Tag Archives: ssd

How to backup your data anywhere with this tiny Synology BeeDrive data hub

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We live in a data-dependent civilization, whether it’s the “Big Data” feeding all-powerful AIs or the photos and videos that we record on our smartphones. Despite being intangible, this data still takes up space, sometimes much more than what we can afford on cloud storage. At the same time, our dependence on data means that our files aren’t just more precious than ever, they also contain more sensitive data that can be tempting to hackers from anywhere in the world. Keeping data safe, secured, and always accessible has been a never-ending puzzle to solve since the beginning of personal computing, and the data storage experts over at Synology are adding another piece to the solution that aims to make the most common backups even easier and accessible wherever you are.

Designer: Synology

Up until recently, cloud storage was hailed as the ideal solution for data backup and ubiquitous access from any device and any location. However, low Internet speeds and the always-present threat of security breaches have soured the idea, leading some people to go back to extremely basic and error-prone manual copying of files to external storage. Synology’s NAS or Network-Attached Storage products offer robust backup solutions, but their large boxes make them impossible to bring with you anywhere and are practically overkill for just small pieces of important data from your laptop or phone.

That’s why Synology designed the new BeeDrive, a data hub that’s almost as large as a tile Bluetooth tracker. Despite its small appearance, it hides a 1TB or 2TB SSD inside, the same kind of fast and reliable data storage used in many external drives these days. The BeeDrive is more than just external storage, though, since it also possesses one of Synology’s best-known features: painless backups and syncing.

Simply plug in the Synology BeeDrive to a computer, select the folders you want to backup, and let it do the rest. It will make backups every time you plug it into the same computer while making sure to store only what has changed in order to save up space. You can sync those same files on a different computer to have your important files always up-to-date on both your work and personal computers. You can even back up photos and videos from your phone, though you’ll have to connect the BeeDrive to a computer in order to use wireless data transfers.

Truth be told, the Synology BeeDrive isn’t completely original, but its small size, simple design, and ease of use make it an ideal solution for keeping your work and precious memories safe and sound. And since you don’t even need an Internet connection to make it work, you have nearly instant access to your files from anywhere, without fear of your data leaking out and being exposed for unauthorized eyes to see.

The post How to backup your data anywhere with this tiny Synology BeeDrive data hub first appeared on Yanko Design.

Backup your smartphone in just a few minutes with this Thunderbolt 3-enabled tiny portable SSD

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It might look a little larger than your average thumb drive, but trust me, your thumb drive can’t hold a torch to the hiDRIVE. With read/write speeds of up to 2500MB/s (or 2.5GB/s for short), the hiDRIVE lets you transfer or even access vast amounts of data in the blink of an eye. The compact device comes with Thunderbolt 3 and has storage ranging anywhere between 1TB and 8TB. The hiDRIVE is compatible with practically all your devices, including Windows, Mac, and Linux computers, and even Android and iOS smartphones. A smartphone app gives you complete drive and user management, letting you manage and encrypt data, and even create profiles for up to 10 people, allowing multiple users to store their own data on the drive, and access them in mere seconds. Forget about paying for iCloud or Google One subscriptions for your smartphone photos. The hiDRIVE lets you store and own your data, without any risk of having it hacked by malicious actors, analyzed and profiled by large companies, or sold to advertisers and government agencies.

Designers: Samay Gosh, Daniel Selva  of Ediloca

Click Here to Buy Now: $120 $299 (60% off). Hurry, only 3 left!

The hiDRIVE, no larger than a granola bar, is a mobile app-controlled encrypted NVMe SSD with Thunderbolt 3 technology that gives it the ability to read and write data at breakneck speeds of 2.5GB/s (that’s more than ten 4K movies in the time it took you to read this sentence). The hiDRIVE also does so without breaking a sweat, thanks to its zinc-alloy construction that serves a dual purpose of being rugged as well as acting as a heat sink to help the hiDRIVE stay cool while in use. On the durability front, the hiDRIVE is designed to be drop-proof as well as IP67 water-resistant, making it perfect for the outdoors.

2500 MB/S Data Transfer Speed

Drop-proof and IP67 Waterproof

In-built Heatsinks Ensures you Keep Going with your Extended Gaming or Work

The compact drive’s design and universal compatibility make it perfect for all use cases. You could use it to backup and store all your data on your smartphones and laptops, helping save cloud subscription fees, or conversely, use it as your private storage unit for your entire offline movie library or game library. The hiDRIVE works with next-gen consoles like the PS5 and Xbox Series X, allowing you to play games directly from the drive. Use it alongside your professional camera or drone too, for storing dumps of high-resolution video files that you can then directly edit on your laptop or desktop. The hiDRIVE offers up to 8 terabytes of storage, giving you enough digital space for practically all your files.

