Seagate demos 500GB wireless USB 2 drive - bit-tech.net Forums

WilHarris · 7th Jan 2006, 03:32

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/01/07/seagate_future/

speedfreek · 7th Jan 2006, 04:13

It looks like wireless got a whole lot faster, USB2. Wonder what kind of range to expect.

TJK · 7th Jan 2006, 04:58

any ideas on the range? I bet once you get more than like 5 feet away its super slow - who cares - its a really good idea

Firehed · 7th Jan 2006, 05:18

I see the drive gets its power over the air too. Where the hell is it plugged in? Something running through the table, perhaps?

But yay, definately. Though I question it for a lot of uses, anything that would need to be plugged into the wall I think it's a great idea. That's only because I'd worry that some other computer picks up on my USB key's signal, or something, and security can go out the window as easily as the thumb drive it's on. Chances are your wireless hard drive isn't going to be randomly picked up by some other comp; or at least you'd know it's possible, as you'd have to scout out a mains power socket first.

I'll assume, for my sanity, that you can program in something akin to a wep key, and that you need that to access the contents of the device.

fev · 7th Jan 2006, 11:49

just give me cheap 500gig sata drives!!

DarkReaper · 7th Jan 2006, 12:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by fev

just give me cheap 500gig sata drives!!

... and the moon on a stick, and a rabbit called fluffy

Give it time, prices always drop

hitman012 · 7th Jan 2006, 12:08

Ah good, booting off one of those means you can hit the computer without worry of a head crash.

lepre · 7th Jan 2006, 12:35

how fast it was at boot?

Da Dego · 8th Jan 2006, 17:12

Hey guys, sorry for the delay, just got back from the show.

To answer a few questions:
1) Range: The drive was tested by my own hand, so no tricks (I have some pull with seagate, so I got to do some fun monkeying with it)...it seemed indifferent to ranges between 0 and 10 feet, after about 10 it started taking a bit longer as the signal broke down.
2) Power: Firehed is right, there is a mains power connector, similar to your standard AC adapter. The marketing director wanted it removed to illustrate that the drive is really wireless.
3) Security: At the moment, there is no security on the signal. However, it is already being hammered out, there is just not a need to to compliclate the signal any more than necessary at the moment, since there are only like 5 WUSB2 cards in the world right now.

Seagate had a few details on it, that it would be similar to a WPA2 style signal encryption currently (who knows what it will actually end up as). Part of the beauty of integrating the WUSB2 into the chipset would be the machine being able to choose the drive at boot based on drives in proximity, and require password or other authentication before you can boot off the drive. Then all signals would be encoded via rolling algorithm.
4) Speed: As fast as any USB hard drive...I noticed almost no difference at boot from an internal drive.

Hope that helps, I'm off for a bit as I'm jetlagged as hell.

lepre · 8th Jan 2006, 18:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Da Dego

4) Speed: As fast as any USB hard drive...I noticed almost no difference at boot from an internal drive.

i never booted from usb since my motherboard doesn't support it (

)
but if it is as fast as an internal, that's nice!

have you maybe tryed some loading of something? (games, app, etc)

TGImages · 9th Jan 2006, 14:09

I've been looking forward to diskless PCs (coffee shop, library, etc.) where you simply connect up your USB device and it has your apps, data, etc. on it for about 2 years now. Looks like it's finally getting close!

However I didn't anticipate wireless. Now, if you have three machines right near each other with three wireless hard drives, how does one machine not talk to 2 drives at the same time? Or if you had two drives could it? And how does it know which one to boot from since if it had 3 drives within 5-10 feet would they not all answer?

Overall I really like the idea but I can see a few technical issues still remaining.

-G

Da Dego · 9th Jan 2006, 17:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by TGImages

I've been looking forward to diskless PCs (coffee shop, library, etc.) where you simply connect up your USB device and it has your apps, data, etc. on it for about 2 years now. Looks like it's finally getting close!

However I didn't anticipate wireless. Now, if you have three machines right near each other with three wireless hard drives, how does one machine not talk to 2 drives at the same time? Or if you had two drives could it? And how does it know which one to boot from since if it had 3 drives within 5-10 feet would they not all answer?

Overall I really like the idea but I can see a few technical issues still remaining.

-G

As it stands right now, the problem you're describing is quite real. But as addressed above, in the future it would be similar to a WPA2 type of security. It would boot from the drive you give it the password to on bootup, after searching the area for compatible devices, similar to how a router chooses which wireless computers are on a network. Then you would initialize the second drive within windows, for example...or maybe even over bios, but that stuff hasn't been hammered out yet.

rupbert · 10th Jan 2006, 15:08

Very impressive innovation, unfortunately like most concept devices it will take quite some time before it becomes commercially viable. NEED all the the same though

7th Jan 2006, 03:32	#1
WilHarris Just another nobody Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Oxford Posts: 2,671	Seagate demos 500GB wireless USB 2 drive http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2006/01/07/seagate_future/

7th Jan 2006, 04:13	#2
speedfreek Ultramodder Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: SE Wisconsin (us) Posts: 1,439	It looks like wireless got a whole lot faster, USB2. Wonder what kind of range to expect. __________________ New Rig, Quad Core and 8800 baby! Now with 6gb of RAM and a nice even 2tb now my server\|Athlon 64 3700(2.64ghz)\|7800gs\|2gb XMS 2-3-3-6\|2tb+ total HD space... In raid\|I have a problem. New Laptop: HP EliteBook, its fast!

