I am proud that Singapore made it into the tech news last week with the announcement of the world’s thinnest 2.5″ hybrid hard drive! It is only 5mm thick and is capable of storing 1TB of normal HDD and 32GB of SSD.
One of the main challenges in reducing the thickness of current 7mm hard disk drives by almost 30% without compromising on its performance and stability is its spindle motor design. To achieve a reduction in size, DSI researchers developed a proprietary axial field motor which runs smoother, quieter, more efficiently, lowering power consumption by up to 70% yet at a fraction of the cost of SSDs. The motor’s design has been patented, along with 30 other unique designs for the “A-Drive”. In addition, DSI has collaborated with multinational corporations and local companies, such as Seiko Instruments, Miyoshi, and Unisteel, to develop key components for the “A-Drive”.
This is the new 2012 edition and WD has dropped the name “Essential SE” and hence the name is just Western Digital My Passport. Also, USB 3.0 is now the standard feature.
Western Digital My Passport 2012 (1TB) – Box Front
The usual price of the SSD (on 3rd February 2012) on Newegg.com is US$205 (S$259), however there is mail-in rebate of US$50 (SDG$63). After the mail-in rebate, it cost only US$155 (S$195).
I still bought back a D-Link NAS after my bad experience with D-Link DNS-323 because the DNS-320 is meant for my mom’s office and D-Link service center is just located behind my mom’s office in case anything happens.
The Eye-Fi is not officially sold in Singapore so you have to either get it from resellers who bought it overseas or you get it directly from Amazon. The Eye-Fi Pro X2 8 GB cost about S$160 when you get it from resellers in Singapore, it is more expensive, but you do not need to wait 1 to 2 weeks for it as normally they got ready stock. Amazon is cheaper but you have to wait 2 weeks (in my case) for it.
Hooted the My Passport Essential SE (1TB) (USB 3.0) from SITEX 2010 for S$189.90 (usual price is S$209.90). This is my first USB 3.0 device despite not having any computers that support USB 3.0. It is all about future proofing!
Since this portal harddrive supports USB 3.0, the connector on the harddrive itself is a USB 3.0 MicroUSB Port (which looks weird, see picture below) instead of the usual USB 2.0 MiniUSB port. But it is backward compatible meaning your USB 2.0 MicroUSB (NOT miniUSB) still can fit into the port.
