Imation argues that, by providing a one-to-one connection over the air, the Pro WX Wireless USB hard drive “limits the possibility of signal interception”. That’s a pretty vague claim to me. They also argue that it works like any other USB drive, although it only transfers data at 15 megabytes per second. But even while you don’t have to connect with a cable, you have to plug in a USB key. So why not just leave a regular drive on the desk and plug the cable for a better rate? And if you want wireless, why not get a drive that is Wi-Fi enabled?

The only good argument is simplicity: You don’t need to connect to a server using the network, the drive just pops up in your desktop. But then again, connecting to a networked drive is not that difficult. Certainly, not difficult enough to pay the $US500 that this 1.5TB drive costs. [Press Release]

Our first mod is a relatively recent one. The modder took a nice, fully functioning Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt combo cartridge, gutted it and turned it into an admittedly clean and portable NES emulator. Sure, the gutting made most of my 1986 memories fade into a terrifying pit of blackness, but at least this wasn’t a golden Legend of Zelda cartridge or anything.

Christ! That’s ugly. But pimpin’ ain’t easy, so we’ll give it a break. Unfortunately for me, my psyche receives no such break, and I am reduced to but two hearts, and my Master Sword no longer shoots laser beams.

The greatest platformer ever created by human hands, now a lowly 160GB USB drive. When will the insanity end?

Never, apparently. A mere month before the Super Mario Bros. 3 USB “creation” came to light, someone took a classic Game Boy, removed everything in it that made it a timeless piece of video game lore and replaced it with a hard drive. Half a heart left, and there’s this incessant beeping in my ears. Jack needs food, badly.

When I grip an NES control pad in my hands, its hard edges digging unforgivably into the soft flesh, I go to my happy place. When modder Taylor Merrill does the same, he hears the theme song from Sanford and Son. He also hears friends and relatives because he managed to get a Samsung Eternity phone into the controller that defined a generation of early console gamers. Good for you all. My childhood just ran into a goomba, jumped straight up into the air and fell off the screen.

The main bottleneck in any NAS is the RAID engine. Since many NAS units don’t include a dedicated controller, oftentimes the speed of the drive just doesn’t matter. If you’re using a blazing-fast hardware RAID card in your own custom-built setup, then drive speed might make a difference. But for most consumer units, the controller is the bottleneck.

With that in mind, you can go with slower 5400rpm drives that reduce power consumption, generate less heat, and will likely cost less up front too. Even if you have a dedicated RAID card that could let a 7200rpm drive do its thing at full speed, I’d consider the benefits of low-power drives to outweigh the marginal speed increase you might see.

This chart shows the difference between Samsung 7200pm and 5400rpm drives in various RAID configurations:

Not much, right? So think twice before you drop more than necessary on 7200rpm drives for your backup unit. Check out the link for the full test rundown. [Tom's Hardware]

[Seagate]

There are three versions available, each with its own colour (320GB in vivid white, 500GB in liquid blue and the 640GB rocket red). They’re all USB 2.0 powered, small enough to carry around and if you’re running Windows, there’s automatic system backup software (NTI Backup Now EZ) on the device out of the box.

The 320GB version costs $129, the 500GB costs $169 and the 640GB is $199.

[Toshiba]

Last week I called Dell Technical Support about my Dell Studio 1537 Laptop and a DVD drive which was making loud noises and ejecting all cds. I had the basic “mail-in” warranty which required I ship them the laptop back. After my phone conversation with overseas tech support I received an empty box with a prepaid packing slip to mail the laptop back. A couple days ago I received both an automated email and phone call that my laptop was coming back to me. This morning, Fedex delivered a refurbished hard drive – yes just a hard drive.

I began my calling spree this morning and spoke to 7, yes 7, different Dell reps who transferred me between technical support, customer service, and back to technical support. After about 90 minutes of phone calls, hold music, and redialing I’m stuck with a 250gb hard drive but no laptop. Who do I call for help?

Oh, so he expected the whole computer to come back to him. I see. Perhaps this is some sort of new “you’ll get a hard drive and like it” approach to customer support Dell is trying out. I don’t see it working. Incidentally, Consumerist suggests sending emails to michael@dell.com in situations like this. Apparently, the messages are routed to an executive relations team that has been helpful in the past. [Consumerist Image via 60 in 3]

The ioSafe Solo is available in three capacities: 500GB for $249, 1TB for $375 and 1.5TB for $475, for a limited time. There’s also a ruggedised NAS for $15K, but I doubt there will be too many of you guys jumping on that deal…

[iosafe]

German-based design group Brinell has developed a line of Powerstorage USB drives housed in materials including wood, stainless steel, leather and carbon. Ranging from 160-500GB and $US284-$US344, of course you can get a hard drive cheaper. But chances are it’ll look that way, too. [openpr via Newlaunches]