Asus Launching a Wi-Fi Hard Drive

TheFoot writes "The Register reports that Asus is promising to 'change your perception on data storage'. They're talking up a hard drive enclosure capable of taking any 2.5in ATA-100 hard disk. It also contains an 802.11g adaptor and antenna, plus a pair of wired 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports. US $150 + the price of the hard drive. They've changed my perception--why did data storage just get more expensive?" Now now, this could actually be useful. tempest2i notes that there's a Macworld story as well.

This wouldn't be bad at all

[Dan Farina]

It'd be pretty useful to just carry around a storage tablet from place to place, although large transfers would just kill some of the usability for regular users of the networks, since last I checked bandwidth was split N ways between N clients.

How is it better than USB or FireWire?

[tftp]

The RF bandwidth is 2 or 10 Mbps, but really less, and not even guaranteed. Compare to 480 or 800 Mbps achieved over the wire, or Gbps over SATA. I see absolutely no reason to use such a device, except maybe in some obscure situations - such as when you have all-wireless network and need a portable network storage. But even then this would be a poor choice - you'd want RAID.

Re:How is it better than USB or FireWire?

[tftp]

When you plug a USB cable, the whole bandwidth of the cable is yours alone. When you use 802.11 you share this "cable" with everyone in radius of 500 ft. around you.

Generally, performance-wise, wire is better than radio. You can't even compare the two, so different they are in terms of reliability. Given that modern USB and FireWire drives are 100% plug-and-play right out of the box, the wire definitely wins.

Re:Networked, but which protocols?

[richard_za]

It supports NFS [ohio-state.edu] and CIFS [samba.org] (which is basically the latest iteration of SMB) so it should so you can network with NFS or Samba, Windows/Linux.

Re:Networked, but which protocols?

[jfbus]

Could be iSCSI (scsi over TCP). I dont't see any other protocol that is standard/open/... that could be used.

iSCSI works on Linux & Windows. All the traditionel NAS (Network Attached Storage) vendors use iSCSI to access block devices over the network.

The other protocols are too much OS/application dependant, and I think it would be a bad idea for a vendor to use only one of them. Using both NFS (for Linux) & CiFS (for Windows) wouldn't be cost-effective. Plus not all apps work on such protocols (especially with CiFS : ie you can't put a SQL db on a CiFS drive, but you can put an Oracle db on a NFS drive).

Some possible uses

[SmallFurryCreature]

Say that the only PC you got is a laptop you use both at home and at work. Now a decent laptop has got a fair bid of storage so unless you have specific needs having one of the firewire/usb external drives is probably obsolete for office use. Anyway there are heavy duty laptops with dual HD's.

But when you add home use people might want to store movies and music and ehehm nature programs on their laptop but not actually have it present on the laptop. Sure you could then at your desk at home have a usb/firewire external drive but that means you loose the mobility of a laptop. It can be fun working on the floor or sofa. Some laptops have tv outs so put the laptop on the tv and watch your downloads on the big screen.

This wifi drive would then allow you to access your own files at home without any need for plugging in cables. Just put the thing somewhere central and your laptop is hooked up just like you use a wifi network station to allow you to use the laptop without cat5 cables.

Frankly this is the only real use I can see. The WIFI-HD needs to be powered by a powercord and that means it ain't all that mobile. So it can't be used to give you PDA a storage boost. Using it in the office is pretty lame as it ads another security risk, an other piece of software to admin and its function can be easily duplicated with the existing file server.

But for people with only laptops at home it could make sense.

Only other possible use might be people with a PDA who are not close to a PC like setup but who are closed to something like a car. But it would have to be small operations as something like the Police Ambulance would have access to far better solutions. Maybe something for a mechanic? Store all the schematics and data on the WIFI-HD. Give him a pda and as long as he is within range of his car he got all the data in the world. Cheaper then pulling data over mobile phone lines.

Mmmm, might not be such a bad gadget after all.

Re:Add to an iPod or other music player

[redled]

It's been done: Soniqcast Aerio (for you) [twincities.com] Omnifi (for your car) [mobilemag.com]

Re:Does this small 'computer' run Linux?

[absurdhero]

There is likely no operating system on it. Once upon a time, software did not drive hardware. Hardware is perfectly capable of tasks like this all alone. Now, if there is an authentication system and such, there may be a small embedded bit of code on a chip that runs through a tiny thing that resembles the processor that you are familiar with. This code would monitor the state of the system and would trigger various hardware events when necessary, and would store network data. an operating system in the modern sense might be almost a waste.

