X-bit labs

Ultra-Small Hard Disk Drives: Does It Make Sense? (page 3)

Category: Storage

by Aleksey Meyev

[ 08/29/2007 | 12:56 PM ]

Software

The utility offers the following options: working with partitions (create, format, delete), file copying, creating diskettes with DiskWizard Starter Edition and SeaTools, performing drive self-test, setting SCSI devices.

There is a chance that someone may need these functions, but most users (especially those who have only one USB Pocket Hard Drive from Seagate) will most likely only use the drive self-test feature. All other operations can be more conveniently performed with standard Windows options, especially since Seagate DiskWizard is pretty slow overall. It takes about a minute to load, about 10 seconds on average to switch between tabs, and its interface, actually, leaves much to be desired.

The second application supplied with the drive is Pocket Hard Drive Toolkit – a small application that automatically minimizes into the tray icon upon OS boot-up. It is designed specifically for this hard drive series. It helps to create a password protected secure zone, allows adjusting partition sizes, creating a boot disk or formatting it if necessary.

To create a secure password protected zone, you have to select “Manage Partition” item in the “Tools” tab. With a slider you can determine how big this zone is going to be in relation to the entire HDD storage capacity. And after that you should go to “Security” tab where you check “Enable Write Protect” function and set the password.