I remember the days when Mac OS X Burn folders were new. The general conviction back then was that Toast would die. That seemed like logical; after all, who needed a DVD-burning application when it was built-in, right in the OS? Some people still think that way, but a large number of creative Mac users prefer a burning program because such programs usually give you more control over the end-result.
Toast has been the burning application of choice for many people for some time. With each upgrade, Toast gained features, although to some (grumpy?) users, it was always too little, or Toast was too slow compared by brand x, y or z. Toast 8 Titanium was a bit faster, and incorporated a “speedometer”. That took care of most complaints, because now you could actually see Toast throttle between slow and fast performance when writing chunks of data.
It’s the software, not the hardware --or at least, not just the hardware. That’s the credo Intelli Innovations must have had in mind when they released the IntelliScanner SOHO hardware/software bundle. The IntelliScanner SOHO bundle combines a barcode scanner with some nifty software to manage inventories, business items and collections.
Added value is what it is all about in market segments where almost every product seems to be a commoddity. The IntelliScanner SOHO bundle delivers much added value in an attractive package. The barcode scanner is a small handheld scanner that you can use untethered --it will then hold 2,500 barcodes in its internal memory. As soon as you’ve scanned your items, you can connect it to the Mac through a cable that will automatically unload the barcodes into one of the IntelliScanner applications.
Memorex Ultra Travel Drives are 2"5 drives with a USB 2 connection and a separate, through USB provided power plug. The Memorex has a fast backup button at the back of the unit and comes with Ultra Media Backup, a Taiwanese backup utility originally written for Windows and ported to Mac OS X. The backup utility remained in its envelope, but the Memorex drive was tested and benchmarked.
CompactFlash cards have been upgraded to throughput speeds that match the fastest dSLR cameras for some time now. UDMA cards like Lexar’s 300x CompactFlash and Verbatim’s 300x card are the fastest, with SanDisk’s own technology coming in as second best. The wait is still for SanDisk’s Ducati range of products. At the time of this writing, SanDisk still couldn’t tell us when the Ducati CompactFlash would be available.
CompactFlash memory cards have become the standard in high-end dSLR cameras like Canon’s EOS 1D range and new semi-pro cameras like Sony’s Alpha 700. Even when the manufacturer offers complementary memory card capabilities (like the Memory Stick Duo slot in the Alpha 700), most photographers will go for the CompactFlash card. They are industry-standard, you can use them in any dSLR worthy of that name, and they’re fast.
MildMannered Industries has announced that Baseline 1.1 for Mac OS X is now shipping. Baseline is a disk sizing application that features super fast disk scanning, and allows users to see how much each folder or file has grown or shrunk by, as well as its absolute size, making it much easier to see where their disk space has gone. Baseline 1.1 adds a graphical TreeMap view, allowing users to see how their disk usage has changed at a glance.
Pioneer released the DVR-115D a couple of months ago. The DVR-115D is a traditional DVD-burner that is capable of 40x CD-R writing, 32x CD-RW writing, and 20x speed on DVD-R and DVD+R discs. The DVR-115D connects to the ATA port as most burners do. However, the brand new DVR-215D may have the same writing performance internally, but the burner itself connects to the computer through SATA, and that does make a difference, as we found out.
When Verbatim acquired SmartDisk I just knew those --in the US rather well-known-- SmartDisk products would be available soon in Europe, and I was right. Verbatim sent me a 2"5 Portable SmartDisk with CMS BounceBack Backup Software pre-installed. The SmartDisk performs well and its form factor is a plus.
Imation Odyssey is one of Imation’s latest desktop backup solutions. It is based on a removable hard disk system with hard drives sealed in cartridges. The external docking station is a dark grey/pale grey sturdy plastic enclosure that holds the mechanics to drive the disk drive inside the closed cartridge. The Odyssey comes complete with Retrospect and one 40GB cartridge.
The Odyssey’s docking station has what Imation calls a forward compatible design, meaning it will accept future expansion with higher capacity cartridges. The docks are stackable so that you can add docks whenever your backup needs grow, and up till the theoretical limit of the USB bus. The cartridges have axis-specific shock protection, an electro-static discharge design (even the housing), gold-plated pogo-pin contacts for over 10,000 insertions, an automatic soft-load and eject mechanism and initial capacities of 40, 80, 120 and 160 GB per cartridge, with even higher capacities in the future.
Pioneer released its first Blu-Ray recorder/reader for PCs and Macs some time ago. I didn’t want to be the first to write about this new technology, because Blu-Ray discs were very hard to come by and even today, it’s hard to find the more or less costly media that is required to use the Blu-Ray writer for what it is meant to do. Pioneer managed to send me a test unit a couple of weeks ago, complete with a TDK recordable and rewritable disc. I also received such media from my favourite brand, Verbatim. Roxio’s Blu-Ray system plug-in for Mac OS X (comes with Toast 8) was installed, and I was all set to go.
An external disk drive with 3 connection interfaces (FireWire 400, 800, and USB 2), room to spare and the silence that goes with video and audio production. What more can you want? Good software perhaps? Or a ruggerised drive enclosure in silicon rubber that protects the disks inside against (some) shock? The OneTouch III Turbo 1.5TB has it all.
This disk tandem disk drive looks good, in its industrial design. It has power management built in, and the ventilator makes almost no noise --the noise that it did make on a particularly warm day, is a sort of rumbling, very deep and low bass sound. There are of course two disks inside the enclosure --two Seagate disks of 750 GB each. The OneTouch III Turbo has a large bright white LED button on its front bezel. This button can activate a program such as Retrospect or any other application you care to start when pushing this button.
The Freecom Data Tank has won the iF Award, one of the world’s most prestigious design awards. The Data Tank is an aluminium box with black plastic front and back. It carries two hard drives --in my test version there were two 250GB disks, for a total of 500GB. The Data Tank also has a ventilator to keep things cool, software to change the device’s configuration, and an encryption system that enables you to keep data secure. It connects to the computer by FireWire 800, FireWire 400, or USB 2.
Pioneer recently released two new DVD-burners: the DVR-112 and DVR-112D. The first one also writes and reads DVD-RAM discs. Both devices are extremely fast and burn DVDs with up to 18x speed, if the media will allow it. I tested them both with Verbatim 16x DVD-R, DVD-R, Verbatim DVD-RAM 5x, and Dual and Double Layer DVDs.
First thing that struck me with the DVR-112 was that it actually reads DVD-RAM discs faster than the only other drive I’ve ever tested DVD-RAM with: the Sony DRX-820UL. The latter takes several minutes before even recognizing there is a DVD-RAM disc in the drive. The Pioneer DVR-112 immediately recognizes the disc and mounts it or hands it off to the OS for Initialisation with Disk Utility.
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