Re:How is it better than USB or FireWire?

[bakawally]

RTFA: The enclosure also contains an 802.11g adaptor and antenna, plus a pair of wired 10/100Mbps Ethernet ports.

Re:Other interesting Wi-Fi Storage

[-tji]

Or, if you've already got an access point, the USR 8200 [usr.com] firewall/vpn/router has firewire and USB 2.0 ports for network storage use.

This device is quite cool.. it's based on an Intel Network Processor with crypto acceleration. So, it can support line speed routing on the 100Mbps interfaces, and also high speec IPSec.

Re:Alternatives?

[Hanzie]

Yeah. You can do this with an entire PC with an encrypted file system. Just use an 802.11b network connection for it, and you can power it off when the black vans pull up outside.

I would recommend a journaled file system like ReiserFS. I wouldn't use a laptop for this, since killing the AC will only make it run on batteries.

If you're extra paranoid, just make sure you have a very similar looking PC with the same IP, and other names and plenty of legit files you need to access (I recommend harmless bikini-clad models), and the same encryption. This will prevent the "hey, why did we see lots of 802.11 traffic and you only having one WiFi device? What's it talking to?"

Also the "Why is it encrypted, what do you have to hide?" to which you reply "my mother visits a lot, and I don't want her stumbling on my Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Model collection".

Another alternative is the "hidden server". A server at University of North Carolina running Netware 3 was accidentally drywalled into an alcove. A network admin found it a few years later when trying to figure out the "extra machine" on the network. He finally traced it's ethernet cable to a blank wall.

You could do the same, and just unplug the ethernet cable. An easy way to accomplish this would be if you've wired up your home with CAT5. Just have one socket connected to the server on the back side, then when the thugs show up, or when you aren't using it, unplug the cable from the wall to the router.

Good luck.

Netgear's version runs linux and is a router too

[levram2]

Netgear makes a device like this, the WGT634U, which is also a broadband router with hard drive support. The product literature only lists versions of windows as supported. But the USB Hard disks can be formatted with FAT, FAT32, NTFS (read only), and Linux file systems according to a support page. The drive can be accessed by ftp or smb.

Netgear has gpl source for a few of their models here: ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/GPL/

Re:Make your own network storage device...

[Libraryman]

That's true, but if you are lucky you have already got power outlets in the floor where you need them. If you're not, you let power availability decide where you put the computers. Computers aren't the first thing ever to need electricity, chances are it was already run to where you need it (or close), BEFORE there was a need for network cabling.

Look around you, if you are not in a recently built office building I think you will find you are closer to a power outlet than an ethernet jack.

Re:Make your own network storage device...

[Fishead]

I was boxing day shopping at futureshop (canadian version of bestbuy I think) and I picked up a ximeta netdisk for $100 Canadian.

I bought this thing mainly on coolness factor alone (wife almost made me take it back because she doesn't put the same value on coolness factor I guess).

Anyhow, it is an 80gig harddrive with USB2.0 and 10/100 Ethernet all packaged in a cool blue metalic case. I also bought an internal harddrive of the same size for $50. I figured not a bad deal, $50 for the portability, and connectivity.

They also just released linux drivers :-)

Re:How is it better than USB or FireWire?

[tomstdenis]

Um, you plomp a 200GB disk in the thing. Sit in the middle of your house and have a massive file share between all of your computers. Sounds like a good idea specially if your house is wi'fi'ed up.

You don't need a lot of speed for applications like streaming media, loading applications, saving documents, etc...

I wouldn't use this as a primary drive of course for the speed issues but that doesn't make it totally useless.

Tom

Re:How is it better than USB or FireWire?

[Babbster]

KTFT ("know" and "tech"): LaCie [lacie.com] is just one company that already offers ethernet drives [lacie.com] like this (sans wireless), and with much larger and faster hard drives than are possible with a 2.5" drive enclosure. Ximeta [ximeta.com] is another company in this field, and their 80GB Netdisk [ximeta.com] device (drive with Ethernet already on-board) is available right now at a price cheaper than this enclosure WITHOUT a drive. (Search Outpost, CompUSA, etc. for more information - I try not to link to retailers.)

In short, unless there is a really good reason to want the wireless aspect, this enclosure is a monstrous waste of cash.