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The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini is an incredibly lightweight and small, portable USB 2.0 External Hard Drive. What follows are pictures of the unboxing and my initial thoughts on this product.

The un-openable blister-pack notwithstanding, the Maxtor is cleanly packaged, and carries only the essentials inside: Drive, Manual, and Cord. As you can see by looking at the comparison pictures below, the first comparing it to the trackpad on my MacBook Pro, and the second comparing it to the Airport Extreme, which is the same size as the Mac Mini, this is an incredibly portable hard drive. I could easily see myself taking this on trips to keep my Time Machine backups going.

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SentrySafe’s new hard drive is all but your normal USB hard drive which you can directly connect into a PC or laptop’s USB port to get some data storing goodness. It enables users to back up critical data in case of systems crash, computer failure and here’s the clincher, fire and water related disasters.

SentrySafe’s new hard drive is the world’s first and currently only fire resistant and water proof hard drive. It is actually a Maxtor OneTouch 4 mini hard drive encased in SentrySafe enclosure. That means the data in the hard drive is safe even it finds its way into burning house or submerged in water. But the SentrySafe hard drives protection from fire and water has some limitations though - fire protection last only for 30 minutes of up to 1,500 degrees heat and water survival last only for 24 hours. Anything beyond that, I guess you can kiss your data goodbye.

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It’s not as thrilling as the iPod dominos but still worth watching what people do when they have time on their hands.

Via [Digg]

Looking for an in-expensive yet quality external hard-drive to house your media collection or to use as a backup drive? Look no further than the 300GB external HDD from Maxtor.

Staples has a Maxtor 300GB Personal Storage 3200 External Hard Drive for $130. It is regularly $180, and they have a $30 instant saving and $20 checkout coupon bringing it down to $130. Just enter the code 19624 at the checkout for the savings.

Click here for the product page.

Via [Consumerist]

Product: Maxtor Fusion
Price: $799.95
Rating: 7.8/10.0 (Good)
Pros: Lightweight web-top application, makes sharing easy
Cons: Expensive, no photo-editing capabilities, difficult to navigate with so many unfamiliar icons - need to hover to see what they do
Overall: Convenient storage solution that makes sharing with friends and co-workers a breeze

Shortly after we got our hands on the Maxtor Fusion, we pumped out a Peep Show – then some exclusive news surfaced.  Now we’re ready to give you an extended review.  Lets get right into it.

The Fusion is essentially an external storage device that has built in organization software called Fabrik.  It’s not just a hard drive though – it’s a personal web server.  When you connect this guy up to your home / small office network via your router, you no longer need to waste a USB port on it.  Simply pull up the software in your web browser, and you’re on your way to organizing the chaos on your computer.

Read on for a complete review of the Maxtor Fusion.

Installation - 8.0 - I have to say, it sounds intimidating to install a personal web server, right?  You’re probably wondering, what if I don’t know anything about networking or servers at all?  Don’t worry Maxtor / Fabrik have got you covered.  The device is very close to plug-n-play.  All you need to do is hook up the hardware to your router via an Ethernet cable and then go back to your computer.  On your computer, launch the setup file on the included CD and you’re guided through the user-friendly process. 

There are a couple of things that may strike you as confusing – 1) I have to set up a DNS?  And 2) I have to read the serial number off the back of my router?  The answer to the first question is yes, but the install process makes this completely painless.  All you have to do is make an account on the DNS provider of your choice and copy/paste the information back into Fabrik.  Oh and the thing about the serial number on the router – all I’ve got to say is you better put on your glasses for that one.  The DNS thing is only relevant if you plan on sharing the files outside of your network.  If not, then all you need to do is about half of the setup pages, just click the handy “skip” button and you can get to the end in a jiffy. 

And if you plan on setting it up for external access in the future, but don’t want to right now, don’t worry because you can always change your mind and go back to the preferences.

Usability - 7.5 - The GUI is very simple.  The problem is if you make a GUI too simple, it starts to get confusing.  It’s kind of an annoyance when you have to hover over things just to see what the button does.  On a more positive note, the design is crisp and does a really good job at acting as a “web-top” application (a desktop application that lives on the web).  With the use of AJAX, you’re almost never taken to a new page – elements just load on top of another, or in another element’s space.

There are many different views that you can use.  Similar to in your operating system, you can view as a list, by details, by files/folders, and even by timeline.  For each files and folder, you can add tags and a description so when you lose something in the future, it’s accessible through search.