The device’s mobile app gives you complete control over your data, enabling you to password-protect it with AES-256 encryption right from the app. You can even add as many as 10 users (like your coworkers or family), granting them permission and privileges to access specific files. The hiDRIVE is almost like a secure server that fits in your pocket.

Weighing just 3.45 ounces (97.8 grams) and measuring 4.7 inches across, the hiDRIVE leverages the best of SSD technology to provide power in a portable format. The drive comes in four storage capacities (1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB) and starts at an affordable $120, going up to $450 (the special discounted price lasts till February 28th). Unlike most cloud subscriptions that can extract upwards of thousands of dollars from you in just a few years (or hold your data hostage), the hiDRIVE gives you complete autonomy and control over your data with a single purchase. Each hiDRIVE comes with a 5-year warranty and ships with its own Thunderbolt 3 cable.

Click Here to Buy Now: $120 $299 (60% off). Hurry, only 3 left!

The post Backup your smartphone in just a few minutes with this Thunderbolt 3-enabled tiny portable SSD first appeared on Yanko Design.

World’s first and fastest USB4 SSD enclosure offers transfer speeds up to 3.8Gb per second

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With its breakthrough USB4 technology, the ZikeDrive offers transfer speeds that put Thunderbolt 3 to shame.

The ZikeDrive boasts of being the world’s first true USB4 enclosure, with record-breaking read/write speeds of 3.8 and 3/1 Gb/s. Designed with a sleek aerospace-grade aluminum outer body, the ZikeDrive is a clever combination of cutting-edge tech and intuitive design. Its exterior doubles as a heat sink, helping keep the hardware cool, while a channel built into the side also tucks away a USB cable that you can use to rapidly transfer data to and from your gadgets.

Designer: Alen Liao

Click Here to Buy Now: $109 $199 (45% off). Hurry, for a limited time only!

Built-in Stowaway USB4 Cable – Quickly connect ZikeDrive to your computer. Never forget to bring a cable.

Look at the ZikeDrive and you know it means business. It’s slick, sophisticated, and has an absolutely no-nonsense design that perfectly encapsulates the ‘Form follows Function’ approach. The SSD enclosure is compact, making it easy to carry around with you, and neatly stores its own cable in a hidden compartment for added convenience. The enclosure itself can be opened without tools to reveal the SSD slot inside, which supports both NVMe and PCIe Gen4x4 SSDs.

World’s Fastest SSD Transfer Speed – Capable of 3763MB/s read and 3146MB/s write speeds.

Transfer 1TB of video, photos, and files in 5 minutes.

Add the SSD in and the ZikeDrive transforms into the world’s fastest storage system, allowing you to transfer and access files at record-setting speeds. It pushes the limits, offering read speeds of nearly 3.8 gigabytes per second, and write speeds of 3.1 gigabytes per second, going above and beyond what traditional Thunderbolt 3 can do. This is thanks to the ZikeDrive’s USB4 framework, which meets USB-IF USB4 specifications (making it the first SSD enclosure to do so). With the USB4’s breakneck transfer speeds, you can move files in mere seconds, or back your device up in minutes – 1 terabyte worth of data could theoretically be transferred in under 5 minutes.

This level of data transfer does generate a significant amount of heat, but the ZikeDrive’s aluminum enclosure quickly distributes and dissipates the heat, keeping your SSD cool and breezy at all times.

Compact – Perfect for designers, business travelers, photographers, videographers, or content creators.

Toolless Installation – Just pop off the aluminum cover and insert the SSD.

The ZikeDrive measures 4.4 X 2.5 X 0.7 inches, and weighs a mere 0.5 lbs (245 grams). It’s compatible with all popular desktop operating systems, including Win10, MacOS Yosemite, Linux Kernel 5.6 and all their later versions. The SSD enclosure lets you plug into PCs, Macs, iPads, and even consoles like the PlayStation. The ZikeDrive enclosure starts at just $109, and you can grab the enclosure with a 1TB SSD starting at $239 or go up all the way to a 4TB SSD for $839.

Click Here to Buy Now: $109 $199 (45% off). Hurry, for a limited time only!

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This Circuit Board Makes Your SSD Sound Like an Old Hard Drive

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The brainchild of Matthias Werner, the HDD Clicker 2.0 is a tiny computer board that attaches to your solid state drive (SSD) and makes it sound like an old platter-style hard disk drive (HDD). And it doesn’t just make the sounds all willy-nilly either; it only does it when your hard drive is actually reading or writing. +1 for realism!

