- Affordable removable storage with 2.2 GB capacity
- Infinitely rewritable
- Truly portable, so you can take it anywhere
- Each ORB disk holds 3.5 hours of audio or more than 2 hours of video
- Each disk holds more than 1,500 1.44 MB floppy disks or 3 CD-ROMs
Technical Details
Product Details
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Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description
Castlewood's ORB uses 3.5-inch removable media with a capacity of 2.2 GB, more than any other product in its category. The drive has an impressive transfer rate of 12.2 MBps.
ORB disks can be used in a variety of applications that require storage of large amounts of large files and digital data, such as music and video editing, graphic design, publishing, and multimedia presentations. Information technology markets are expected to use ORB drives as a way to easily and quickly back up data and increase PC storage.
Castlewood also provides ORB Tools, a feature-rich suite of functions designed to help manage your ORB disks and make backups as intuitive for the novice as the professional. ORB Tools feature write protection, disk partitioning, formatting, a file archive called "tracker," ORB disk duplicator, SCSI mounter, and other useful maintenance functions. The ORB Tools Backup Suite includes one-click backup, volume copy, image copy, and professional backup. For the novice, ORB's one-step backup sets a standard for thoroughness, simplicity, and security by automating system disk and file backups. Also, ORB drives use a new design that eliminates the need for disk formatting.
From Winmag®
Unseating the Iomega Jaz 2GB drive in speed and price is Castlewood System's ORB drive. With a 2.2GB capacity, the $199 ORB is about $100 less than the Jaz, and the $30 replacement cartridges are nearly one-third the price of the Jaz's.
The ORB's performance is a winner, too. We compared average read/write speed of the ORB internal IDE drive (parallel, USB and FireWire interfaces are promised for the future) with an external SCSI Jaz drive. The Jaz should have been faster but, in fact, the 5400rpm ORB pulled in front at 1.24MB per second vs. the Jaz's 0.61MBps on our standard file copy test. At that speed, the ORB rivals some hard drives.
Castlewood includes several utilities, such as drive and cartridge status, and disk eject. But more useful are an image-copy drive utility and the professional backup utility, which lets you choose files and which copied at a rate of 1.98MBps (there is no compression option). These utilities are available from a program group or by right-clicking on the drive's icon within Windows.
Our only concern: Castlewood is a brand-new company, and during the past two years, the product has been repeatedly delayed. As with many new, price-leading products, finding the drives (or, more critically, blank media) might be problematic.
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
bad product, worse customer support,
By Chris (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Castlewood Systems ORB2SE09 2.2GB External SCSI PC Removable Media Drive (Personal Computers)
I bought one of these a year or so ago, and 1 of the 3 discs I bought didn't work right out of the box. The drive itself lasted about 3 months before it broke completely. I've been calling orb constantly ever since trying to get them to replace the drive (under its warranty), and have finally resorted to writing them letting them know I'm contacting my lawyer. Luckily, I had a friend who had an orb drive of his own, so I was able to get my data off of the discs that did work.Don't be fooled like I was by these people.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Buggy Software Hurts Good Hardware,
By
This review is from: Castlewood Systems ORB2SE09 2.2GB External SCSI PC Removable Media Drive (Personal Computers)
I've been using a SCSI Orb on both PC and Mac, and have spoken to a PC USB Orb user. The USB on Win98 seems to be the worst, causing problems with Windows Explorer and crashes, and SCSI on Win98 couldn't reformat a disk using Castlewood's software. (FDISK worked, God only knows why...) SCSI on Mac is only usable now that 3rd parties have come out with drivers for Orb, and Castlewood has licensed a good tools program.Microsoft takes a lot of flak for Windows being buggy, but the biggest source of problems is badly written drivers. This time it's not Bill's fault.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
SCSI Orb misses the mark,
This review is from: Castlewood Systems ORB2SE09 2.2GB External SCSI PC Removable Media Drive (Personal Computers)
My first SCSI Orb was actually a USB connected unit that I chose to use in its SCSI connection for speed. (The USB Orb is just a SCSI with a special cable attachment.) It lasted more than a year. Apparently, I was lucky. When it misbehaved, finally, it flashed the amber light continuously. I could hear the motor turning on for an interval, and then turning off. After some time, the disk ejected. I never got that green light that indicated the drive was ready. The Orb was essentially dead.Since I was outside my warranty period, I purchased another; this time a straight SCSI unit. It exhibited the same difficulty as my last drive, but this time right out of the box. I tried a number of disks, including a brand new one and nothing helped. I sent the unit back and three weeks later -- received its replacement. Imagine my chagrin when I found this new one exhibiting the very same difficulty? Is it possible I received two faulty drives? Was it possible I was doing something wrong, (after successfully doing it right with my first unit for better than a year)? Or was there some design and/or quality control difficulty with the SCSI unit itself? Attempts to contact Castlewood by phone were all in vain. I even sent an extensive explanation of my difficulties via E-mail; but to date, there has been no answer. I recently asked the vendor for my money back. I simply gave up. In the meantime, I have 130.00 dollars worth of Orb disks that are totally useless -- to say nothing of the backup material thereon. I often wondered why Castlewood did not swamp Iomega in their sales, since with the former, one got so much more for the money. Now I know. I still my have SCSI connected Zip drive after four years. It works just fine. The Orb is, apparently, poor quality merchandise. It is a great idea, but it simply doesn't measure up in practical terms. Further, I find now that both the product and the company -- with reference to its customer support -- leave much to be desired.
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