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Sarotech -
External FireWire and USB Drive Kits
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Sarotech Cutie EX - FireWire Pocket Hard Disk Drive
I've been holding off on either buying or testing one of these small
FireWire Drives for quite some time because until recently the storage
capacity of the 2.5 inch (standard laptop) drives was just really
nothing to get excited about.
But last week when I was supposed to be picking up a 3.5 inch external
Sarotech FireWire Drive from the Apple Center at Pantip Plaza to test,
they didn't have a 250 Gigabyte drive available for me so I said, "why
not let me test a small 2.5 inch drive, I have to do it some time."
They handed me a box with the Sarotech Cutie EX 2.5 inch Firewire
housing kit and an 80 Gigabyte 2.5 inch drive. My immediate reaction
was, "80 Gigabytes? That's not bad." And immediately rushed home to
assemble the pieces.
The Sarotech Cutie EX is a plastic case drive housing that is just
barely bigger than a 2.5 inch hard disk drive. It easily slips in to
the breast pocket of a man's shirt without sticking out the top,
leaving room for a large Baby Ruth or a few cigars on the side.
Unfortunately once you install the drive it gets a bit too heavy for
the shirt pocket but it does fit there. As a matter of fact the drive
is shaped for insertion into a pocket so it only seems natural to try
as soon as you remove it from the box. More to the point it fits very
comfortably into a loose fitting trouser pocket.
All the Sarotech drive housings are "No Screws Required" housings that
easily come apart and assemble without the need for tools or screws of
any sort. The Sarotech Cutie EX is held together by a chrome ring that
slips easily on and off but is also very secure.
Tolerances are so tight that I had to shave a small amount of plastic
from the inside of the housing (with a Victorinox Swiss Tool Plus) to
accommodate the slightly oversize 80 Gigabyte 2.5 inch hard disk drive.
Once assembled the very light empty Sarotech Cutie EX housing feels
very substantial at approximately 185 grams. A supplied tight
fitting clear plastic pouch case makes for a very compact traveling
package. The three connection cables, also supplied with the case
actually take up more room than the drive.
One added bonus to 2.5 inch FireWire drives is that if they are
connected to a FireWire port that supports BUS power, they do not need
a power supply. All current model Macintosh computers supply BUS power
through their FireWire ports. Earlier PowerBooks that use a PC Card
FireWire Connection can access power through the supplied USB power
cable adapter.
The Sarotech Cutie EX drive I am testing is Firewire 400 only, with two
Firewire 400 ports. There is also a combination FireWire 400 and USB 2
housing available, which is especially handy for using both on Windows
and Macintosh platforms.
As with any Firewire external drive, software installation is needed
for most Windows systems and Macintosh systems prior to OSX. If you are
running OSX it is plug and play without any installations. If you wish
to use the drive both on Windows and Macintosh systems you must
initialize the disk on a Windows PC using the included software.
The hard disk drive that I installed in the Sarotech Cutie EX is a
Hitachi Travelstar 80 Gigabyte drive rated at 4200 RPM. There was some
concern that I would find this drive to be too slow but that has not
been the case. I consider the main function of any external hard disk
drive to be an expedient method for offloading files from the main
computer drive so it can continue to function efficiently, and to store
large amounts of data.
In the case of these very small external hard disk drives, it is also a
very convenient way of moving large amounts of data from one location
to another. 80 gigabytes of data is almost 20 DVD data disks and more
than 100 CD-ROM data disks, plus the incredibly long time it takes to
transfer to and burn them all.
When you are working with large digital photographic files and
especially digital video files there is just no other way to work than
to have large amounts of external file storage available.
The average Digital Single Lens Reflex now shoots 6 million pixel
images. RAW image files from these DSLRs are around 10 megabytes in
size. This allows for 100 images per Gigabyte, or 8,000 images on one
80 Gigabyte drive.
A professional photojournalist or travel photographer will probably
shoot an average of 500 images per day. This means that an 80 Gigabyte
drive will hold 16 days worth of photography.
By my calculations this makes a 12 inch Apple G4 PowerBook with a 40 GB
internal drive and the above reviewed 80 Gigabyte Sarotech Cutie EX, a
very good combination for a two weeks to one month Serious Photo
Expedition.
http://www.sarotech.com
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Thailand prices: Sarotech Cutie EX & Hitachi Travelstar
2.5 inch - Firewire 400 - 2,000 Baht
2.5 inch - Firewire 400/USB 2 - 2,700 Baht
Hitach 2.5 inch Travelstar - 80 GB, 4200RPM - 11,000 Baht
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Thailand Distributor for Sarotech:
Apple Center -
Macmart
Pantip
Plaza,
3rd
Floor
02-252-5885, 02-254-9797 ext. 3103
Direct: 02-256-0419, 02-256-0420
www.uficon.com
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