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Hands-on with Kingston's DataTraveler Workspace at IDF (video)
What's this? Just another USB 3.0 thumbdrive at IDF 2012? Not quite. You're looking at Kingston's DataTraveler Workspace, a storage device that incorporates bona fide SSD technology not usually found in thumbdrives -- like a bunch of ultra speedy flash memory and a SandForce controller that supports TRIM and S.M.A.R.T commands. As such, it shares more in common with Kingston's line of SSDs. It's not really designed for data storage -- instead, it's meant to be used as a certified Windows To Go fixed drive, "a fully manageable corporate Windows 8 workspace on a specially configured, bootable USB drive". The idea is that corporate IT can deploy these thumbdrives to employees who can then run a secure, managed instance of Windows on a variety of PCs with a bootable USB 2.0 (or faster) port. Another interesting feature of Windows To Go is that Kingston's DT Workspace thumbdrives can be removed for up to 1 minute without crashing Windows -- the OS simply alerts the user to "keep the USB drive plugged in" and continues where it left off. Pricing remains a mystery, but the device will be available for business customers in 32, 64 and 128GB capacities when Windows 8 launches. Until then, you're invited to peek at the gallery below and to watch our hands-on video past the break.
Reasons why USB thumb drives are the wrong choice
Photo: Dead Drops (Flickr) So yesterday, the TUAW backchannel got into a heated discussion about USB thumb drives. We had just posted about why Lion Version support was not available on non-HFS+ file systems. Our debate wasn't over whether they were good or not, but rather why they were a poor choice for day-to-day work. All of us had a number of drives around, but for the most part they are used for storing system installers, not for old-fashioned sneakernet-style file transfers. Nearly all of TUAW has moved on to some kind of cloud solution, be it Dropbox or Pogoplug or iCloud. These are all solutions that bypass any "HFS+ vs FAT, versions-support vs Windows-interoperability" issues, plus they don't have the "running apps from dmg"-like squicky feel to them. The fact that some people still use thumb drives for live-saving work files (update: saving live to the drive instead of to disk as described here) came as a bit of a surprise to us. We were determined to come up with a list of reasons not to do this. In the end, we brainstormed a bit and turned to Twitter for further inspiration. Our first knee-jerk reactions were the least motivational. Although several of us (and people on Twitter as well) mentioned "Aren't those drives always a bit failure-prone?", our googling indicated that the mean time between failures was relatively low high, and the number of supported read/write and insertion/ejection cycles surprisingly high, particularly for modern units. So "they're not reliable" turned out to be a bit apocryphal, even for relatively cheap drives. That being said, USB thumb drives don't appear to use load leveling of any kind, and are not designed for constant read/write cycles. As one of our Twitter buddies pointed out, they are designed for file storage above all. Instead, we focused on practical use, why thumb drives fail in the daily work process. Without further ado, here is our list of the top reasons you shouldn't be using thumb drives for directly saving your work. Thumb drives don't integrate well into backups. Although HFS+-formatted USB sticks can and will use Lion versions and metadata, if your workflow involves saving directly to the drive and skipping your primary hard drive, you're missing out on a lot of what Time Machine can offer, especially when you go mobile. Consider updating your workflow to save to disk (in a normal work folder) and then copying to a thumb drive for transport. This way, you ensure that all file data is not just versioned but also passively brought into the normal Time Machine backup schemes. Thumb drives don't integrate well with pockets, bags, dogs, and small children. Portable USB sticks are small. They are tremendously easy to lose or misplace. What's more, thumb drives can be inadvertently swallowed, flushed, put through the laundry, and more. If you're saving your only file copy to a thumb drive, you're putting that data at unnecessary risk -- especially if your two-year-old just learned how to flush, or you're figuring on giving your dog enough laxative to poop out the data he just licked off your desk. That's not to mention the "good friend" scenario, pointed out by one of our Twitter buddies, who reformats your stick for "some linux install tests" without your permission. Thumb drives are physically flimsy. It's a lot easier to break the connector port by accident, losing access to all the data stored on the drive, than you might think. Their relative fragility make them a risk for anyone who relies on them for primary storage. Thumb drives are subject to corruption. When you unplug