Sony Giga Vault

[ballistic]

Giga Vault Press Release (http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/3077)

I wonder if Sony will provide connectivity of this device to the Clies? Virtually limited external storage, and self-powered to boot. It could provide for some interesting capabilities.

[Medcat99]

Seems like it would be pretty easy to connect it to a clie, but it's not something I would carry with me wherever I go. Might be nice though with a digital camera. I guess you could carry large documents in there as well.

[Spiral]

You can do almost the same with an hard-drive mp3 player. Differences would be it would be about 20gb's max, but would have a better battery life, and you can use it for osmething useful. A cheap hard-drive mp3 player wouldn't be much more either.

[zzarg]

would be interesting to see if you could connect a USB1.1 storage device (eg Sony MicroVault) to a Clie as an extended memory store..... much cheaper for those (and higher memory capacity) than current Memory Sticks.
And of course there are cheap BlueTooth and WiFi USB modules....

[ballistic]

Originally posted by zzarg
would be interesting to see if you could connect a USB1.1 storage device (eg Sony MicroVault) to a Clie as an extended memory store..... much cheaper for those (and higher memory capacity) than current Memory Sticks.
And of course there are cheap BlueTooth and WiFi USB modules....

The Giga Vault will be USB 2.0 or IEEE 1394 i.link/Firewire with different adapters. I can imagine an MS style module/interfaces for the NX and NZ that would turn the Giga Vault into a sled that the NX could dock or 'piggy-back' onto.

It would be much more cost effective and would provide far greater storage capacities than the MS Pro.

[timewaster77]

It sounds like all that would be needed would be an adapter that would either plug into the MS slot or use the Clie's bottom connector. Also a driver would most likely be needed. But if that is done you could then carry around 40,000 minutes of MPEG 352x240 video on the hard drive. And if you had a Divx player for the Clie, or even used Kinoma you could carry around a ridiculously large amount of video.

[robrecht]

Would this not hold ATRAC3 music files copied from one hard drive to another???

Related question: Can I convert my ATRAC3 files to MP3 files without re-recording from CDs?

[hherbzilla]

...in a device that can easily fit into a shirt pocket...
yeah, right!
http://news.sel.sony.com/digitalimages/images/2003/75/23/137523.jpg

[UKClieBoy]

Doesn't the new NZ series have a cradle equipped with a USB port? Possibilites here?

[sebring]

Originally posted by hherbzilla

yeah, right!
http://news.sel.sony.com/digitalimages/images/2003/75/23/137523.jpg

I recently bought a similar device. Mine is made by Archos. It is about the size of a N series Clie and weighs about 20% less than the Clie. Unlike the Sony device, mine does not have a rechargable battery, it is powered by the USB port, a PS2 port or an optional 5v AC adapter. It is a 20gb hard drive and comes with a USB 2.0 adapter cable. Firewire is also supposed to be available, but I haven't been able to find it. Judging from the picture, mine is substantially smaller than the Sony and it cost about half the price of the Sony. Judging from Archos web site, they are also coming out with 30 and 40gb versions. Mine works great on USB 1.1. I have ordered a USB 2.0 PC Card adapter for my notebook. USB 1.1 is fast enough not to notice for 90% of what I do, but for copying or moving large directories USB 2.0 should make a big difference. Mine definitely is pocket sized.