The board is plugged into and powered by your motherboard via a Mini-Molex connector. At the same time, an ATTiny microcontroller “monitors your SSD’s activity, and a piezoelectric speaker produces a ‘hard drive noise’ whenever your SSD reads or writes data.” How about that! But can it make the sound of the disk arm vainly moving back and forth on a failed disk drive?

Admittedly, just the other day, I got to thinking my computer was way too quiet. And that’s when I realized it had crashed on me. Now I just need an app that creates a blue screen of death animation whenever my computer throws an error, and this nostalgic trip down memory lane will be complete!

[via ReviewGeek]

This Samsung T7 Shield portable SSD makes me want to do laundry with it

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Rugged devices often look like tanks, but the design of this portable SSD might make you think of something completely unrelated.

Our modern world revolves around data, particularly those stored in digital form. More and more jobs revolve around digital objects, not to mention how we live every day with photos taken by phones and digital cameras. Storing data in the drives inside our desktops and laptops is no longer enough these days, and we find ourselves moving files back and forth between computers and carrying around storage devices in our bags more often than not. That has given rise to a breed of rugged hard drives and SSDs, and Samsung’s latest portable solution almost makes you want to test its mettle in the laundry.

Designer: Samsung

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Let’s get it out of the way. This portable SSD, which conveniently fits in the palm of your hand, might remind you of a bar of laundry soap. Some people might not be familiar with that object in this day of liquid detergents and laundry capsules, but those still do exist. Admittedly, one can also associate the ridged surface of the Samsung T7 Shield with the treads of a tank, but the bar-like form of the portable SSD makes that idea less sticky.

That almost comical design choice does have some benefit to the drive’s rugged nature. In addition to the thick elastomer material, the ridges provide the first line of defense from impacts, better protecting the actual body inside compared to drives with smoother and flatter surfaces. And, yes, the T7 Shield is also IP65 (not IP68) rated against minute particles like dust and a few splashes of water. Despite its looks, it definitely won’t survive washing your clothes.

The Samsung T7 Shield is no larger than a credit card, at least in length and width, making it easy to slip into your pocket on the go. The company is positioning it not only for work, though, but also as extra storage for your phone’s photos and even your games. Of course, you won’t be able to carry your console with you everywhere, but the SSD’s speed will shave off a few minutes when you start copying games to the machine.

Of course, the portable SSD isn’t just all looks and tough talk. It naturally boasts some fast data transfer speeds, which is the main point of expensive SSDs, and high storage capacities of up to 2TB. The SSD itself isn’t made from sustainable materials, but Samsung still tried to minimize its negative impact on the environment by reducing the size of the tray packaging. Unsurprisingly, the Samsung T7 Shield rugged portable SSD isn’t exactly inexpensive, which is typical for SSDs, even more for portable SSDs. If you are in the market for a portable and fast storage solution, however, you might as well invest in something that can protect your data digitally and physically. Just try not to mistake this for a bar of soap.

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The post This Samsung T7 Shield portable SSD makes me want to do laundry with it first appeared on Yanko Design.

Innovative, super fast and portable SSDs to solve all your cloud-storage woes

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SSDs are pretty much becoming the future of storage! SSDs have shoved flash drives, thumb drives, clunky hard disks, and even expensive cloud storage into near extinction. An SSD provides everything they did, except it’s impressively faster, more compact, and convenient, and promises larger capacities. However, a typical SSD design doesn’t raise many eyebrows anymore, hence they’re getting more innovative, unique, and efficient by the day! From a next-gen super-fast portable SSD that lets you wirelessly transfer files between multiple devices to a rugged SSD that you can carry with you to remote internet-free locations– we’ve curated a whole collection of groundbreaking and impressive SSD designs for you!

1. The AIRmini

Occupying about the same amount of space as a Snickers bar, the AIRmini packs up to a whopping 4 terabytes of storage in its waterproof, dustproof, rugged outer body. With its high-storage capacity and wireless design, however, the AIRmini offers a unique alternative to cloud-based storage. Unlike a cloud server that exists in a remote location and needs an internet connection to be accessed, AIRmini is a portable storage device that you own (in perpetuity too, unlike cloud storage and its pesky annual fees) and can access without an active internet connection.

2. LAMBOGO

LAMBOGO comes with a card slot and a single button interface for quickly dumping data from your DSLR and Drone, and lets you easily preview your files on your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or even desktop and edit them on third-party apps… without connecting wires. If you’re a shutterbug who travels to the wilderness or someone who needs to quickly backup their heavy RAW footage without any wires, cables, or cloud subscriptions, the LAMBOGO couldn’t be more of a perfect fit in your tech arsenal.

