Meet the flexible, souped-up image storage unit that boldly goes where no portable hard drive has gone before.
If you’re going to name any product “Hyperdrive,” be prepared for lots of Star Trek references. But the Sanho HyperDrive ColorSpace UDMA 500 GB Photo Backup Storage & Viewer (approx. $470) certainly earns the moniker which, as any Trekkie knows, indicates that this ship can travel at the fastest speed possible.
First, let’s look at the HyperDrive ColorSpace UDMA’s feature set, which includes many best-in-class stats:
• 500GB hard drive
• 40MB per second card-to-drive transfer speed moves over the contents of an entire 2GB card in a minute with full data verification;
• File format independent: It backs up all file formats;
• Built-in card readers for 14 different card types; no adapters needed;
• 3.2-inch color LCD monitor displays JPEG and RAW files;
• 32MB/second USB transfer speed;
• Can mirror or synchronize data with a second drive.
One of the hallmarks of the HyperDrive series is that you could buy just the shell and supply your own hard drive. This is the kind of engineering creativity that sets Sanho’s products apart. The ColorSSPACE UDMA, with its respectable-sized LCD monitor, is also available without a hard drive, or with 120, 160, 250, 320 and 500GB hard drives (which you can swap out if you wish) included.
In addition to its speed and other category-leading features listed above, the HyperDrive ColorSPACE UDMA has a robust, graphical user interface.
Backup shows a progress bar that keeps you appraised of how far along your transfer has come. This applies to transfers to or from cards or any USB device, or to a mirror backup drive.
Browser lets you scroll through full-screen images or thumbnails, or set up a slideshow. The built-in RAW image decoder is said to handle images from all types of cameras. Firmware updates are available for RAW files from newer cameras. You can also search for images based on EXIF dates and other EXIF data.
File Manager lets you set up folders and preview images via easy navigation, and lets you explore both the on-board hard drive or any drive, card or USB flash card that is attached to the HyperDrive.
The Histogram display and other visual information let you analyze exposure and image quality. You can also rotate and zoom images up to 100% pixel level. Detailed EXIF data can be displayed so you have more information about your photo.
Benchmark lets you really geek out! In this mode, you can study hard drive and memory card speed benchmark tools and recover memory card data. If you are a programmer, you can write your own scripts to customize functions. Want to separate RAW and JPEG images into separate folders? Go here.
The only downside is that LCD monitor’s resolution: At only 320×240 pixels, it doesn’t keep up with its other stellar specs. But the HyperDrive ColorSPACE UDMA’s impressive image analysis, connectivity, and extensive management tools and flexibility may more than compensate for the relatively anemic display quality.
If you want bang for the buck, a sturdy, take-anywhere hard drive that will keep you organized during your down time and gives you a pretty and useful interface—and unprecedented flexibility, this may be the best storage unit on the market right now.
