SmartDisk USBFLB80 FireLite 80 GB 2.5-Inch USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive

by SmartDisk

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 4 x 1 x 6 inches ; 11.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000VYJQU
• Item model number: USBFLB80
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 30, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The "drive for perfection" is built into our line of FireLite portable external drives. Palm-sized, durable and stylish with outstanding performance and capacity, FireLite offers the ultimate in a convenient, highly portable data storage solution. FireLite combines the best features of today's hard drive designs in one attractive package. Quite simply, FireLite provides quality without compromise.

Unique Magnesium Alloy housing
FireLite's diminutive size and weight are made possible through the use of magnesium alloy for the drive's housing -- by weight, one of the strongest materials on the planet. Its thermal dissipation properties also help to wick away heat, increasing drive longevity. Hold it in your hand and you'll sense the aesthetic and functional advantages of a metal housing over plastic.

No power cord needed
Both FireWire and USB 2.0 models are bus powered, meaning they can be powered directly through the FireWire or USB 2.0 cable used to connect them to your computer. For portability, this is the uost in convenience -- just plug it in and start using it! For configurations that do not supply sufficient cable power, FireLite can operate from an optional AC adapter.

High performance
FireLite's high performance hard drive mechanisms and electronics provide outstanding data transfer speeds with either FireWire or USB 2.0. For most software applications, you can use FireLite as an internal hard drive, then unplug it and take it with you when you're done!

USB 2.0 or FireWire models
FireLite hard drives are equipped with a USB 2.0 connection. USB models support USB 2.0 High Speed operation (up to 480 Mbps) and they will also work with USB 1.1 ports at slower transfer rates.

Plug and Play
For recent Windows and Macintosh operating system releases, such as Windows XP, Windows 2000, Window Me, and Mac OS X, no driver installation is required. This is an enormous convenience when working with a "borrowed" computer; just plug in FireLite to maintain access to important data or transfer large amounts of data between computers.

Product Description

The drive for perfection is built into our line of FireLite portable external drives. Palm-sized, durable and stylish with outstanding performance and capacity, FireLite offers the ultimate in a convenient, highly portable data storage solution. FireLite combines the best features of todays hard drive designs in one attractive package. Quite simply, FireLite provides quality without compromise.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SmartDisk - you rock my world, July 28, 2005

By 

Muhammad Miguel Ali Hasan "Film Director & Po... (Sunset Beach, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SmartDisk USBFLB80 FireLite 80 GB 2.5-Inch USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

(Footnote - I recommend the FireWire Firelite over the USB one, simply because of better performance - however, all of their drives seem great)

As a filmmaker, I depend heavily upon Final Cut Pro and editing footage

I beat the heck outta my external drives ---- I store all of my film footage upon them, digitized, and then edit them to death ----- so my drives go through tremendous abuse

My interest in FireLite's were sparked because I liked the small size, that enabled me to edit my footage over my laptop, but then plug the drive into my faster desktop, for better editing ----- but I could keep the footage and files together, in one drive

This FireLite disk has been incredible -

1. SPEED --- Don't believe the SPEED hype ---- this drive was VERY VERY fast --- while 7200 RPM is preferable, I really didn't see much of a speed difference, and I'm working with footage that needs some heavy rendering

*if you need a drive with great speed though, then get the FireWire 800 FireLite - which I most recommend

2. DURABILITY --- This drive is TOUGH ---- I have thrown it in my backpack and allowed it to feel the greatest depths of abuse ----- it has never broke down on me, no matter how many times I've dropped it or punched it (accidently)

3. SIZE ---- of course, this drive weighs NOTHING --- you'll find it amazing that you can keep so much film footage in something that weighs less than an common iPod

4. BATTERY ---- I don't know about windoze, but on a Mac, this thing needs no external AC plug ins --- its powered off of the laptop bus - less wires make editing more fun!

5. PERFORMANCE ---- and of course, the performance of this baby is simply terrific ---- I'm happy to do all of my Final Cut Pro editing upon it

That's about it ---- I'm surprised that I haven't seen more people with SmartDisks, but I think that's gonna change soon

It's a terrific product ---- and for people who really need speed, get the FireLite (which is the same small size) with FireWire 800 --- the speed difference will help greatly for editing

Happy editing! Happy buying!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Firelite USBFL880, May 2, 2006

By 

John M. Bryant, Inc. "Georgia Appraisal School" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SmartDisk USBFLB80 FireLite 80 GB 2.5-Inch USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

I puchased the 80 gig FireLite just short of a year ago. I am looking at other portable drives and was surprised at those who say the drive won't work on some computers.

I have used in on 2 Acer Laptops (XP) and 2 Dell desktops (XP) with no problems. I have also used it on 2 old Dell Latitudes with USB 1.1 connections. I have never had a trouble with power or recognition.

The only reason I am considering a Western Digital or Seagate is the price. The FireLite is quite a bit higher that the Western Digital and has a form fitting case.

I did get some garbage files on it once that I couldn't delete. They didn't take up much space but drove me crazy. Since this drive is for backup only, I fixed the problem by reformatting it. Maybe someone who knows more about computers than I do could have preserved the data but since I'm well backed up multiple times, reformatting was simple.

John

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy to carry, painless to use!, October 5, 2005

By 

Sojuku (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: SmartDisk USBFLB80 FireLite 80 GB 2.5-Inch USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (Personal Computers)

Being an Interactive Media Design Major who commutes is a huge pain! Especially when you have to carry around a large bag full of books, and other educational things. Ontop of that, having a large hard drive to lug in order to save your work, just equates to lots of backpains.

So I tried bringing CD-Rs to school to burn my work, which took ages to do and didn't work as well. I was also spending about $200 or so every few months on CDs. But now, after the purcahse of my SmartDisk, (which was almost the same price as my CD purchases) life has gotten to be SO much easier. There's no tangle of wires when I plug it in (because you don't need an AC adapter)!

I use both a Mac (PowerBook G4) laptop as well as a Dell PC at home. At school, I use G5 Macs or more Dell PCs, and my little SmartDisk transfers files wonderfully between all these computers.

My SmartDisk is sleek, fast and helpful to have. In fact, some of my classmates are looking into having one of their own since seeing me use mine.