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New 4GB hard drive looks like padlock
Imation's new Micro Hard Drive has a capacity of 4GB, and looks like a padlock, making it possible to clip to a belt loop, or attach to a keychain. Requiring no additional power supply to work, the Micro Hard Drive's loop portion of the padlock design integrates a flexible USB connector. Inside is a Toshiba-built 0.85-inch hard disk drive mechanism. The drive works with Mac OS X, Windows and Linux operating systems.
Features include:
-Multi-gigabyte storage capability
-Small, lightweight design - 1.61in x .66in x 3.3in
-Fast read/write speeds (Read 5MB/second, Write 3MB/second)
-Reliable and durable form factor
-Requires no additional power supply or USB cable
-LED lights up when drive is in use
-Free downloadable Imation Security Manager Software
User Comments (21)
Post a comment| MarkSizzle on December 29, 2005 8:17 PM | I think this is just brilliant! A hard drive with 4gb and it can fit in your pocket, doesnt require a power supply or usb cable, you can clip it to stuff such as a belt, and it has free security software. Its definitely a nice little package and looks well worth it. The only thing I want to know is what is the price?
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| PUTALE on December 30, 2005 1:44 AM | wow, that's a nice gadget, although with usb drive getting larger storage space by time, I wonder if it's worth the money to get the hd based storage
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| Strakian on December 30, 2005 4:06 AM | Now this is a slick piece of hardware. As soon as the price drops a tad I'll be all in!
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| Craftos on December 30, 2005 4:20 AM | Sorry, but nothing impressive here. Mechanical storage prone to breaking and quite slow speed.
I have just bought PQI 2GB USB2 Flash pendrive - small, pendrive-typical size, nice metal, black case. 22MB read, 16MB write speed. No worries of data damage with shaking dropping or other improper handling.
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| eisbaer on December 30, 2005 7:29 AM | I'd have to agree with Craftos, about the fact that there are moving platters involved - which are indeed prone to damage caused by impact/shocks.
I believe though that time will tell whether the product will establish itself in the tech market or not ...
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| Kev_Boy on December 30, 2005 8:04 AM | I dig their slogan: Micro on the outside, giga in the inside! 
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| smtkr on December 30, 2005 8:06 AM | These devices are not nearly as prone to damage as larger hard drives. I still like flash memory though. Solid state is my bag now. I just received another USB drive for Christmas.
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| vnf4ultra on December 30, 2005 8:14 AM | It is an interesting idea, but the first thing I thought of when I saw it was, gee, who'd want that when you can get a usb flash drive with the same capacity, and is physically smaller, and less prone to damage(the padlock does say it's shock protected, but it's still a hard drive). The padlock also only has speeds of 5mB/s read, and 3mB/s write, where a corsair 4gb flash voyager is 19mB/s read, and 9mB/s write.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820233027
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| MonkeyMan on December 30, 2005 8:48 AM | This is quite unique, in that it is pretty great technology. I mean you can take this thing anwhere!!!!! put it on your keychain etc. You know, sooner or later, I wonder if they will make a hardrive that goes larger than a gigabyte? even better, why not just miniature computers, with internet access? quite interesting indeed, but hey, I'm going to go kiss my girlfriend, slap one of my college professors, go buy a new car, wreck my new car, go get another one, go on live television and claim that aliens are coming to stir up the nation, fire my boss, do backflips at cheerleading tryouts, go up to a police officer, and say.... " For your pay, I'd rather clean toilets" go to the white house, sit in President Bush's chair, and declare myself the ruler of world, then call it a day. [Edited by MonkeyMan on 2005-12-30 09:37:21]
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| asphix on December 30, 2005 9:45 AM | All this small form factor portable media gets me really excited. I'd say in 5-10 years we have portable capacities making computers stationary and the data transferable.
Can you imagine ejecting your hard drive, bringing it to work and plugging it into your CPU terminal there? Of course we would need some form of hardware standardization or the like due to drivers, but in the Mac world it makes it very possible. Its always fun to wonder what the future has in store for us.
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| kimala-acer on December 30, 2005 11:56 AM | I still recommend flash drives over hard drives. faster read and write speed, and cheaper.
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| nimo333 on December 30, 2005 3:34 PM | I'm sure this one is very expensive to buy and therefore, it doesn't worth. It would probably be easier just to make your own external HD even if it is much larger.
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| barfarf on December 30, 2005 7:43 PM | It’s definitely a cool device. For right now my ipod will work as a movable hard drive. I cant wait until flash based devices come down in price with the sizes of 4gigs and up.
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| realblackstuff on December 31, 2005 3:18 AM | What's new?
Seagate produced a mini 5GB harddisk back in 2004! http://www.everythingusb.com/hardware/index/Seagate_5GB_USB_2.0_Pocket_Hard_Drive.htm#spec
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| Handyman on December 31, 2005 5:20 AM | Some people carry with them a flash memory card on their key chain. 4Gb of space and no card reader required. Looks user friendly although I'm not shure how many bad sectors might appear if you drop it. Also I woldn't trust Imation I'd rather go with Seagate.
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| mentaljedi on December 31, 2005 9:30 AM | Originally posted by Handyman:
Same here. I mean its nice and all but not worth it. Most of its hype i think...
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| Mictlantecuhtli on December 31, 2005 11:25 AM | I'd rather go with a 4.5 GB USB drive while we're at it, it would actually be useful for transferring DVD5 images. That Seagate's 5 GB sounds ok as well, but I prefer solid state disks.
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| geforcemaniac on December 31, 2005 3:10 PM | I bet it's gona be expensive!
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| nathanskywalker on December 31, 2005 7:16 PM | good for them!
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| werty316 on January 2, 2006 12:10 AM | Thats a neat idea but not for me. I think it would take too much abuse being able to clip it any wear like a packsack
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| Arcanum on January 2, 2006 2:01 PM | It's always nice to see an advancement in the technology, but I don't think this will live very long.
It has some nice features, a good slogan, but that's about where the good things stop. As some of the others above said, solid state disks are really the way to go with portable data devices. They are becoming larger and larger now (5G solid state disks are a reality now), they're fast, reliable and cheap (compared to mini hdds). Micro hdd's have nothing of the above and I really can't foresee a bright future for them. Still, it's a nice product, but solid state disks are the way to go.
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