This portable hard drive concept hides under the table to save desk space

Many people in the workforce and even schools create and use a lot of data every day. Sometimes, storing these files in USB sticks and the cloud might be enough, but knowledge workers, content creators, developers, and more need a lot of space. Portable hard drives and SSDs were made for this, especially for situations that require users to switch computers or desks every so often. While their portability might be convenient, these accessories also take up unnecessary space on what might already be a crowded desk. This design concept tries to imagine a different home for these transient devices that hide them from sight while still letting you access their content easily.

Designer: CLAIRE + LÉA

By their very name, portable storage devices are meant to be carried around, letting you access important data anywhere as long as you have a computer. That said, while they are made to be compact and durable to aid in that purpose, they aren’t always designed to look good, especially when placed on a table. In fact, they can take up precious desk space, whether they’re in use or especially when they’re not. You can always keep them in a drawer, of course, but then you also lose time when you have to take it out and connect it to your computer to actually use it.

This hard drive concept tries to bring the best of those two ideas together in a rather interesting way. The minimalist portable hard drive utilizes a spring-loaded slider mechanism so that you can clamp the hard drive to the edge of the desk. This has the effect of hiding the device from sight, even while it’s in use. Ironically, the simple yet distinctive design of the hard drive might make you want to show it off on your desk anyway.

Even when hidden under the desk, the hard drive is still easily accessible thanks to the USB port on the top of the clamp. There is also an LED status light that lets you see when the drive is hard at work, similar to many external storage drives. The power button, on the other hand, is a bit puzzling, suggesting that the drive might have an internal battery which could mean it could also work with a wireless connection.

As efficient and innovative as this concept design might be, it also has a few critical flaws. For one, the pressure exerted by the spring mechanism could risk putting structural strain on the hard drive’s enclosure, especially if it is put on a very thick edge. Having the drive hanging from the edge also opens the door to accidents when your knee or leg hits the device, causing more stress than a messy tabletop. Despite these, the concept does bring up excellent points in designing a product that hasn’t exactly evolved in the past decade even as aesthetic tastes, needs, and circumstances have shifted significantly.

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This external hard disk design concept puts a literal spin on the way we move data around

We live in a data-centric civilization, where our lives, both personal and work, depend heavily on the availability of these digital artifacts. It has even come to a point that we almost always need or want to have that data with us at all times, which has given birth to cloud storage services. Even so, there remains a need for physical storage we can carry around and quickly access without being at the mercy of an Internet connection. External or portable storage is quite common, of course, but their common designs leave plenty to be desired as far as aesthetics go. While this concept does seem to sacrifice a bit of practicality for looks, it does give an interesting interpretation of our need to move data around.

Designers: Seongmin Ha, Hanyoung Lee

Portable hard drives come in low box shapes, their designs constrained by the technology they use. With the advent of solid-state technology, however, most of those restrictions have been lifted, but portable storage devices still come in almost the same form as their ancestors, only smaller. Granted, there are still some important considerations that drive the design of these gadgets, particularly compactness, portability, and durability. That doesn’t mean you can’t go wild with an idea from time to time and shake off the shackles of those limitations to create something visually interesting and still somewhat practical.

CARGO is one such design that tries to give a different interpretation to the idea of portable data storage. It uses the image of shipping containers as distinct yet interdependent units of data storage. Just like how these gigantic metal boxes are moved around constantly with their contents, so too are these cube-shaped hard drives. At the same time, however, cargo containers also have an aspect of being parts of a whole, where they would come together on a single ship, regardless of their contents or destination.

For this design concept, these elements are translated into a data server in the form of, well, a cargo ship. The different storage blocks can be moved around separately and even used on different platforms, but come together as a single data “center” when placed on that ship. The design is extremely light on technical details, non-existent, in fact, but it’s not that hard to imagine how the ship can serve as the dock for all the external drives, pun totally intended. The drives themselves connect via a USB cable, while the ship could provide a unified access point for drives that are currently connected to it.

Admittedly, CARGO doesn’t have the most convenient shape or size for a portable hard drive, more cumbersome than even the thickest external storage available in the market today. It definitely wins in terms of aesthetics, though, giving a common, mundane gadget a makeover that not only makes it look interesting but also makes a metaphor more tangible and understandable to common folk.

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TerraMaster delivers a sleek, easy-to-use data storage solution for modern homes

We live in a world that revolves around information, particularly information stored as electronic data. From the files we use at work to the photos we use to record our memories, we accumulate and use a ton of data that can easily outgrow the common 2TB hard drives available on the market. In our homes alone, we have photos, videos, music, and other files that we need to keep safe and have quick access to, sometimes from different devices. Products like USB flash drives can no longer keep up with our growing collections and needs. That’s why there has been a surge in data storage solutions like NAS or Network Attached Storage products, and TerraMaster, one of the leading brands in that market, just dropped two new options designed to accommodate all your data needs at home and then some.

