Portable Wireless Storage

[Antikx]

I've wanted a portable wireless storage device for some time now but nothing seems to come out that would suit my needs.
Toshiba almost came out with a 5Gig BlueTooth device that came close to fitting the bill.

This device is kind of what I want: expansys.ca
But is is pretty large and uses a power hungry 2.5 hard drive.
I would be something like the ASUS WL-HDD above but using CF Flash or MicroDrive instead. An internal rechargable battery would be nice too.

The reason I want something like this is so I can easly access my documents, music, podcasts and movies from my Zaurus when I'm out and about, Work PC when I'm at work, and Home PC when I'm home. It would be an easy way to share files with other people too. A portable "Home Drive" if you will.

I would prefer WiFi but would settle for Bluetooth if that's what was available. Although I 'm guessing I couldn't stream movies through a BT connection.

Has anyone seen anything like what I'm rambling about? Or something that could be altered to suit my needs? I wonder if there is an adaptor to convert the IDE 2.5 connection to CF? ... just found this: damnsmalllinux.org

Although... if I start carying around any more gadget and gadget accessories I'm going to start looking like a geek.  

[deluxe]

Does logmein.com fit the bill? With that free service I can access my home PC's from any hotspot.
Of course, having 8 gig of storage on a CF card sort of reduces the necessity..... ;-)

[Antikx]

Thanks, that's a neat solution but I don't want to be dependant on being connected to the internet. I also wonder how friendly logmein is with *nix?

[speculatrix]

I too have been wondering about portable mass storage devices, something I can put in the car and then use the Z as an mp3 player.

I've got two choices:

with my 6000, use usb host and have an external usb disk with a separate power supply. Pros: easy to do. Cons: lots of cables (power to Z, radio adaptor cable/dongle, usb cable to drive, drive power supply [unless powers off Z])!

with my 6000 or 860, use a wifi-enabled storage device and read the data over that. Pros: easy to do. Cons: finding off-the-shelf portable [shock resistant] wifi hard drive.

[Da_Blitz]

laptop IDE to CF converter would work well (i see you have found one already)

Dlink also make a box like that and i belive there is linux firmware on openslug.com (might need to click a link or two) so you can give it nfs or somthing else if you prefer it

[desertrat]

I've wanted a portable wireless storage device for some time now [...]

This device is kind of what I want: expansys.ca
But is is pretty large and uses a power hungry 2.5 hard drive.
I would be something like the ASUS WL-HDD above but using CF Flash or MicroDrive instead. An internal rechargable battery would be nice too.

I not sure exactly what you mean by portable, but the ASUS WL-HDD is not portable in the sense that you need a PSU to to power it - but if that's OK with you then there are quite a few choices out there. For a start because the WL-HDD has a USB port you can plug in any card reader and have access to CF/SD/etc. But if you're "only" going to be using card media then there is no sense in getting a WL-HDD. I use a WL-500g deluxe, which has 2 USB (2.x) ports, 32MB of RAM.

-- cheers

[Antikx]

I've wanted a portable wireless storage device for some time now [...]

This device is kind of what I want: expansys.ca
But is is pretty large and uses a power hungry 2.5 hard drive.
I would be something like the ASUS WL-HDD above but using CF Flash or MicroDrive instead. An internal rechargable battery would be nice too.

I not sure exactly what you mean by portable, but the ASUS WL-HDD is not portable in the sense that you need a PSU to to power it - but if that's OK with you then there are quite a few choices out there. For a start because the WL-HDD has a USB port you can plug in any card reader and have access to CF/SD/etc. But if you're "only" going to be using card media then there is no sense in getting a WL-HDD. I use a WL-500g deluxe, which has 2 USB (2.x) ports, 32MB of RAM.

-- cheers
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Ya, I was thinking that I could use an externel, rechargable PSP battery or something along those lines to power the WL-HDD. I think the WL-HDD take 5 volts.
Perhaps an over the sholder and around the back, double gun holster could be modified to hold the WL-HDD and the battery. You know the holster I'm talking about... the ones that 60's/70's TV show cops wore.  OK... maybe I'm going over the top now.

[speculatrix]

hmmm, the WL-HDD fits the bill quite nicely. for in-car use, just need a DC-DC converter (not too expensive for a reasonable quality one, input 10-20V dc, output 5V)... use wifi on zaurus to access file system and play mp3s.

use an ad-hoc network, so when you get home it joins your wifi zone, and simply rsync across any new mp3 files!

[speculatrix]

p.s. what would you recommend as a good mp3 player/controller for Z. kino is quite good when you want to select a particular playlist, but it's no good for browsing content by id3 tag (like, say, winamp), and needs a stylus too (would want something suitable for finger operation to use it in a car).

[desertrat]

OK... maybe I'm going over the top now.

I think so too

Me, I'll just get myself a few CF/SD cards instead, no hassle, no [extra] power required, extremely portable  

-- cheers

[speculatrix]

OK... maybe I'm going over the top now.

I think so too

Me, I'll just get myself a few CF/SD cards instead, no hassle, no [extra] power required, extremely portable  

-- cheers
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how about a portable paper-tape reader, in a nap-sack... very robust data storage, as long as it doesn't rain. getting the desired 128kbps for mp3 might mean a lot of paper!!!

[Antikx]

hmmm, the WL-HDD fits the bill quite nicely. for in-car use, just need a DC-DC converter (not too expensive for a reasonable quality one, input 10-20V dc, output 5V)... use wifi on zaurus to access file system and play mp3s.

use an ad-hoc network, so when you get home it joins your wifi zone, and simply rsync across any new mp3 files!
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I was thinking of that after I my last post.  I have an inverter that I use for charging my vidcamera.  Hmmm...
You've got me thinking.

[speculatrix]

hmmm, the WL-HDD fits the bill quite nicely. for in-car use, just need a DC-DC converter (not too expensive for a reasonable quality one, input 10-20V dc, output 5V)... use wifi on zaurus to access file system and play mp3s.

I was thinking of that after I my last post.  I have an inverter that I use for charging my vidcamera.  Hmmm...
You've got me thinking.
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don't use inverter, just convert 12V to 5V. about US$50. google for "dc-dc converter 5v 12v".

[Antikx]

don't use inverter, just convert 12V to 5V. about US$50. google for "dc-dc converter 5v 12v".
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That's a good idea but I already have the inverter so I may as well use it. We use it for our cooler too.

[Da_Blitz]

dc-dc converter should give you better battery life in my opinion

however if you are using flash cards or laptop battries then most of the cases can be run at 5v with a bit of soldering