Review – VST Firewire/USB Combo HD

John Nemerovski Features Leave a comment

SmartDisk VST USB/FireWire Ultra-Thin Hard Drive

Company: SmartDisk Corporation
Estimated Price: $399.95 – $999.95, depending on capacity
http://www.vsttech.com

Embedded in my brain is the memory of Steve Jobs holding up a pocket-size red portable VST drive at Macworld Expo a couple of years ago. The opportunities for archiving, backing up, and transferring files exploded with that announcement. The Ultra-Thin drive under consideration here is the latest, smallest, lightest, most versatile (and expensive) unit from SmartDisk Personal Storage Systems.

SmartDisk provided a 10GB/$499.95 drive for our review. Other drives in this series range from 5GB/$399.95 to 30GB/$999.95. If the smaller and larger capacity units perform as flawlessly as the one I’m evaluating, purchasers of these amazing products will consider them well worth the price.

FireWire installation is a breeze from their CD to your computer’s hard disk, as described in a QuickStart card. I suggest you print and study the Read Me information, because it contains some important details and warnings.

After connecting the FireWire drive to my iMac with the included cable, the SmartDisk “VST Hard Drive” volume mounted on my desktop in a few moments. I updated the firmware, as recommended in the ReadMe.

The FireWire HD manual is a PDF file, and I studied it to make sure I wasn’t going to do anything dangerous or damaging. This 12-page manual is well-written and informative. You should print and read it, please!

Putting the SmartDisk VST/FW to work, I began by archiving (copying) everything residing on my iMac’s desktop. The first bunch of files and folders included 4,000 items, for 45MB, and the transfer took a minute. The second group contained 8,000 items, with 491MB, taking four minutes. Then I copied my entire Hard Disk, over 2.5GB, requiring 20 minutes. Not bad, eh?

A few observations:

  • Don’t trust Apple’s estimates of how long massive file transfers/copies will take, in their “Copy to” progress bar box. The initial estimates are way too high.
  • The SmartDisk VST drive blinks a friendly green LED while it is working, and the unit generates a bit of warmth when connected.
  • Opening items from the SmartDisk VST drive seems to happen just about as quickly as from my iMac’s internal drive.
  • Once you place valuable data on any removable disk, relocate it in a different building or vault, for extra insurance.
  • Run Norton Disk Doctor or a similar drive repair utility after installing the SmartDisk VST drive and all other software, because small conflicts and problems can easily turn into big ones if left to their own mischief. (In this case, Norton found some bundle bits to be off, and corrected the errors.)
  • RetrospectExpress Backup 4.3 is a great application for making a formatted, verified, compressed backup onto a Retrospect “Macintosh file” on the portable drive. Allow a few hours, though, even at FireWire transfer speeds.What did I forget? The USB capability of this multi-talented drive! A separate CD installer places necessary USB software on your Hard Disk. Unlike the FireWire computer connection, which is self-powered, a well-designed power mini-brick connects to the SmartDisk VST drive when using USB.In all other ways, my SmartDisk VST USB/FireWire Ultra-Thin Hard Drive performed equally well in USB mode compared to FireWire mode, except for data transfer rates. FireWire speed is roughly 3-4 times quicker than USB speed, depending upon what is being transferred.

    The physical drive is almost beyond belief: an attractive blue and clear plastic sturdy device not much larger or heavier than a deck of cards! The thought of having 5 – 30GB of secure, portable storage in such a tiny parcel makes my head spin, just as Steve Jobs’ presentation did.

    SmartDisk’s VST USB/FireWire Ultra-Thin Hard Drive demonstrates a tremendous commitment to quality and versatility. I applaud this company, and encourage them to keep up the sensational work. I will contact their PR people, with hopes to obtain other small-light-fast removable devices for future reviews. Meanwhile, my data is safely archived and backed up. Is yours?

    MacMice Rating: 5

    John Nemerovski

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