Designer: TerraMaster

Truth be told, NAS boxes won’t fit the bill of designer products, and that’s not exactly surprising. Their designs are more utilitarian than anything, preferring to err on the side of usability and efficiency rather than aesthetics. That’s not to say, however, that the new TerraMaster F4-223 and F2-223 are nothing to look at because their sharp metal bodies and compact designs are exactly what make them ideal for use at home and home offices.

The aluminum chassis of these two NAS solutions give them a certain luster that makes them fit with the rest of your silver-coated computer accessories, like your monitor or laptop. Although it isn’t bereft of some accents and branding marks, its design is pretty spartan and minimalist. Everything you see exists to serve a practical purpose rather than just being eye candy. The panels in front, for example, aren’t just for show and make it trivial to access the drive bay inside by simply lifting up the corresponding cover.

Everything about the F4-223 and F2-223 is designed for ease of use. You don’t need tools to attach or remove a drive, not even a screwdriver, reducing the downtime needed to add storage or replace corrupted drives. Although you might need tools to access the innards of the NAS, you can still easily upgrade the RAM or add an SSD cache to speed things up. Considering these products are made to last a long time, the ability to upgrade certain specs definitely helps in prolonging their use.

Of course, a NAS isn’t just a glorified external data storage, and TerraMaster equipped these two new products with its best hardware and software. NAS boxes are practically computers in their own right, and these two are no exception. Especially with the new TerraMaster OS or TOS 5.0 and TRAID functionality. Whether you’re simply storing file backups, using it as your home media center, or hosting your own private cloud and photo management solution, the TerraMaster F4-223 and F2-223 promise a stress-free solution that will look good on your desk or in any corner of the room.

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This snowy cabin set is actually a USB storage solution in disguise

Many of us have computer accessories as well as toys on our desks, so why not just combine the two to save space.

Given how much we rely on digital files and artifacts today, it wouldn’t be surprising if we all had a USB thumb drive or external hard drive in our possession. Some might even have memory cards that travel to and from digital cameras to our computers. These devices either take up space on our desk or get lost in our drawers, mostly because they don’t seem to have a good home in our workspaces. This concept, however, tries to solve that by designing USB drives and hubs to be just as decorative as they are functional.

Designers: Yeseul Kim, Edo Kim, Yu Shan Huang

A winter cabin in the mountains is probably the last thing you’ll think of when trying to look for a metaphor for USB drives. That said, the designers of this cabin desktop set found connections in the way both are thought of as transient locations for people or for data. They’re also places where some people make and store memories, another allusion to data stored in these data storage solutions.

Whether you agree with that almost contrived explanation, it’s hard to argue that cabin is a rather creative way to blend utility and decoration in a fun way that doesn’t draw too much attention to itself. At first glance, the set looks like a white house with a red chimney set on top of a white plain. In truth, those three are also the three main parts of this deceptive computer accessory bundle.

The white box that serves as the base of the house is meant to be an external hard drive, with its ridges calling to mind white mountain tops in winter. The house is a USB hub with slots on the roof for data cards. That red chimney is actually the butt of a USB flash drive, though its size suggests it might have very little space for files inside.

The idea isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but it does raise the question of why very few manufacturers have dabbled in turning computer accessories into desk toys. The predominant minimalism trend in product design has flooded the market with nondescript and almost impersonal hubs and boxes. Perhaps it’s time for a change that will let people express their personality even through something as banal as a USB hub.

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This Apple device merges AirDrop with an external flash drive for seamless file transferring!

Drop is like your typical flash drive device, except it integrates AirDrop into its operation to be more Apple-friendly.

AirDrop is possibly the most overlooked feature on Apple devices. Everything from entire media libraries to scanned PDFs can be sent from one Apple device to another with the click of a button, cutting out the tedious middle part of file transferring that typically requires multiple emails or extra hardware. Zarruck Taiseer, 3D visualizer and product designer, takes the innovation of AirDrop one step further to create an Apple-inspired file transfer and storage flash drive that can receive file transfers via AirDrop and also hold onto them until they’re ready to be transferred to another device.

Apple devices have their own technical language, so working between two Apple devices is always a walk in the park compared to working between one Apple and another non-Apple device. Incorporating Apple’s design and technical language into his product, Taiseer created Drop to make file transferring and storage between Apple devices even easier. Drop operates as a wireless USB Type C and offline external flash drive and an AirDrop file transfer and Thunderbolt 3 data transfer device. Drop is a standalone Apple-inspired device that operates as a flash drive, storage device, and file transfer cable.

