By Gregg Ellman
McClatchy-Tribune
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Digital storage — probably the two most important words in the world of technology — is critical to everyone.
It’s bigger on the inside
Western Digital’s Thunderbolt My Passport Pro is the mother of all storage. It provides up to a whopping 4TB (yes, that is terabits) in a cargo pants pocket-sized (5.6 by 3.5 inches, 1.9 pounds) portable hard drive with RAID storage.
The RAID 1 system divides the hard drive in half to give your data a duplicate copy in the other half. It transfers at rates as high as 233 megabytes per second and if you know anything about the digital world, that’s fast.
The cable, which connects via the Thunderbolt port, powers the hard drive so no AC adapter needed. The cable is attached to the port-less drive and winds up around the cable management system.
It’s all built-into an aluminum case to make a nice-looking companion to any Thunderbolt enabled computer.
Details: 4TB $429.99, 2TB $299.99; www.wdc.com
Super portable and powerful, too
If you want even smaller portable storage, the Toshiba USB 3.0 flash drive is available up to an incredible 128GB.
The TransMemory Pro USB 3.0 Flash Drive has secure ultra-high-speed data transferring with read speeds of up to 222 MB/s and write speeds up to 205 MB/s.
It includes built-in security software with encrypted password protection in private partitions for use on Mac and Window operating systems. There’s nothing to set up; just plug-and-play for business, personal or student use.
Details: 4TB for $129.99 and the 64GB is $79.99; www.toshiba.com/us
Digital storage goes micro
The SanDisk 128GB microSDXC memory card is not much bigger than the average pinky finger nail, pretty much taking portable digital storage as small as you can get.
It’s ideal for cameras along with GPS units, computers, tablets and smartphones with memory card slots. Even if your device has a standard SD card slot, SanDisk includes an adapter to make it work.
An interesting note on the back states the memory card is waterproof, temperature proof, shock proof and X-Ray proof. Check your device to make sure it’s SDXC compatible. If it was introduced after January 2009 it probably is.
According to SanDisk, 128GB is good for 16 hours of Full HD video, 7,500 songs, 3,200 photos and more than 125 apps.
Details: $199, www.sandisk.com
Pancake-thin speaker features ‘twoofers’
The Soundsmatters foxL DASH A portable Bluetooth speaker works with any Bluetooth-enabled device, which is just about every smartphone, tablet, computer and portable media player on the planet.
This very well might be the first time you heard the word “Twoofers” which are the company’s tweeters that also woof.
The wireless sound is amazing, but if you’re in the dark ages, with a Bluetooth-less device, you can use the included 3.5mm mini stereo cable.
The pancake-thin speaker is only 0.62-inches thick with a 2.1-inch width and 7.5-inches long. You’ll get about 10 hours before a charge is needed and it also has a microphone to take a hands-free call.
Details: $149, www.soundmatters.com
Headset offers premium sound, affordable price
I got a recent email from Sennheiser who pushed me to try out the new Presence hands-free headset, describing it as “a category killer, (with) three microphones, noise canceling, and clear voice quality.”
I couldn’t describe it any better, but one thing it didn’t mention was it’s probably one of slickest looking devices I’ve seen. And it has an intuitive user interface, unlike many other manufacturers’ versions.
Keep in mind that Sennheiser is a premier sound company — and they hit a home run with this one.
Features include Bluetooth 4.0 technology, plus Sennheiser’s unique SpeakFocus, WindSafe and ActiveGard technology. All this means to you is it sounds amazing.
Details: $142.79, http://sennheiser.us
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