a drive without unmounting it -- a common thoughtless mistake that many of us make -- your data could get corrupted. Combine this with a natural exclusion from backups, and a corrupted USB drive could cost you that data. Thumb drives have low read-write speed. If you tend to engage in edit-save-edit-save cycles, writing directly to a USB stick can slow down your work a lot, especially when working with large data files like images. Thumb drives aren't ubiquitous. Unless you're prepared to walk your drive to another location, their data doesn't naturally integrate with net-based cloud storage. And if you do use net storage, why are you using a thumb drive as a primary storage solution? Thumb drives take up extra slots. Who amongst us have enough USB slots on their system? Every thumb drive occupies a space that could otherwise be used for external Time Machine storage or any number of other peripherals. So that's our list of crowd-sourced reasons, beyond our instinctive knee-jerk "don't do that" response. If you want to gawk at a dizzying array of USB drives, check out the list on Engadget. Got more suggestions? Add them to the comments! Thanks to everyone who tweeted suggestions, including (but not limited to) Arepty, Redbits Apps (for 2-year-olds learning to flush), Ed_h, Mark_Coker, Jecoffey, Biosblob, Niels_K, Dddat, DannoWatts, Endareth, Yittsv, Yboy403, JayFuerstenberg, TB10 (for load leveling), Cranies, Ech0riginal, Innoying, ChunkyGuy, JohnSea66, LMahesa, JasperJanssen, GoJohnnyBoi, GianLovesSurf, PaulRysz, Frank2Oh, StoreClock, David_Dre (for Linux friends), Savobien, Bosh (inconsistent mount points), JTokash, DanUdey, AEberbach, MikePuchol, RJALPHAdog, Hack3rsInc, iMacDan, JohnNelm9r, WiseQuark, Zad0xsis, McElhearn, AbrahamVegh,WeatherAngel, MBrit, and everyone else!
Mimobot Transformers thumb drives are exactly what meets the eye
Oh, look, Mimoco is back with a couple of new USB flash drives. These particular Mimobots come in the likeness of everyone's second favorite morphing robot rivals -- Optimus Prime and Megatron. (Obviously Cy-Kill and Leader-1 take the top slot in our hearts.) Sadly, these Transformer thumb drives don't actually transform, but they do come preloaded with screensavers, wallpapers, and digital comics... if you're into that sort of thing. The Autobot and Decepticon leaders are available now, starting at $23 for 2GB of storage and reaching $60 for the 16GB model. PR is after the break.
Rogue modder rips off stingy consumer, puzzles repairmen... all with a USB thumb drive
Welcome to today's episode of "You Get What You Pay For," starring some poor sap in Russia who bought an external hard drive in China for a "very, very low price." It seemed like a bargain, until the schmo noticed that video files were picking up from the tail end, as if the preceding footage had vanished. When the folks at a local repair shop tore the disk apart they found a dinky 128MB thumb drive running in a loop, emptying itself when full only to start saving more data. Laugh all you want, but the repair guys (and us, frankly) are still scratching their heads as to how those scam artists pulled off this mod in the first place. [Thanks, David S.]
US Military bans removable media again, this time probably for good
The US military has officially solidified its reputation as a flake, by banning the use of all removable media including thumb drives, CDs and DVDs again on its Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRnet) after relaxing the same policy in February. To prove they meant business this time, senior officers in each branch relayed the orders and reaffirmed personnel would risk of court-martial if they failed to comply. This seems silly to us considering Uncle Sam feels comfortable giving some cell phones access to secure data, and we all know how much damage losing one can cause. But then again, if history and Transformers are any indication, sometimes it's these little things that cause bigger breaches than anything Cyber Command focuses on stopping.
'The Collective' steampunk USB drive is the stocking stuffer Jules Verne always wanted
Miffed you didn't buy that $300 8GB steampunk USB drive we shared over the summer? Well, the good news is if you've got $395 worth of shillings lying around, Will Rockwell's 16GB steampunk USB drive christened "The Collective" is yours for the taking. Besides its J.J. Abrams-like name, particularly cool details to highlight include a brass manifold featuring four coolant pipes, a large framed cabochon which acts as a service light, and a faux-gauge made from a domed cover and watch hand. A storage tank serves as a cap for the drive and there's even a tiny plaque bearing Mr. Rockwell's engraved John Hancock placed smack dab in the middle. Last but certainly not least, the elaborate thumbdrive ships with a velvet platform and a glass museum case, so that all who visit may bask in its craftsmanship and finally see the rusted version owned by that Victorian-poser down the block as the tetanus carrier it really is.