Users can AirDrop files from their iPhones or MacBooks to Drop where the files can be stored or transferred to another, Apple or non-Apple, device. When users have a file they’d like to transfer to and store with Drop, they can AirDrop the file the same way they’d AirDrop media from one iPhone to another. With the file stored on Drop, the user can either keep it for safe storage or plug it into their MacBook’s USB Type C port to open the file on their laptops. Alternatively, users can store files offline using DropDrive, a feature that creates a folder on the user’s iPhone to store media files, where the files remain until Drop is brought back online.

Designer: Zarruck Taiseer

Once the files are received from an Apple device by Drop, users can transfer the files to another device.

Since Drop is an Apple concept, Apple features like FindMy can be used to locate Drop.

The offline external drive feature allows users to send files to a folder on their Apple devices and then send the complete folder to Drop.

This high-speed SSD from Western Digital uses biometric authentication to keep your data safe!

Imagine you’re on the bus going home from work following the last day of a month-long campaign project that required endless planning, emails, flawless execution, and the effort of a whole team of workers, from production assistants to creative directors. You’ve been put in charge of keeping the hard drive safe for the weekend, but you fall asleep on the bus and don’t notice it as it falls from your backpack to the floor, to the hands of a computer sleuth aptly prepared for infiltrating your data. Unknowingly, you lost not only all of the data required to launch the campaign, but also the time, effort, and peace of mind of your whole team. Not only that but now the hard drive could be anywhere, could be with anyone.

To help you avoid this exact situation and your inevitable panic, Western Digital unveiled a new high-level security platform for storage with G-Technology’s ArmorLock-Encrypted NVMe SSD. I know – what does all that mean? Essentially, Western Digital equipped G-Technology’s SSD with biometric authentication security so that even if your hard-earned data were to fall into the hands of trolls or hackers, they’d need your fingerprint to access any of it. Without compromising the hard drive’s speed or reliability, each Armorlock encrypted NVMe SSD is built with high-grade 256-bit AES-XTS hardware encryption, known for its impenetrability in the grips of eager hackers, and NIST P-256 elliptic curve-based key management, which encrypts hard drives with multi-factor authentication steps that only the owners can register and carry out.

By connecting the hard drive to your personal or business smartphone via Bluetooth, the risk of your SSD falling prey to prying eyes decreases significantly – so you better hold on tight to your smartphone. Once disconnected, the Armorlock encrypted NVMe SSD automatically locks and requires biometric authentication for further use. In addition to the added security measures, the Armorlock encrypted NVMe SSD’s core is built from cool aluminum for an integrated and efficient cooling system, bringing its pro-grade transfer speeds up to 1000MB/s for reading and 1000MB/s for writing. Ditching passcodes for bio-scanning, the trademarked Armorlock encrypted NVMe SSD and accompanying app also protect your data through GPS tracking, secure erasure, and self-formatting.

Designer: Western Digital

With three-meter drop protection, 1,000-pound crush resistance, and IP67 dust and water resistance, this SSD can take care of its own.

With user-management protection, only those with prior authorization from the hard drive’s owner can unlock the SSD via biometric authentication.

LED indicator lights near the hard drive’s head signal whether the user is locked out or if access has been granted.

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A Drop Resistant Hard Drive?!

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The external hard drive has become an almost essential accessory to our laptops and desktops; whilst it spends a lot of its time connected to the aforementioned devices, it will spend the rest of its time floating around the contents of our bags… exposing it to its main weakness… shocks and drops.

This portable hard drive is Stripe, and its unique form not only sets it apart from its competitors visually, but also, and arguably far more importantly, protects the fragile components housed within. As we see with most conventional external hard drives, the casing is made from a rigid plastic, however, the ‘cushioning’ on Stripe is made from rubber, an excellent absorber of shocks, which is only emphasized by the air gaps between the ‘stripes’.

The incredible attention to design is continued through to the packaging; due to the devices built-in shock prevention, the packaging no longer needs to protect the device… allowing for a more unique approach.

Designer: Do Kyoung LEE

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Stackable Storage for your data!

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Modular, colorful, and with a UI that’s seriously to die for, the UP Memory Tower by Anton Repponen is like the Towers Of Hanoi game meets storage. With a connecting base at the bottom and a cooling fan at the very top, Repponen’s stackable storage allows you to, intuitively build your own hard drive using vertically stacked, color-coded individual disks of storage.

The disks range from 1 to 8 terabytes of storage (there’s even a speckled 2Tb hard disk for LeManoosh lovers!) and the color coding helps to let you segregate the drives based on content. The drives stack on top of each other, and connect via the base to a laptop or desktop, where an incredibly intuitive and beautiful UI makes it easy to configure and control your data. Designed clearly for creatives, the UP Memory Tower is absolutely perfect for photographers, video editors, designers and others who frequently work with large file sizes. In fact I’m writing a letter to Anton right now to start building prototypes for mass manufacture!

Designer: Anton Repponen

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