storage

I'm big on places to store a lot of files, and Web storage newcomer ADrive seems up to the challenge. The host serves up a whopping 50GB of storage for free, with the only bandwidth limitations being in the size of the files you can upload, which are capped at a reasonable 2GB. The free "beta" accounts are supplemented with ads (hence the AD in the name), which show up on the top and bottom of your file explorer.

While lacking some of the graphical beauty and familiarity of other file-hosting services like Box.net and DigitalBucket, … Read more

There are some people who just can't bear to part with musty old vinyl albums, let alone their CD collections. As a result, they often rely on the excuse that it's just too much trouble to convert them into MP3 files and store them (though we know the real reason). So to help them through their recovery, something like the "Ripserver" may be in order.

This innocuous-looking device from Ireland-based Ripfactory is only slightly bigger than a shoebox but can hold up to 1 terabyte of music, according to BornRich. Better still, all that needs to … Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Samsung will immediately begin shipping two new high-capacity hard drives Tuesday, but it also is betting heavily on solid-state drives.

The company gave details regarding its storage business at a press event here, and also gave a good indication of how it sees its fortunes unfolding over the next few years. Samsung shipped 13,052,200 hard drives in the fourth quarter of 2007, which puts it in fourth place behind industry leader Seagate, which shipped 49,595,000 last quarter, according to IDC.

The first new drive is a 2.5-inch, 500GB--or half a terabyte--hard-disk drive (… Read more

Sun Microsystems continues to run amok in the open-source world, open-sourcing software in every direction. Today, it is in the direction of digital-archiving software, which has been used to capture and maintain "business images, records, consumer- and corporate-created digital content, e-science work, and high-performance computing (HPC) data for hundreds of years."

How does Sun expect to make money? In this case, it's the hardware, which makes a lot of sense:… Read more

A few days ago, David Strom wrote an article in The New York Times about making off-site file backups over the Internet. There is no one right answer when it comes to making backups, but I'd like to expand on a few points he raised.

At the beginning of the article, Strom says that "for a few hundred dollars a year you can buy inexpensive protection." Hopefully, readers weren't scared off by the price. Many off-site storage companies will hold backup copies of your files for much less money. Personally, I started out paying $10 a … Read more

Cleversafe, a start-up with a new way to protect data by dispersing it across many storage devices, is making the move from prototype to product.

The company's basic idea is to break up data into little bits that are stored on multiple devices, overlapping the bits so it doesn't matter if some devices fail. The approach, which is embodied in open-source software anyone can try, can be used to spread data across multiple storage devices in a rack or multiple data centers across the globe.

And now potential customers can start pricing out equipment to see if it'… Read more

I know memory cards are boring, but it just blows me away to see 8GB SD media selling for $29 when a few years ago you'd have paid hundreds for a card with half the capacity.

This is a Transcend Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) card, meaning it should be compatible with all devices (smartphones, digital cameras, etc.) that meet the SD 2.0 standard. It includes a lifetime warranty, and best of all: no rebate. Alas, you'll pay about $9 for ground shipping, which is ridiculous given the size and weight of the product. But even at $… Read more

I'm going to Latin America for the month of March, and I don't know what to do with my photos. Does anyone out there have any advice they'd like to share?

For the gearheads out there, here are my constraints.

First of all, I'm trying to travel reasonably light--I'll only be backpacking a little, but I will be schlepping luggage a lot, and I don't want to lug a laptop. Second, I probably won't have to go more than two or three days without a wall socket for charging.

I'm guessing I'… Read more

As good as the Apple TV 2.0 is, it's still pretty limited on what sort of videos it can stream from a networked computer--if it hasn't been imported into iTunes, you're pretty much out of luck. If you're looking for something with more file format flexibility--and the simplicity of drag-and-drop operation--the LaCie LaCinema Premier may be just the ticket. … Read more