Posted 10/19/09 at 12:00:00 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

Don’t be fooled by the Vantec ezShare’s unassuming looks. This simple six-foot white cable with its Type A USB plugs on either end is actually one of the easiest ways to quickly moves files between two computers. Just plug one end into an available USB port on a box running Windows (XP and up), and plug the other end into the second box.

A Windows Explorer–like app will auto-launch on each machine, letting you drag and drop folders and files between the two PCs. If this sounds an awful lot like Data Drive Thru’s Tornado (reviewed November 2007), that’s because the two products are pretty similar. The file-explorer UI and software functionality of both products are virtually the same. It’s close enough that we have a pretty strong suspicion that the underlying chipsets and software come from the same factory in China. There are a few key differences, though.

Continue reading this review after the jump!

Read More

Posted 06/28/09 at 07:20:47 AM by Pulkit Chandna

The economic downturn has had a slight impact on shipments of USB-enabled devices. Market research firm In-Stat believes next-gen Superspeed technology (USB 3.0) will provide the necessary impetus to the sale of USB-enabled devices. The actual rate of growth will hinge on how quickly Superspeed technology replaces its predecessor in PC peripherals and consumer electronics.

"All PCs, and most PC peripherals have transitioned from full-speed to high-speed. Most of these devices will eventually transition to SuperSpeed, the only issue is the speed of the transition," said Brian O’Rouke, an analyst with In-Stat. As per In-Stat’s prognosis, Superspeed USB 3.0 devices will capture 25% of the USB market by 2013, with USB-enabled computer mice persisting as the most populous USB-enabled device category.

Read More

Posted 08/20/08 at 11:00:00 AM by Katherine Stevenson

We expected LG’s new 6x external Blu-ray burner to perform similarly to the company’s GBW-H20L, what with the two having identical read/write speed ratings, but we were wrong. The external drive is a bigger, more expensive letdown.

Hit the jump for the reason we're crying into our corn flakes.

Read More

Posted 08/18/08 at 11:45:00 AM by Norman Chan

No doubt you’re familiar with the Universal Serial Bus – we ranked it as our top PC innovation of all time. But what do you know about the next version of this ubiquitous interface? USB 2.0 (otherwise known as USB Hi-Speed) boosted the original 12Mbps data rate to 480Mmb/s over eight years ago, and now USB 3.0 (dubbed USB Superspeed) is set to multiply that bandwidth tenfold. The USB Implementers Forum (led by Intel) released the USB 3.0 spec to hardware partners last week after some reported disputes with AMD and Nvidia (who, afraid Intel would have a jump start in incorporating the tech in chipsets, threatened to develop their own USB standard). But how does this affect you? We dug up some new information about USB 3.0, got our hands on the new connectors, and even took a look inside the new cables.

Click through for the five reasons why we’re excited about USB 3.0

Read More

Posted 07/08/08 at 06:44:51 PM by Mark Edward Soper

The Drobo storage robot adds FireWire 800 ports for faster performance, and provides a discount for first-generation models. USB 2.0 users also get faster performance, and it's easy to figure out exactly how many (and how large) the drives you need to add to get the storage you want. So, how much is the new Drobo, what can you save on an "old" Drobo, and what else is different?

For all the answers, I'll see you after the jump.

Read More

Posted 11/23/07 at 11:43:04 AM by Mark Soper

Planning on picking up a shiny new USB gadget for holiday gift giving? Here's how to make sure you don't accidentally wind up giving a digital lump of coal on Christmas morning.

Read More

Posted 11/14/07 at 07:33:39 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

We’ve seen various USB transfer devices over the years, and for the most part they’ve been clunky and sloooow. Not so with Data Drive Thru’s Tornado, which blew into our Lab and impressed the hell out of us. Essentially a coiled, flat USB 2.0 cable that retracts into a plastic housing, the Tornado works by plugging into the Hi-Speed USB ports of two PCs running a newer Windows OS (Millennium, 2000, XP, or Vista). A basic file-transfer application executes from a bit of flash memory in the device, which allows you to simply drag and drop files between the two rigs. Similar cables from other companies force you to install software to transfer files.

Click Read More for more. 

Read More