Need a flexible, portable backup drive? WiebeTECH has it!
Written: Aug 02 '05 (Updated Aug 02 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Flexible connections, bus-powered, all cables included
Cons: For the price, a backup utility would be nice.
The Bottom Line: This rugged, flexible 2.5" external hard drive can fill your needs
|
|
|
| ivplay's Full Review: WiebeTech Combogb 60 GB FireWire 400 (1394a) Hard ... |
With the advent of bigger and better applications for the computer comes the need for more storage. Portability is a key factor as well, as this allows users to transfer information seamlessly from one location to the next without having to lug around a laptop. While USB flash memory keys are being released with more and more memory, for those truly needing vast amounts of portable memory the hard drive still reigns supreme. A truly utilitarian storage unit would allow for cross-compatibility between OS's with a variety of connection mediums, such as USB for PC's and FireWire for Mac. The WiebeTECH CGB-60-5400 supplies all of this and more in an attractive, durable package.
Physical characteristics
The 60GB WiebeTECH external hard drive arrived in the box with the following:
Hard Drive with dimensions of 5.4" X 3.2" X 0.8"
USB 2.0 cable, backwards compatible with USB 1.1
USB-power cable to supply all the power the drive needs from a powered hub
Firewire 400 cable
Firewire 800 cable
Firewire 400 6-pin to 4-pin adapter dongle
As you can see from the dimensions, the size of the drive enclosure is not much larger than a 2.5" hard drive, or an iPod for that matter. The drive/enclosure is lightweight and portable, weighing in at just 8 ounces and fitting fairly well in a shirt pocket. The drive enclosure is constructed of thin gauge aluminum with grippy rounded plastic edges; with the grippy edges the user doesn't have to worry about this slipping out of their hands! The WiebeTECH logo is embossed in the aluminum enclosure, adding a nice finishing touch to the attractive packaging.
The ComboGB is a multi-connection drive which can connect to a computer via FireWire 800, FireWire 400 or USB 2.0/1.1. The speed of connection will decline in this order, but anything over USB 2.0 should give most users adequate speed for data transfer and possibly as an application platform. The additional port on the ComboGB supplies power to the unit via either an optional AC adapter or the supplied USB power cable. The power cable serves two purposes, as it supplies power to the unit via the USB hub and also data connection via a pass-thru connector. This is really quite handy for those that wish to take advantage of the USB connection without a multitude of ports. It is also possible to use the USB power cable to supply power yet run the data through either of the FireWire connections. All of the communication is handled via an Oxford Semiconductor chip, the OXUF922.
Performance
The true test of any hard drive is the performance and reliability, so let's get to it. I ran this hard drive on several computers, all running either Windows XP Home Edition or Windows XP Professional, and in all cases the drive was truly plug and play. On one of the PC's (my Dell Inspiron 9300) I had to go into Disk Management and change the assigned drive as Windows had assigned an already-used letter, but other than that there was no problem whatsoever. Some diagnostics showed that the hard drive included with the ComboGB was a 2.5" 60GB Hitachi Travelstar running at 5400 RPM with an 8MB cache, so performance should not be limited by the drive and longevity should not be an issue. That being said, I started benchmarking and testing file transfers right away.
For most benchmarking I use either HDTach 3.0 or SisSoft Sandra 2005 Lite, the advantage of these two applications being that they are free and accurate. HDTach will give random access, burst speed and average transfer speed while Sandra runs some other diagnostics as well. For this review I tested the drive using FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces on multiple computers, and the average results were similar regardless of platform.