The file import process is also very good.  There are several ways to go about this.  The way that I used was through the network, so it was not listed as attached storage on my computer.  In this case, I had to use the web-based import process.  When you click the Import button in the top right of the screen, you’re presented with a series of text boxes with corresponding browse buttons.  Since this can get annoying if you have a bunch of files to upload, they’ve included a java-based drag-and-drop uploader that is linked on that window for easy access.

Similar to desktop navigation, when you want to view a file in full size, all you need to do is double click on it and it pops up.  Pretty nifty.

Features - 7.0 - Within Fabrik, you can share files by either making a “Public site” or by sending via email.  The email route is done by connecting to your email host similar to how Outlook does.  All you need is your outgoing SMTP hostname, and your username and password.  The software then will send an email sharing the items you selected with the recipient.  If you’ve got a bunch of people that you regularly share with, you can create a “Group” – so in the future, you can send to all of the members with one click.

One setback of using Fabrik / the Fusion is that unlike iPhoto or Picasa, there is no photo editing software built-in.  This means you cannot remove red-eye, resize pictures or anything.  The only thing you can do is rotate the pictures.  This could start to become bothersome if you have to keep replacing the files on the server.  This is of course when you’re using the drive as a network server – since I’m sure when you have it plugged into your computer you can just open up the files and edit them.  In the future, I’d like to see integration with a web-based editor such as SnipShot.

Performance - 8.5 - The device is a well performing beast of a drive.  It’s huge size will even satisfy the craziest of photographers and music archivers.  The uploading tool goes relatively fast – which will obviously depend on how you choose to connect to it.  Over my network, I uploaded (imported) 77 pictures (which were about 1 MB a piece) in about 3 minutes.  I’d say that’s pretty fast.  If you connected up via USB 2.0, I’m sure you’d be down to about 1 minute.

The GUI is also quick.  For having so many elements preloaded in AJAX, it doesn’t seem to be bogged down at all.  I have to say, Fabrik and Maxtor seem to have done a great job at bringing a desktop application to the web.

Editors Note: The categories were weighted in the following manner to reflect the importance of some features over others (in our humble opinion). Installation 20%, Usability 30%, Features 20%, and Performance 30%.

Since we’re in need for some major file organization on our cluttered computers, Fabrik sent us over the 500GB Maxtor Fusion personal web server to try on for size.  The device comes preloaded with Fabrik’s new software, which lets you store, and organize all of your media files and documents (read our post about their new service Myfabrik here).  The Fusion will also plug directly into the Internet so your files can be accessed anywhere (notice the ethernet port on the back of it)!  We’ll get you a full review soon, but for now, feast your eyes on the huge piece of hard drive they sent us after the break.

Over the past week we have had a bunch of new stories that seemed to compete against one another, so we decided to fight it out. At the completion of our PTI-like podcast Doug walked away with a black eye, Adam has a broken nose, and Greg our sound guy...well let’s just say that his mother was not happy. OK, not really but it got heated. Checkout the lineup below. This podcast was once again sponsored by GoDaddy.com.  Head over there and get 10% off any domain or hosting order courtesy Gadgetell and GoDaddy.

• Treo 700p vs. Motorola Q


• AIM Phoneline vs. Free Skype Out calling


• Site redesigns (Yahoo and Flickr) vs. Change is bad


• Sony VAIO UX vs. Origmani vs. Sidekick III vs. Tablet PCs vs. Nokia 770


• XM vs. RIAA


• MacBook vs. iBook


• Apple Stores (specifically the cube) vs. other CE company stores (Samsung, Sony Style, Dell)


• Treo 700p out on Sprint vs. Verizon

Listen In
[MP3] Direct Download (Right click, select save as).
[RSS] Add the Gadgetell Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered right to you!

Hosts: Doug Berger, Adam Berger
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Music: Dvir Tzadok
File size: 29.7MB
Length: 00:43:20

Sponsored by GoDaddy.com:
As a listener of The Gadgetell podcast, enter code GADGET1, that’s G-A-D-G-E-T and the number 1, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

Interested in sponsoring the podcast or advertising on the site? Please check out our advertise page or send an email to advertise (at) gadgetell .com.  We are specifically looking to get the resources for some sweet podcasting equipment (microphones, a mixer, cables, etc.).

Feedback is much appreciated. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at gadgetell (at) gmail.com.  Thanks for listening!

