Review Sleek aluminium housings are all the rage with hard disk manufacturers, and Freecom’s Network Media Centre is no exception. Available in capacities from 1TB to 2TB, this single-disk Nas box promises to be your ultimate home media server thanks to the inclusion of UPNP/DLNA streaming support, an FTP server, a BitTorrent client and customisable multi-user work areas.
Freecom’s Network Media Centre: aesthetically unexciting
Aesthetically, the Network Media Centre isn’t overly exciting. Instead, it’s pleasantly simple with a smooth brushed-aluminium finish and glossy black faceplate framing a single status LED. Designed to sit horizontally, it’s inherently stable, with a reasonable footprint of 155 x 148mm and a height of only 43mm. Read the rest of this entry »
Review We’ve seen a fair few hard drives with built-in fingerprint readers, but here’s one that uses RFID cards instead of digits.
Freecom’s Hard Drive Secure: there’s a RFID reader behind the drive’s glossy front
The notion is simple: if you want to access the data on the drive, you’ll need to touch the unit with a smartcard to do so. No card, no files. And the protected data is encrypted to AES standard – 128-bit at a guess – to hinder any herbert who tries to get to the information by other means.
Freecom’s simply named Hard Drive Secure is further protected with a seamless brushed aluminium casing, though the front and back are glossy black plastic. There are no obvious screw-holes, though we wouldn’t put ripping off the rubber feet or prising off the back panel beyond any sufficiently zealous data thief.
The unit is a little less than twice the size of a regular 3.5in hard drive, the enclosure having been designed to take up to 2TB of storage, though the model we had in to look at had a more modest, 500GB storage capacity. There are a couple of tiny LEDs on the front – more on this in a moment – and a printer-style USB connector on the back alongside the power socket and on-off switch. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Freecom appears to be taking a leap out of LaCie’s book. Once known for cheap but plain looking storage products, Freecom has been bitten by the design bug.
Freecom’s XS: do hard drives really need clothing-style labels?
Take the XS, claimed by its maker to be the world’s smallest external 3.5in hard drive. This boy is clad entirely in skintight black rubber with gaps only to expose the power socket, a mini USB port and a sticker that says how capacious the drive is.
And you know those small labels on Levi’s jeans, the ones sewn into the seams that tell you who ran up your trousers, should you have forgotten? Yes, the XS has one of those.
The matte-black rubbery coating isn’t totally sealed. The far end from the ports is moulded like a lid, suggesting you can flip it up and slide out the drive squeezed within. Not so. It’s actually glued down, and while you could pull it up in order to swap out the HDD, you’ll almost certainly tear the rubber, which, though thick around the sides of the drive is thin where it covers the front and back. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Despite its name, the Freecom MediaPlayer II is more than just media streamer – it’s a Nas box too. So, not only can you use it to play video files in your lounge, but it’s easy to get content on to it as well. Just hook it up to your network, and drag and drop what you want to watch.
Freecom’s MediaPlayer II: Nas and media playback box combined
As a device that will no doubt make its way into the living room, it’s not offensive to look at but it’s not the most stylish consumer electronics device ever made. The silver case and black front look decent, but it’s not going to win any design awards. On the plus side, the constant blue light that’s illuminated when it’s on isn’t so bright that it’s distracting if you’re trying to watch a video with the lights turned down.
Given its size, the MedialPlayer II is more likely to sit on top of existing AV kit, rather than in amongst it, as it doesn’t fit the standard wide, short form. It measures 203 x 160 x 50mm, although you’ll need to allow extra space around the back for cable clearance.
On the front, you’ll find just a single power switch and a status LED, and the sides are clear apart from air vents. Round the back, you’ll find an array of connectors to hook it up to a TV, plus ports that allows it to function as an external hard drive. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Ever thought of climbing the Eiger with a USB hard drive dangling from your belt? Just in case you were, you might find the Freecom ToughDrive Sport is the missing link as you boulderly go. It even comes supplied with a carabiner hook and there’s a picture of some formidable peak on the packaging to tempt you.
Freecom’s ToughDrive Sport: designed for outdoor types
A pity then, that the Samsung HM251JI 2.5in Sata drive within, is only designed to operate at temperatures above 5°C but don’t let that put you off, bungee jumping is still an option. Read the rest of this entry »