Lockheed Martin introduces 'PC on a stick' flash drive -- yes, Lockheed Martin
Our coverage of Lockheed Martin here on Engadget normally focus on things like laser weapons or futuristic airships, but it looks like the mega-defense company is now trying its hand as something a little closer to home for us: an ultra-secure USB flash drive. As you can see above, that's done with a little help from the folks at IronKey, but Lockheed Martin does seem to have made its new IronClad its own, and included some custom software that promises to let you carry your entire computer with you and securely use it on any public computer. Of course, exact details are a bit hard to come by, but the drive is available with "at least" 8GB of storage, and includes 256-bit encryption, built-in virus protection, and a variety of networking features that will let organizations keep watch on individual drives and control what can or cannot be installed on them. No word on pricing, but Lockheed Martin is apparently ready to talk with any companies that are interested in using the drives.
Mimoco reveals Halo Mimobot flash drives
Since we tend to concentrate on hardware on this little blog, you may not have realized that there's a rather seminal event occurring on the software side of things that has gamers pretty giddy, namely the release of Halo 3 for the Xbox 360. And what better way to display your fandom than with a Master Chief Mimobot USB 2.0 flash drive from Mimoco, a 1GB ($50), 2GB ($70), or 4GB ($110) piece limited to 5,000 units (3,000 each for the Red and Blue Spartan editions, pictured after the break) and pre-loaded with all sorts of swag sure to fill the emptiness in your life once you've completed the trilogy. Pre-orders have already started, so if you missed out on the last batch of space odyssey-themed paraphernalia, you'll probably wanna reserve one well before the official October 18th release at E for All.[Via Gearlog]
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]
SolidAlliance dock puts your USB ducks in a row
Anyone with even an ounce of geek cred has at least one of the many varieties of duck-shaped flash drives hanging obtrusively off of his or her computer, but up until now there hasn't really been a proper way to showcase these tributes to the whimsical bathtub days of youth. Well that's all about to change thanks to duck-loving SolidAlliance, who has just released a USB hub specifically designed for the iDuck, iDuck Love, Devil Duckie, and their many, many brethren. What makes this particular hub so duck-tastic, you ask? For starters, its got pictures of USB ducks adorned above each input -- so, you know, you don't accidentally plug in your sushi drives or something stupid like that. You'd think that they'd also space out the USB jacks so that you could squeeze in three full-size ducks next to one another, but alas, it seems that you'll need some baby ducks (or ducklings, as it were) in the mix if you want to fill up all four slots. And if you don't have enough electronic waterfowl to justify a dedicated dock? No problem: these damn ducks are so popular nowadays that you can even pick up non-functional, completely ornamental models to fill in the blanks.
Lexar recalling 66,000 defective JumpDrives
Here's a new one for you: we've all seen product recalls stemming from overheating batteries, defective CCDs, and faulty power cords, but this is the first we've heard of a USB thumb drive being called back for "posing a risk of burns to consumers and property damage." Actually, Lexar -- in conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission -- is recalling a total of five different models when all is said and done: the 256MB, 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB flavors of the JumpDrive FireFly and the 1GB version of the JumpDrive Secure II. According to the CPSC, 66,000 of the faulty units were sold between April and May of this year -- check the Read link for specific serial number ranges -- and although so far no injuries have been reported, consumers are advised to stop using affected models immediately. As usual, the company will hook you up with a new model free of charge if you ask very nicely; as for us, we're probably gonna hold onto ours and use them to brand new interns with the Lexar logo as part of our geeky hazing ritual.[Via The Inquirer]
Pretec's iDisk USB drives go BulletProof
Sure, HP's ballistics-tested StorageWorks XP1200 server is keeping your spy operation humming on the homefront, but what happens when your agents come under fire smuggling sensitive data in the field? Storage expert Pretec knows that people want their USB drives small and secure, and now they've apparently identified a demographic who also want those drives to be virtually indestructible, as evidenced by the recent release of the iDisk BulletProof lineup. As their name suggests, these 20Mbps thumb drives -- which sport capacities between 32MB and 2GB -- are able to not only take a bullet thanks to their "double layers of sealed protective metal," but will also survive unscathed should your enemies happen to set you on fire or submerge you in water while they're shooting at you. The entire set of drives is available immediately, but before rushing out to order one, perhaps you should first step back and consider the lifestyle choices that have made bullet-resistance a feature you so highly value in your portable electronics.[Via I4U]