Product: Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition (100GB)
Price: MSRP $199.99
Rating: Excellent 8.0/10.0
Pros: Powered by USB 2.0, one-touch button, light-weight, bundled software, hard drive size (60 or 100 GB), fast transfer speeds.
Cons: Larger than some, lack of a case, USB only.
Overall: The Maxtor mini edition is a great option for backing up data at the touch of a button. It may not fit in your pocket but it will not weigh you down.

Design - 7.5 - The Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition external hard drive is exactly what I need, a small external device that runs off of USB power with fast transfer speeds. The unit comes in at 7.2 oz. and can easily fit into my laptop bag (5.24L x 3.54H x 0.79D). It looks really nice next to my silver PC, heck the silver plastic casing makes it look indestructible. The top and bottom are made out of grey rubber helping the unit stand up (or you can lye it down) and prevent it from slipping out of your hands, though it is shockproof. The front has one white button with a white LED behind it (illuminated when plugged in) and the back as a mini USB and power port. Just from looking at it you know that it is going to a simple process.

Read the remainder of the review including the setup, features and performance.

Setup- 9 - Maxtor ships the drive with a Y-shaped USB cable (a mini USB at one end, then a USB jack, and then another jack that splits off of that). I only needed to plug in the first USB connector but some may need to plug in both to power the unit. If that still does not work Maxtor sells a external power supply. My computer immediately when plugged in recognized the new hardware and the device installed itself, loading its software and prompting for a reboot. Once we were back up and running I setup the Maxtor One Touch software to do an initial backup.

Features - 8 -Maxtor’s OneTouch Manager interface lets you scheduled backups of specific folders and/or files, keep multiple copies of the file to prevent losses, security, system rollback, and restore. The software has 8 buttons when launched: Home, Settings, Backup, Restore, Sync, Rollback (restore to a older point in time), What’s New?, and Maxtor Support. They are all rather self explanatory (most of you will only use the backup function) but if you get confused just hit support. When plugged in the drive can be synced automatically or manually. The software also has built in encryption to protect your files, but make sure to remember your password or you too will be locked out.

Performance - (not rated) - According to CNET Labs, the 100GB OneTouch III Mini Edition wrote a 10GB test folder in 12 minutes, 37 seconds, and read it back in 10 minutes, 18 seconds. These times are about equal with some of the larger external hard drives. The drive comes in a 60 and 100 GB version and both are 5400 RPM, with 2 MB cache buffers and a 9 ms. seek time.

Editor’s note - The overall rating was calculated by weighting Setup as 20%, Design as 40%, and Features as 40%. Performance was not rated due to the lack of our own benchmarking tests.

PC World ranked the top 26 products of the first quarter, ending in April, of 2006. All products on the list were given at minimum a 4.5/5 rating by the editors. Here are the top 10, check out the article to see the rest of the list and read the reviews. Drumroll please:

1. Desktop: Dell Dimension E310


2. Desktop: Apple iMac Intel Core Duo


3. Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad X60s


4. Laptop: Lenovo ThinkPad T60


5. Laptop: Acer TravelMate 8204WLMi


6. LCD: Gateway FPD2185W


7. LCD: Samsung SyncMaster 204T


8. DVD Burner: Sony DVDirect VRD-MC1


9. Hard Drive: Maxtor OneTouch III Turbo Edition


10. MP3 Player: Creative Zen MicroPhoto

The remainder of the list rounded out with speakers, routers, accessories, software, a webcam, and some games.

Read [PC Mag]

To meet fast-growing market demand for portable storage, Maxtor has developed their first small form factor external hard drive. Weighing approximately seven ounces, it is the first mobile storage solution that comes fully loaded with software to protect and manage digital content, automated backup, data encryption, data synchronization and system rollback.

Like all Maxtor OneTouch storage and backup solutions, the smallest member of the family includes automated backup software to ensure valuable files and content are backed up on a set schedule or with the touch of a button. Possibly the most advanced feature is the Maxtor DriveLock; embedded firmware that restricts data access should the drive fall into the wrong hands. The firmware is designed to deny access without the correct password even if the internal hard drive is removed from the casing and attached to another computer.

The sleek, portable system, finished in titanium metallic paint, is equipped with black rubber side panels molded to fit above the housing on all sides, providing non-skid “feet” as well as added vibration protection. The Maxtor OneTouch III Mini Edition is currently available and comes in 60GB ($149.95) or 100GB ($199.95) capacities and easily connects to your Windows 2000 or XP computer via a USB 2.0 or 1.1.