Not long ago, I had the opportunity to review the Hammer Storage Morespace external hard drive. That was an incredible drive, with just an amazing amount of storage. My one complaint about that fantastic drive, however, was the size of the drive. I mean, really, it takes up a sizeable chunk of my desk. So, you can imagine my excitement when Hammer Storage recently announced the new Morespace Portable Drive. All of the storage at a fraction of the space.
Obviously, the main attraction of this drive is its diminutive size. Whereas the original Morespace drive weighed in at 7.5 x 2.4 x 4.9 inches and a hefty 2.2 pounds. The new portable drive, which still boasts a whopping 500 GB (other versions available range from 160Gb all the way up to 750 GB) weighs in at only 5 ounces, and is 3.3 inches tall. All told, it is 3.3 x. 4.8 x 0.6 inches. That is a welcome drop in the size of this drive. The new version is perfect for carrying in a briefcase, laptop bag, or even a pocket. Right off the bat it lives up to the portable name.
Now, I bet I know what you are thinking. You are probably looking at this picture thinking, that is great and all, it is small and light and holds 500 GB, but how did I get it to look like a picture of my family?
That is one of the best parts of this drive. It is fully skinnable. There is one skin included (a beach scene) and more are available. I was a bit disappointed by the fact that these skins are really just large stickers. I am terrible at making stickers straight, and my attempts at skinning the drive really showed off my ineptitude. Since all of the drives are the same dimensions, it would have been nice if the skins could slide off and on (this would also make it easier to change skins at a later time).
The best part about the skins, though is the fact that they are completely customizable. Just send Hammer Storage your favorite picture and they will send it back expertly displayed on a custom skin. Here, you can see I chose a nice picture of my family, which I not-so-expertly applied to my Morespace portable drive. Nice!
OK, so on to the drive itself. setup is pretty simple. Just take the included mini-USB cable out of the packaging,and connect the drive to your computer. In both Windows XP and Vista, it took a matter of seconds for the drive to be recognized by my computer and available. Nothing to it. it is also compatible with Mac, however, I did not have a Mac available on which to test the drive.
Once you have it all set up, this will give you a whopping 500 Gb of storage (465 GB are available due to formatting and the included software). That is enough to load up 125,000 songs. Even my collection is not that big. To put it in other terms, I dragged all of my music, videos, and photos onto this drive (including duplicates) and barely scratched the surface at just over 100 GB.
One of the best part about a drive this big is that it offers the perfect space to backup all of your data. And just to make sure you do not forget to do so, the Morespace portable, like its larger brethren, includes the Total media Backup program. This is a fantastic backup solution, just hit setup and it will be loaded and ready to go. I really liked this backup solution. It is extremely intuitive and easy to use, and does a fantastic job of protecting your important data.
I have to say, I am really impressed by this one. Just putting such a huge storage space in such a small space is an accomplishment unto itself. Toss in the skinning, and this is one attractive drive.
What I Liked: tiny and portable, easy to setup, backup software included, skinning and customization
What Needs Improvement: I would like a slip on case, so I could change it periodically.
Where to Buy: Numerous online locations, including Newegg
Price: $126.99
