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Portable Storage Gallery
Gigabytes in your pocket: Cards, sticks, drives
by Douglas Dixon
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These galleries provide notes on some interesting technology and trends in
digital home media.
They include some sample products illustrating these trends.
Information and pricing are summarized
from public sources as of when they were added,
and may be incorrect or out of date. Corrections and updates are welcome. |
Portable Storage Trends
- Capacity, performance - HDFlash Storage
Flash Memory Cards
- MicroSD, SDHC - SanDisk, Kingston, RIDATA, Eye-Fi
USB Memory Card
Readers - Kingston
Flash USB Pocket Drives -
Sony, Imation, Kingston, Lexar, Memorex, SanDisk
USB Flash Drive Trends
- Accessories, Security (Yoggie), Portable Desktop, SSD
Hard Disk Storage
USB Hard Disk Pocket Drives
Portable Hard Disk Drives
- LaCie, Western Digital
Portable Hard Disk Drive Trends
- Ruggedness and Security
Data
Transfer Devices
- USB, IDE/SATA
See also:
High-Def / DVD Gallery
- Optical disc media - High-def, DVD, CD
Portable Media
Player Gallery -- MP3 / video players, Multifunction devices
Mobile
Communications Gallery -- Mobile media, Phones and PDAs
Portable Power
Accessories Gallery -- Batteries, chargers, adapters
Trends: CES 1/2008
Storage outstrips Moore's Law, with continued re-doubling of capacity and
shrinking size, with solid-state drives (SSD) starting to make sense for
laptops. Yet sneakernet still lives, both for sharing, and for moving content
within the home.
Flash: Capacity, performance
- Tiny: mini/microSD adaptors
- Capacity: SDHC - 4, 8 GB +
- Security
Flash: Design
- Compact, playful, fashion designs
- Built-in displays
HD: Capacity
- Portable: 1.3", 1.8", 2.5"
- 1.8” Hitachi Hard drive (=Mini) - Max Transfer: up to 9 MB/s
- Perpendicular recording
- Toshiba 2.5” notebook: 178.8 Gbps
- Seagate demo: 421 Gb per sq in:
1.8” (iPod) - 275 GB; Notebook - 500 GB; Desktop - 2.5 TB
HD: Performance
- Windows Vista ReadyBoost
- Flash Solid State Disk (SSD)
- SATA -- Serial ATA / eSATA -- External SATA
- Universal Drive Adapter
Top
Flash Memory Trends
- Larger capacity, lower prices
4 GB cards falling under US $100
- More & smaller formats
SD (postage stamp) to miniSD (60% smaller) to microSD
(fingernail)
Adaptors
- Higher Performance
Fast Interface (“Ultra”, "Extreme")
Larger Capacity, Lower Prices
Different models for access speed (camera raw, video)
CF Card
(SanDisk CF card - standard / Ultra / Extreme)
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CF
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64
|
128
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256
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512
MB
|
1
GB
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2
GB
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4
GB
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8
GB
|
12
GB
|
16
GB
|
|
11/07
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|
|
|
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$24
/
$34
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$34
/
$59
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$59
/
$99 /
$164
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$119
/
$129 /
$199
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$198
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$299
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1/07
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|
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$12
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$19 /
$34
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$19
/
$49
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$54
/
$79
|
$89
/
$139
|
$229 /
$269
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$449
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$599
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|
9/06
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|
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$14
|
$29 /
$34
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$34
/
$59
|
$79 /
$99
|
$119
/
$199
|
$299 /
$379
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($799)
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($1049)
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3/06
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|
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$19
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$39
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$59
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$79
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$1
49
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$349
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|
|
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10/05
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$9
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-
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$29
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$39
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$99
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$149
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$279
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|
|
|
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6/05
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$15
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$20
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$40
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$50
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$100
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$200
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$400
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|
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SD / miniSD / microSD
Some include kits with SD adapters,
USB readers
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11/07
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64
M
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128
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256
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512
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1
GB
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2
GB
|
4
GB
|
6
GB
|
8
GB
|
|
SD
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|
|
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$14
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$14
/
$34
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$34
/
$44
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$54
/
$129
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|
$99 /
$179
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mini
SD
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$15
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$12
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$12
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$44
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$79
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$89
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|
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micro
SD
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|
|
|
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$19
/
$52
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$49
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|
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$149
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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1/07
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64
|
128
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256
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512
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1
GB
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2
GB
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4
GB
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|
|
|
SD
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|
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$12
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$19
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$19/34/
$49
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$39/59/
$79
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$89
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|
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mini
SD
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$16
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$14
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$19
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$49
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$54
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$99
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micro
SD
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|
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$17
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$21
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$34/$59
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$59
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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9/06
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64
|
128
|
256
|
512
|
1
GB
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2
GB
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4
GB
|
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