7th Jan 2006, 04:58	#3
TJK Supermodder Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 276	any ideas on the range? I bet once you get more than like 5 feet away its super slow - who cares - its a really good idea __________________ Current specs - AMD 2600+ Mobile - OC'd to 2.05 Ghz, 512 DDR 400, Zalman 7000Cu, a crappy NVidia 64mb video card, and an Abit NF7-S. Dual 200GB PATA drives, and dual 16x dual layer dvd burners

7th Jan 2006, 05:18	#4
Firehed Why not? I own a domain to match. Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: An hour north of Boston Posts: 12,576	I see the drive gets its power over the air too. Where the hell is it plugged in? Something running through the table, perhaps? But yay, definately. Though I question it for a lot of uses, anything that would need to be plugged into the wall I think it's a great idea. That's only because I'd worry that some other computer picks up on my USB key's signal, or something, and security can go out the window as easily as the thumb drive it's on. Chances are your wireless hard drive isn't going to be randomly picked up by some other comp; or at least you'd know it's possible, as you'd have to scout out a mains power socket first. I'll assume, for my sanity, that you can program in something akin to a wep key, and that you need that to access the contents of the device. __________________ hire me @ eric-stern.com - web developer and php ninja pics @ my smugmug :: Twitter @firehed :: blog @ firehed.net 40D\|580EXII\|285HV\|AB800\|70-200f/4LIS\|17-50f/2.8\|150f/2.8Macro\|50f/1.8 MacPro @ 8x2.8GHz, 10GB FBDDR2, 3TB HD :: MBP @ 2x2.2GHz, 4GB DDR2, 320GB HD

7th Jan 2006, 11:49	#5
fev Corporate Whore Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Tesco - On Beanbag, Games Playing Office Posts: 2,880	just give me cheap 500gig sata drives!! __________________ I know what I'm doing... do you? Follow me on Twitter..go on

7th Jan 2006, 12:08	#7
hitman012 What is a Dremel!? Moderator Join Date: May 2005 Location: Bristol / London Posts: 4,811	Ah good, booting off one of those means you can hit the computer without worry of a head crash. __________________ "Nothing is more practical than a good theory" - Kurt Lewin

7th Jan 2006, 12:35	#8
lepre Supermodder Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Italy \| brescia Posts: 256	how fast it was at boot? __________________ Teh Case coming soon............maybe (well...by now it's just a lian li a05b )

8th Jan 2006, 17:12	#9
Da Dego Brett Thomas Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Cleveland, OH USA Posts: 3,906	Hey guys, sorry for the delay, just got back from the show. To answer a few questions: 1) Range: The drive was tested by my own hand, so no tricks (I have some pull with seagate, so I got to do some fun monkeying with it)...it seemed indifferent to ranges between 0 and 10 feet, after about 10 it started taking a bit longer as the signal broke down. 2) Power: Firehed is right, there is a mains power connector, similar to your standard AC adapter. The marketing director wanted it removed to illustrate that the drive is really wireless. 3) Security: At the moment, there is no security on the signal. However, it is already being hammered out, there is just not a need to to compliclate the signal any more than necessary at the moment, since there are only like 5 WUSB2 cards in the world right now. Seagate had a few details on it, that it would be similar to a WPA2 style signal encryption currently (who knows what it will actually end up as). Part of the beauty of integrating the WUSB2 into the chipset would be the machine being able to choose the drive at boot based on drives in proximity, and require password or other authentication before you can boot off the drive. Then all signals would be encoded via rolling algorithm. 4) Speed: As fast as any USB hard drive...I noticed almost no difference at boot from an internal drive. Hope that helps, I'm off for a bit as I'm jetlagged as hell. __________________ "Frankly that seems overkill. iluvtrees2 arguing with spec is the intellectual equivalent of a bunny rabbit taking on a pissed-off lion." - Nexxo

9th Jan 2006, 14:09	#11
TGImages Grandpa Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Illinois, US Posts: 160	I've been looking forward to diskless PCs (coffee shop, library, etc.) where you simply connect up your USB device and it has your apps, data, etc. on it for about 2 years now. Looks like it's finally getting close! However I didn't anticipate wireless. Now, if you have three machines right near each other with three wireless hard drives, how does one machine not talk to 2 drives at the same time? Or if you had two drives could it? And how does it know which one to boot from since if it had 3 drives within 5-10 feet would they not all answer? Overall I really like the idea but I can see a few technical issues still remaining. -G

10th Jan 2006, 15:08	#13
rupbert Hypermodder Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 799	Very impressive innovation, unfortunately like most concept devices it will take quite some time before it becomes commercially viable. NEED all the the same though