these type units, you can get the Voyager Q on its way to you this moment for $99.95.

[conor @ Jan 7th 2009 6:56AM]

Mmm... nice toaster bread no so good

[--------- @ Jan 7th 2009 8:47AM]

It needs a cancel button, for when you don't want toast.

[Rick White @ Jan 7th 2009 11:26AM]

Mmmmm, SATAToast...

[Maverick-DBZ- @ Jan 7th 2009 6:58AM]

Ahhh... that's too pricey for me. Nice features though, and it looks like it's got all the connections you'll ever need. I'll wait for a good price drop and see what happens then. HAHA, assuming there isn't another re-fresh around the corner.

[Troels C @ Jan 7th 2009 7:06AM]

Well apart from USB 3

[Maverick-DBZ- @ Jan 7th 2009 7:12AM]

Yeah, well, maybe in the the next model. I can only imagine the price then. :p

[Brian @ Jan 7th 2009 7:27AM]

No Fibre Channel? Aww man...

[greatsunjester @ Jan 7th 2009 8:09AM]

It has to speak..... and it's words must be "Howdy-Doodley Do! Would you like some toast?"

[Jon @ Jan 7th 2009 8:12AM]

Looks like a toaster

[Matt @ Jan 7th 2009 9:14AM]

Damn! Beat me to it!

It looks exactly like the toaster I have in my apartment, which probably explains why my computer is reading buttered toast from the dock and I smell burning hard drive from the kitchen.....

[Harlo @ Jan 7th 2009 10:02AM]

Frakin toasters!

[Level 5 @ Jan 7th 2009 9:24AM]

Hot swappable? Yeah? Really? What lets the user know that the drive has completely stopped spinning so they don't head crash the damn thing?

[Lamp @ Jan 7th 2009 9:39AM]

select safety remove or eject?

[RocketTech @ Jan 7th 2009 2:36PM]

Hot-Swap compatibility is more for the MoBo and OS than the drive. Head crashes due to lost power haven't been a concern for years. The heads are retracted by a spring in milliseconds and the air-cushion provided by drive spin-down keeps the heads off the platters. If you stay within the rated g-load while yanking the drive, you are fine. Preparing for hot-swap alerts the OS and chipset that a drive is gonna go missing, hopefully to avoid crashing your toast monitoring app.

[Rob @ Jan 7th 2009 9:38AM]

Thanks Engadget, I recently purchased the original Voyager, and still can return it to get this (OWC has a 30 day exchange policy). Hmmm, now to figure out what the heck is the difference between new and old models (besides aesthetics) to see if it's worth the shipping cost.

[Rob @ Jan 7th 2009 9:50AM]

Upon further research, it looks to me like this update is nothing more than aesthetic/smaller size. Otherwise, the specs, chipset, etc. look to be identical. Maybe it's not worth my shipping costs to get the prettier one.

[Constantine @ Jan 7th 2009 10:43AM]

I'll take it! Got like 20 HDD's worth of data I have to transfer to optical media. This will come in handy. Using enclosures would be a pain. Is there a chance the vertical position might actually damage the HDD?

[Nathan @ Jan 7th 2009 10:44AM]

When my backups are done does the hard drive pop up and hit the bottom of my cupboard?

[Mike @ Jan 7th 2009 10:48AM]

Lovely looking toaster.
We've had something very similar out in the UK for a while now. But at 1/3 of the price...

[zach @ Jan 7th 2009 1:23PM]

mmmm toast

[To The Max @ Jan 7th 2009 3:24PM]

I got something essentially just like this from Best Buy yesterday, half the price and still has eSata, kinda nice.

[Bob @ Jan 7th 2009 7:19PM]

Just wish one of these type of units had a fan to help keep the hdd cool.

Oh thats where the Toast comments come in?

[N30 G30 @ Jan 7th 2009 11:52PM]

It looks like it can do everything, including making toast!