HD Tach 3.0 test results, ComboGB connected via USB 2.0:
Random Access: 14 ms
CPU Utilization: 14%
Burst (read) Speed: 32 MB/s
Average (read) Speed: 25.7 MB/s
Looking at these values, it is easy to see that the drive performs admirably for an external hard drive, especially one of the 2.5" variety. With an average read speed of 25.7 MB/s, this is on par with the average 2.5" drive that can be found in a laptop. The burst speed is much less (as is to be expected) than one connected via an IDE channel inside the case, but for most applications this is sufficient. Now to compare to the results for a FireWire 400 connection:
HD Tach 3.0 test results, ComboGB connected via FireWire 400:
Random Access: 12.9ms
CPU Utilization: 2%
Burst (read) Speed: 40.9 MB/s
Average (read) Speed: 25.7 MB/s
As we all know, FireWire has a lower theoretical bandwidth than USB 2.0 (400 mbps vs. 480 mbps) but also a higher realworld throughput due to overhead requirements for USB 2.0. This is exhibited by the higher burst speed rate, but it is interesting to note that on a sustained read test the average speed is exactly the same as that found with a USB 2.0 connection. Also interesting to note is the CPU utilization; if you want to keep the CPU free for other tasks, you would use the FireWire connection if it is available. Again, this performance is going to be sufficient for running most applications and transferring data back and forth between the computer and hard drive, so no worries there.
As I do not currently have a FireWire 800 connection on any of my computers, I cannot test the actual throughput of this connection. In theory it should be twice as fast as the FireWire connection, although from what I have read this is not the case. In the future if I do get a FireWire 800 card I will update the test results.
Real world results will vary, obviously, depending on average file size and total size of the transfer. I transferred a 5.5GB size file from my hard drive to the ComboGB containing mostly .jpg pictures and video files. Utilizing the USB 2.0 connection, this file took approximately 15 minutes to complete the transfer, yielding a rate of 6.1 MB/s or thereabouts. I assume that if I had transferred one file 5.5GB in size the transfer would have taken much less time, but who has a file that is 5.5GB in size? Utilizing the FireWire 400 connection and running the transfer again, this file took approximately 12 minutes to complete, or 7.6MB/s. While this is highly unscientific and depends much on the average file size, etc. it does point to the speed increase from using FireWire. FireWire 800 should be even quicker, so use it if you got it!
Now that the testing is done, I use the drive for backups of my Dell Inspiron 9300 hard drive. Previous to this drive arriving, I used a Seagate 300GB 3.5" external hard drive for this purpose, but it was attached to a separate computer on my wireless network. The performance of the data backup was necessarily slow (and sometimes corrupted) this way, and as my hard drive grew the overnight backups took longer and longer. Now that I can connect the ComboGB locally to my Inspiron, the file transfer is completed in a timely manner with no failures to this point. I have been extremely happy with the performance and reliability to this point, and the portability of the unit means that I can access the data from anywhere that there is either a USB or FireWire connection.
Warranty
WiebeTECH offers 90 days of free phone support and a 1-year limited warranty with the drive. The fact that the drive inside the case is a Hitachi Travelstar leads me to believe that the reliability of the system (if handled correctly) will be a non-issue, but it is nice to know that they do back their products. The case comes apart easily with a few screws to upgrade the hard drive at some point in the future as well, adding a nice touch.
Overall
Overall, the ComboGB 60GB drive is an excellent means of information transfer and backup. The 60GB capacity drive with 5400 RPM drive costs around $250-300, so these are not cheap by any means. However, the speeds available give the user the capability to use this as either a pure data storage medium or an application platform if need be, although I would recommend using FireWire if you are thinking of running applications from this drive. The drive is bootable in FireWire mode on Mac and properly configured PC's. The drive is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac out of the box and plug-and-play on most newer OS's. The multitude of connections and cables supplied with the drive will supply you with all you need, requiring no extra trips to the store. The only downside I found with the ComboGB is that it doesn't ship with a backup utility as many of the 3.5" external drives do nowadays, but I already have my software of choice for this function. If you are contemplating buying this rugged, portable and nice-looking drive for external Digital Video editing, you may want to choose to upgrade to the available 7200 RPM unit. Otherwise, I don't think you can go wrong with the ComboGB 60GB external hard drive.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.