Portable Storage?

An anonymous reader asks: "I need a portable storage solution, as I strongly desire to keep my personal stuff separate from my work stuff. In the past I have used some types of portable external hard drive (via USB connection), but I wasn't too pleased with the quality of the barebones models I found at Fry's. With so many new types of portable storage out (USB keys, 2.5" drives, full drives with enclosures, etc) I would appreciate some feedback from others using this type of device regarding what their favorite brand or model is. Remember: bigger storage is better, as is smaller size."

1GB USB drives

[VTEC01EX]

Super small, good capacity. Done.

Worked for me

[slumpy]

Get an Iriver. I have an IH140 or something like that 40 gigs, plus an MP3 player.

Get an iPod

[Duncan3]

It's a firewire harddrive with the right drivers. Noone looks twice at the thing, becasue most people think it's just for music, so your boss isn't gonna think you're smuggling out sourcecode.

Oh, and it plays music.

iPod

[MetalliQaZ]

Cheap, lots of space, stylish, and plays MP3s to boot.

iPod?

[roshi]

I think you'd be hard pressed to find more storage in a smaller form factor than an iPod (classic or mini). And what you don't need for your files, you can use for music.

Besides, if you're a mac user, you will soon be able to seamlessly carry your home directory around (Google for Home on iPod).

Just my $0.02

No one can answer that question

[Uhlek]

Why? It's too vague.

How portable do you need it? How much space do you need? What kind of interfaces do you have available? How fast does it need to be?

There is no one best storage solution, there are many different bests depending on what's needed at the time.

Throw out some more specifics, and maybe someone can help you out.

Re:No one can answer that question

[FooAtWFU]

So we give him a variety of answers, and he chooses between them. What's wrong with that?

Re:Get an iPod

[eingram]

But then you're stuck carrying around the Firewire or USB cable that comes with the iPod. And as you mentioned, with the right drivers. It's best to have somethning that will plug in and work, even on a new computer.

I would think the USB key devices would be best for what you're wanting to do, but I've never used one.

Smartphone and internet

[rufusdufus]

I've toyed around with several portable solutions, what I settled on is an internet server accessable from my smartphone.

The main problem with the portable solutions I've tried, such as zip disks, cd burners, usb doohickies and handheld storage is that you need to actually carry it around. And hassle with hooking stuff up to use it. Things you have to carry around can get broken.
Also, you have the issue of instant access anywhere. Sure you can use a USB keychain, but can you read it at the mall without a device?
In any event, you need a device, that device might as well be your cell phone, since you carry it everywhere. The smartphones out now have little insertable media; this might do the trick for you, but you still have the issue of syncing and all that bother.
So my solution is to keep my data on broadband server, access it from anywhere with my smartphone, access from work/home on my broadband connection.
The best of all worlds, even backed up regularly by the sever admins.

Horrid Requirements

[gnugie]

Look at that mess.

No budget requirement, except small.
No physical size requirement, except small.
No capacity requirement, except big.

So basically, you don't know what you want, probably don't know why you want it, what it has to do, or what you're willing to spend on it, but you want the answer?

Good luck.

Re:iPod?

[damiam]

Huh? I've never heard anyone else complain about corruption on an iPod (I've certainly not had any problems with mine). And why would Apple try to prevent people from reading non-music files? Being a portable hard drive is one of the major selling points of the iPod; Apple would lose big by crippling it.

Re:iPod?

[EvanED]

'cause you can get a 200 gig external drive for $125 on Pricewatch?

Not saying that the iPod is a bad option, but really, if you're just looking for a storage device and not an MP3 player, it is probably not the way to go.

Partly sarcastic

[softspokenrevolution]

You could always just actually go to work and do your job instead of carrying your personal files to work to mess around with them.

iFolder

[Degrees]

If it doesn't connect to the net, it is a toy anyway... why would you store valuable data on it?

Put another way, the network is your hard drive....

The last computer I used that wasn't on the net was getting DBAN'd for the junk heap, er, garage sale.

Re:ximeta

[Klowner]

From the reviews I've read, they suck with Linux support. Also ethernet _sounds_ very sweet, but it uses some odd proprietary protocol (not windows shares, not ftp).

