It's handier when it's pocket-sized
So how do you start off making a FireWire stick drive? Well, over at OCZ they cram all the technology into a small box. Actually, when I say a 'small' box, we've seen palmtop computers that make this first engineering tech demo look a bit chubby.
But don't get me wrong, this is just the first step in seeing if the technology works. After that comes the hard part - taking the hand-built first example and shrinking all the electronics down to a sensible, usable size.
So this first pic shows the casing that the finished drive will fit into and the box it's on is the hand-built engineering sample to prove that the technology works.
Click for larger imageThis next pic gives you a glimpse of what's inside the box - a couple of custom built PCBs, some chunky cables and highly technical sound-proofing and shock-proofing known as bubble-wrap. But this is all just to test the feasibility of building a FireWire stick drive before it's all shrunken down to fit that casing.
Click for larger imageAnd what's the point in having a FireWire stick drive? Well that's what this third pic is all about - as you can see for yourself, the performance of such a drive is far better than for a USB equivalent. Expect to see product hitting the shelves later this year.
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