3. The Razer BELiEF

When design meets innovation, the result is functional joy served on the platter! The Razer BELiEF designed by creative studio Smooth Way is a testament to that fact. This cool conceptual gadget is a mouse pad that doubles as an external solid-state drive (SSD), something that no one asked for but everyone needed. This super thoughtful product design is the brainchild of designers Jaehee Kim and Seungho Choi who’ve adapted Razer’s philosophy, highlighting the use of technology for digital nomads for this fantastic creation.

4. The Samsung Portable SSD T5

The Samsung Portable SSD T5 boasts transfer speeds of up to 540 MB/s! In fact, it can even transfer and backup huge data such as 4K videos and high-resolutions with ease and speed. It comes in 4 versions – 250 GB, 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB. You can pick one according to your need and requirement! You can even protect your data and ensure it’s always safe by utilizing the optional password protection with AES 256-bit hardware encryption. The portable SSD is economically priced, and also extremely easy to carry around. It is compatible with PCs, MacBooks, smartphones, and more.

5. The LaCie Rugged SSD Pro External Solid State Drive

The LaCie Rugged SSD Pro External Solid State Drive is a USB-C SSD that works with Thunderbolt 3 ports that have USB-C connectors, as well as USB-C ports. It’s an SSD that is compatible with both Mac and Windows. Once you store your high-res files on this SSD, you can even edit them! The rugged SSD is quite sturdy and can be carried with you almost anywhere. It’s a rough and tough tech gadget! It has an IP67 waterproof rating and a two-tonne car crash resistance. Pretty cool, no?

6. The Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac mini

The silver lining with the Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD enclosure is the matching design and silver finish – reminiscent of the 2020 M1 Mac mini. However, it is sized exactly like the Mac mini and looks a natural extension for Apple’s smallest desktop computer. This useful accessory for your Apple ecosystem increases the Mac mini’s storage without the need to depend on an external hard drive courtesy of the M.2 SATA SSD enclosure. Plug it into the USB-C port, and you get additional ports in one simplified hub.

7. The HybridDrive

Compatible with most USB-C devices, the HybridDrive offsets your need for multiple hubs, dongles, and drives. With a multiport on one end, an SSD on another, and a USB-C interface connecting the two, the HybridDrive bridges the gap between your portable devices (laptop/tablet/phone) and your desktop – in the sense that it gives you extra ports and expandable storage… something most desktops have in common. The multiport setup comprises a 4K 60Hz HDMI port, two USB-A ports with 10Gbps data transfer, a MicroSD card reader, an SD card reader, and a USB-C which supports 100W of power output along with high-speed video and data transferring. On the other end of the HybridDrive is an SSD that comes in 4 sizes, starting from 128Gb and going all the up to a whopping 2Tb.

8. The ECLLPSE

Designed to be as compact as a pen-drive, with the capacity of a cloud-storage service, and without those nagging subscription costs, the ECLLPSE is a ridiculously small, universally compatible SSD with a robust outer construction that can go wherever you go. The SSD sits within rugged, IP67 water and dust resistant enclosure that’s roughly the size of your thumb, boasting storage as high as 2 terabytes fitting right within the palm of your hand. A USB-C interface allows the ECLLPSE to work with a wide variety of devices (there’s even a USB-A dongle for broader compatibility), ranging from mobiles to computers and even specialized gear like gaming consoles, cameras, and high-end recording equipment.

9. The Cléxi

We’ve featured external SSDs on this website before, but the Cléxi is something completely new. Perhaps one of the first SSDs to take encryption and security incredibly seriously, Cléxi uses a 2-factor authentication system to grant you access to the drive’s data. Once enabled, the security measures require two steps to let you access your files. First, you need to tap your phone on the Cléxi, which then sends a prompt to your phone to scan your face. Once the Cléxi knows it’s you accessing your files, it automatically unlocks for you, protecting your data from being accessed or copied by anyone… and that’s just the first step in Cléxi’s multi-pronged approach to protect your files.

10. The Rapid SSD

Quite like the SSDs we’ve spoken about here before, the Rapid SSD puts up to 2 terabytes worth of storage right in your pocket. It’s about the size and shape of a pack of chewing gum but takes care of virtually all your storage needs. It also has 3 different ports that let you connect to virtually every device you own, from your smartphone to laptop, and from your tablet to your DSLR… and even your gaming console! The Rapid SSD sports a USB-A on the front, which pops open to reveal a USB-C behind it, as well as a fold-out lightning connector on the reverse end, so it’s perfect for both Android phones and iPhones, allowing you to store all your camera-roll images without worrying about shelling out money to Google or Apple.

