In recent years, that vast majority of thumbdrive “innovations” have been…well…non-technical. However, Kanguru has actually done something useful by integrating an eSATA plug with a standard USB 2.0 drive. For folks with eSATA capability, that means performance speeds that are several times faster than USB. The drive even comes packaged with an eSATA + Power bracket and an eSATA + Power cable for easy hookup. The drives are shipping now in 16GB ($US85) and 32GB ($US120) varieties with a 64GB version slated for January of 2009. [Marketwatch]
Kanguru claims that by reducing power consumption by up to 75%, it can both extend the life of your hard drive and be eco-conscious at the same time. The Eco Drive works by going into an idle mode after three seconds of inactivity, which has 80% of normal power consumption, and standby mode after three minutes of inactivity, which works at 10-20% of normal power consumption. And when you don’t touch it for five minutes, it goes into power-down mode and uses 5-10% of the normal power. Even if you don’t care about the environment (who does?), this is a good way to preserve your laptop’s battery while you’re on the go. [Kanguru via Bios Mag] More »