Otherwise, those things look neat.

Re:1GB USB drives

[jrockway]

How about a 40G iPod. It's small, it's firewire (and USB 2.0), and can play music too.

Re:iPod?

[sarahbau]

Those aren't very portable. They're large, and you have to carry around a power supply as well (and most of those enclosures have a power brick, which takes even more space). An 80GB bus-powered 2.5" drive from someone like LaCie will probably run about $350, and will be about 360g. They also make their F. A. Porsche Data Bank, which is $330 for 40GB, and actually weighs less than the 40GB iPod (137g vs 176g). One thing the iPod has that other non-mp3 player drives don't have, is a battery. If you are using it on a non-powered bus, such as 4-pin FW, or connected through a USB hub, it can still work without a power cable. The iPod might not have the best $:GB:g ratio, but I think some of the other features are good for a lot of people (calendar, notes, address book, etc.).

Re:Horrid Requirements

[Gubbe]

Look, Ask Slashdot is meant as a forum where one person can raise an interesting question that gets a variety of answers in the form of different opinions from different people who have expertise in different areas. This benefits the entire slashdot community by offering a good range of solutions for everybody's needs.

Had the original asker asked a very specific question about portable storage just for his needs, he probably would have gotten a bunch of answers suggesting one and the same thing and no-one else would have got anything out of the entire discussion. Now we have the opportunity to discuss different portable storage solutions where each and every slashdotter can find a solution that fits his/her needs instead of just the needs of the person who asked the original question.

That's what Ask Slashdot is about.

Re:iPod?

[bs_02_06_02]

$399 for an iPod? Buy a firewire enclosure for $60, pick up a couple of $100 Western Digital special edition 160 gig hard drives. I have 4 of them. When one is full, I swap it out with an empty one. I store miniDV and RAW pics from my digital SLR on them. It takes less time to back up than a DVD-R, it's a lot less work, and when I want to access large chunks of data, it's a lot easier than switching CD/DVDs for hours at a time.

Alternatives

[cjsnell]

It sounds like there is a need for an embedded Linux-based external storage case. Imagine a very small (but well-ventilated) external drive case that had an embedded Linux system (with Firewire, USB2.0 and Ethernet) built in. The idea would be that you could plug in any ATA drive and it would automatically detect, format, and share the drive.

iPod? Only with a Mac

[Saint Fnordius]

Considering the job desired (sneakernet file transfer, external storage), I wouldn't be so quick to suggest the iPod except for Mac environments. The music fonction is the main purpose for the thing, and the reason for the higher price (compared to normal media)

On the Mac side, you have really easy access to the iPod as a hard drive, including the ability to boot from the iPod. That makes the thing pretty nifty right there, but there's also the FireWire transfer rates and other niceties that let you know that Apple intended it to work with its own hardware first.

The biggest factor to consider is taking the music player to work. Some Information Denial departments frown on hard drives but allow PDAs and MP3 players. Maybe getting an iPod or a competitor with the same "access as a drive" function might be worthwhile...

Re:Your sig seems needlessly complicated.

[Dogers]

Now its exposed to teh spamb0ts, you insensitive clod! :)

And its not as geeky..

Re:It's quite simple, but expensive.

[illtud]

I was lucky enough to get my office to pay for a LaCie Bigger Disk. It's one terabyte of space, and we don't have to worry about losing my shares or work.

Erm, how do you figure that you don't have to worry about losing your work? The BiggerDisk is 4x250GB drives RAID 0'd together, so instead of risking your work on one drive going bad, you're going to lose your work if any of the 4 drives go bad (somebody else can to the MTBF calculation - it's not 4x more fragile, but it's not far off).

Well, here's your problem....

[TBone]

I wasn't too pleased with the quality of the barebones models I found at Fry's.

A wise man whose name escapes me once said you can have two of the following three:

• Cheap
• Fast
• Good

This isn't a backup drive or something for occassional use you're talking about, you're talking about your data. Get over the barebones models and spend the money on something with a decent shockproof enclosure, a carrying case, and all the other features that make it actually "portable"

Re:Your sig seems needlessly complicated.

[Igmuth]

Well, no, since that would be the wrong address...