Posts from — August 2009

These days, with all the docks, card readers, hubs, chargers, etc. desk space comes at a premium. To help free up some of that valuable real estate Griffin Technology has made a device appropriately named “Simplifi.” Think of Simplifi as a an iPod dock on steroids. In addition to charging your iPod or iPhone, it will read your digital camera’s memory cards, and give you two additional USB ports.

Simplifi is made from a brushed aluminum chassis that will look right at home next to your MacBook Pro (don’t worry it goes well with all computers, even PC’s!) On the top you will find a universal dock bay that accepts a number of plates (the plates are plastic pieces that snap in to the larger opening, each one made for a specific iPod or iPhone). Griffin supplies you with plates for all the most popular iPods and all iPhones. The front features two media slots, one for SD/xD/Memory stick, the other for Compact Flash. On the back you will find the power input (device is powered by a wall adapter as to not drain your computers USB bus power), mini USB to connect it to your computer with included cable, and finally two USB ports that can be used for a mouse, printer, or any other device you may want easy access to.

The device measures in at about four inches wide by three inches deep and features a rubber base which prevents it from moving around. Build quality is excellent, transfer speeds are fast, and the device is compatible with both PC’s and Macs. At $69.99, this gadget isn’t for everyone. However, if you are looking for a way to free up some desk space and get the added convenience of a multi-function dock, this is the product for you.

Words can’t describe the frustration that has revolved around this poorly engineered external hard drive. Long story short, the MyBook Firewire external hard drive will not play well with other Firewire drives on a Mac running Leopard.

This drive (and the two that preceded it) would only mount sometimes, would hang for no reason, and worst of all be responsible for entire system crashes. Recovering, backing up, sending back, and waiting for replacement drives has cost me countless hours-even days of lost productivity.

How do I know this wasn’t just a fluke? Well, I’ve had these drives on multiple systems, along with different drive arrays, and it has wrecked havoc every time. I’m done paying $13 dollars to send these poorly designed products back to Western Digital. Today I ripped open the case, took out the drive, and shoved it into a cheap-o USB 2 enclosure. It’s nearly 1/3 faster, mounted instantly, and is showing no conflicts with my system or other drives. As much as I dislike USB2 for storage devices – this is a welcome breath of fresh air. I will never buy a Western Digital product again. For as long as I live. (apologies for all this pent-up anger, but it has been brewing for quite some time now)

So what would I recommend if to a user requiring multiple Firewire drives? Stick to LaCie or Mercury Elite (OWC). I have yet to have a drive from either of those manufacturers cause me any trouble.