OCZ Introduces its eSATA flash drive

Author: Richard Swinburne
Published: 5th December 2008
Comments (15) Stumble
OCZ Introduces its eSATA flash drive

OCZ's new Throttle has eSATA to get your data off it just that-much-faster.

Donkey's years ago OCZ mentioned to us about how it was developing a Firewire flash drive. Faster speeds! the PR claimed, USB is so limited!

Well, that time came and went and while it was a product that never made it out of development because of driver and controller issues, OCZ seems to have cracked a better and faster goal - the eSATA flash drive.

It's not the first eSATA flash drive by just a few weeks, but it is currently the fastest.

Dubbed the Throttle, this little flash drive is the same size as your USB thumb drive so it'll fit right in a pocket or on your keys, yet, instead of being limited to ~35MB/s from USB 2.0 this little devil claims to have a read speed of 90MB/s. Write speeds are still pretty limited at 30MB/s, so nothing much there has changed from "fast" USB drives, and it does mean you need a PC with an eSATA port to take advantage of it. There is a mini-USB included on the Throttle too though, just in case the PC you want to use it with is too old or crippled to have a fancier eSATA connection.

Available in 8GB to 32GB capacities, you've got a dual layer DVD to Blu-ray's worth of data at your finger-tips, although if we're willy-waving then we have seen 64GB flash drives knocking about these days.

It's got a 2 year warranty and will be available from $34.99, $54.99 and $94.99 for 8, 16 and 32GB versions.

Fancy yourself a super fast flash drive to carry around with you? Or is the write speeds or eSATA not doing it for you? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
Quote kenco_uk 5th December 2008, 13:23
Quote:

It's got a 2 year warranty and will be available from $34.99, $54.99 and $94.99 for 8, 16 and 32GB versions.

Damn good prices, those. I approve.
Quote phuzz 5th December 2008, 13:27
How is it powered? I thought eSATA didn't provide any power to the device.
Either way ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Quote mclean007 5th December 2008, 13:38
Only problem is most PCs only have eSATA ports on the back (if at all) - hardly convenient for hot plugging this thing! Maybe ideal for Vista ReadyBoost though?
Quote Denis_iii 5th December 2008, 13:45
maybe perfect for running OS off of is what i'm thinking, have several USB's with different OS's.......
Quote p3n 5th December 2008, 13:55
Quote:
Originally Posted by mclean007
Only problem is most PCs only have eSATA ports on the back (if at all) - hardly convenient for hot plugging this thing! Maybe ideal for Vista ReadyBoost though?

Cast your mind back ... 3 years when USB ports were found only on the back of a PC!
Quote duc 5th December 2008, 14:42
Quote:
Originally Posted by phuzz
How is it powered? I thought eSATA didn't provide any power to the device.
Either way ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

One end has eSATA, the other a mini-USB. A spare USB port is still required to provide the power.
Quote salesman 5th December 2008, 14:56
Quote:
Originally Posted by duc
Quote:
Originally Posted by phuzz
How is it powered? I thought eSATA didn't provide any power to the device.
Either way ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

One end has eSATA, the other a mini-USB. A spare USB port is still required to provide the power.

Really? Well that's dumb. I was hoping for just plugging up the eSATA port.
Quote TomH 5th December 2008, 15:33
Quote:
Originally Posted by salesman
Quote:
Originally Posted by duc
Quote:
Originally Posted by phuzz
How is it powered? I thought eSATA didn't provide any power to the device.
Either way ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

One end has eSATA, the other a mini-USB. A spare USB port is still required to provide the power.

Really? Well that's dumb. I was hoping for just plugging up the eSATA port.
So go re-write the standard?

It's got a limitation, sure, but this is definitely cool. Having a little SFF machine booting from this would be wicked. Hopefully they'll ship a small A->BMini cable for just looping around to a close USB port (power pins only.) It'd only have to be about 100mm long.
Quote Nikumba 5th December 2008, 16:36
Quote:
Originally Posted by TomH

It's got a limitation, sure, but this is definitely cool. Having a little SFF machine booting from this would be wicked. Hopefully they'll ship a small A->BMini cable for just looping around to a close USB port (power pins only.) It'd only have to be about 100mm long.

Or just go into a internal header would be best

Kimbie
Quote TomH 5th December 2008, 17:20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikumba
Quote:
Originally Posted by TomH

It's got a limitation, sure, but this is definitely cool. Having a little SFF machine booting from this would be wicked. Hopefully they'll ship a small A->BMini cable for just looping around to a close USB port (power pins only.) It'd only have to be about 100mm long.

Or just go into a internal header would be best

Kimbie
Well, that depends. If you're using an eSATA port (typically found on the back of your machine) you wouldn't want it plugging into a USB header for power...

But if it's connected to an internal SATA port (must be possible?) then yes, a header would be a better idea. Although I'm sure, given the design of the device, you won't be getting a B-Mini -> USB header cable with it. ;)
Quote Bluephoenix 5th December 2008, 20:02
Quote:
Originally Posted by TomH
Well, that depends. If you're using an eSATA port (typically found on the back of your machine) you wouldn't want it plugging into a USB header for power...

But if it's connected to an internal SATA port (must be possible?) then yes, a header would be a better idea. Although I'm sure, given the design of the device, you won't be getting a B-Mini -> USB header cable with it. ;)

would be relatively easy to make one though, I can see this being a really good device to use as an internal quick-boot drive.
Quote HourBeforeDawn 5th December 2008, 21:26
well there is a new eSata standard thats in the works that will incorporate both power and data in one plug, I hope they push that out faster as thats the only way eSata will truly take off. Either way I cant wait. ^__^
Quote sulk 5th December 2008, 22:10
According to the OCZ site, it says
Quote:
True Plug and Play (no power cord needed)

Whether or not that means, it only needs the esata connection, or it still considers plugging in the usb and esata plug and play.

What about that drive that was released before? the Kangaroo one or something, I dont remember that one using a separate plug for power.
Quote wharrad 8th December 2008, 10:02
The speed's good, but surely it's just a stop-gap until USB 3.0 is released - the consumer products can't be too far off now?
Quote The_Beast 8th December 2008, 23:31
Very cool and you can buy one without selling spare body parts
Log in

You are not logged in, please login with your forum account below. If you don't already have an account please register to start contributing.







Mobile Phones

LG Arena ReviewHTC Magic Review

Compare over 250 mobile phones &
52,000 deals!



Broadband

Mobile Broadband

Compare over 100 broadband & mobile broadband deals online!

Dragonage