The post Innovative, super fast and portable SSDs to solve all your cloud-storage woes first appeared on Yanko Design.

This next-gen super-fast portable SSD lets you wirelessly transfer files between multiple devices!

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Chances are that in the amount of time it took you to read this sentence, the AIRmini could transfer a single 4K movie without breaking a sweat. Boasting speeds as high as 2200mbps, the AIRmini is probably the fastest SSD you could get your hands on… and that isn’t all – the AIRmini lets you wirelessly share and transfer data, letting you backup devices, store files, and even stream video clips without a single cable… and with multiple devices!

Designer: Eric Winner

Click Here to Buy Now: $143 $259 (44% off). Hurry, exclusive deal for YD readers only!

Occupying about the same amount of space as a Snickers bar, the AIRmini packs up to a whopping 4 terabytes of storage in its waterproof, dustproof, rugged outer body. With its high-storage capacity and wireless design, however, the AIRmini offers a unique alternative to cloud-based storage. Unlike a cloud server which exists in a remote location and needs an internet connection to be accessed, AIRmini is a portable storage device that you own (in perpetuity too, unlike cloud storage and its pesky annual fees) and can access without an active internet connection. The tiny SSD runs on WiFi 6, creating a high-speed connection that lets you transfer files in mere seconds, and a Thunderbolt 3-powered USB-C port on the SSD pushes transfer speeds to the absolute maximum, letting you backup your entire 128GB phone in under a minute.

High speed data transfer.

Wireless data sharing.

More than just being another SSD, the AIRmini is a portable server that fits right in your pocket. It can simultaneously pair with as many as 4 devices, sharing data between them and letting you access your files on a whole host of devices without worrying about needing appropriate cables. It’s compatible with Windows, Android, Mac, iOS, and Linux devices, and works seamlessly with all your gadgets from your phone, tablet, and laptop, to even devices like your game consoles, action cam, drone, and DSLR.

Dustproof and waterproof IP67.

It even comes with a companion smartphone app that lets you instantly and remotely trigger a quick smartphone backup by simply hitting a single button on the AIRmini device. To ensure that all your data is stored safely, the AIRmini comes equipped with 256-bit AES encryption that adds an impermeable layer of digital protection over your files. The entire SSD comes sealed in a waterproof, dustproof casing, providing rugged physical protection too!

The AIRmini does all this while also being more affordable and safer than cloud storage. Unlike the subscription-based business models of Google Drive or iCloud, the AIRmini comes with a one-time payment and a 5-year warranty. All your data exists on your personal SSD instead of a cloud server, which means you can access your files without an internet connection, and you’re also safe from large-scale data-breaches and hackers too! The AIRmini comes in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB variants – enough to fulfill practically all your data requirements (and with those 2200MB/s speeds, you could have transferred all your data to the AIRmini by now!)

Click Here to Buy Now: $143 $259 (44% off). Hurry, exclusive deal for YD readers only!

The post This next-gen super-fast portable SSD lets you wirelessly transfer files between multiple devices! first appeared on Yanko Design.

Icy Dock ToughArmor MB872MP-B Can Fit 12 SATA SSDs in a 5.25″ Drive Bay: Super Saiyan Drive Super Saiyan

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The M.2 storage drive specification has been one of the best new additions to PCs in recent years, allowing for extremely compact and easy-to-install SSDs. These days it’s often used by incredibly fast NVMe SSDs, giving you the best of both worlds – small footprint and lightning speeds – at reasonable prices. But if you’re all-in on storage, Icy Dock has an enclosure that can hold up to 12 SATA M.2 SSDs in the now archaic 5.25″ drive bay.

The ToughArmor MB872MP-B enclosure has an all-metal construction and a 3-speed 4omm fan for durability. Its drive lockers feature a tool-less mechanism, allowing you to install drives in as little as 10s. It’s compatible with M.2 SATA SSDs from 2230 all the way up to 22110.

The enclosure connects to your motherboard via three SFF-8612 data connectors and two SATA 15-pin power connectors. That may sound like a lot, but considering you can pack up to 12 drives, that’s still very efficient and saves you a lot of time and cable management.

This being a high-end product, it does come with a fitting price tag. You can order the ToughArmor MB872MP-B from Buywee for about $970 (USD). It’s also on Amazon (affiliate link).

[via Toms Hardware]