XiMeta 80 Gb NetDisk review

Product: NetDisk 80GB external USB 2.0 and Ethernet HD
Manufacturer: XiMeta
Estimated Price: 199 USD

It's not uncommon to see external HD's now-a-days but man, did we go a long way. I remember years ago I had an external HD in the form of a SCSI box, the SCSI cable could be connected more easily to the outside connector, something that wasn't possible with IDE. It didn't take too much time before we all saw internal drive racks/bays. Switch a key and insert the bay. Downside here was that the drive bay had to be the same on all PC's.

Then we saw IOmega's ZIP/Jazz drives and later on the first USB solutions. External HD's are not that uncommon anymore, that's how I started this review ... but ... that was until I noticed the NetDisk from XiMeta. See, I always hated the external solutions as they where not very practical. XiMeta has changed that for me, allow me to explain.

The product we are talking about today is the NetDisk. The NetDisk is an external HD in a trendy design but that's of course not all. It's hot pluggable over USB (1.1/2.0) and get this ..  fast Ethernet. Yes, you can connect this device to your home LAN. And exactly this makes this product very innovative and easy to use. Who does not have an Ethernet or USB connection nowadays ? There are some requirements though, NetDisk only supports Windows XP Home/Pro and Windows 2000. NetDisk will soon support Windows 98. NetDisk does not support Linux/Unix however support is in the works and can be seen in the near future.

The heart of the product is powered by a fast HD. When we dig a little into the device properties we notice that inside the netdisk we can find a Samsung SP0802N harddrive, a truly excellent choice. Why you ask ? This Samsung HD is not only extremely fast rotating at 7200 RPM but best of all, you won't hear it and will not get hot. The drive is equipped with a fluid bearing motor. Seriously, you will have to place your ear on the NetDisk to actually hear it running.