back to article A load of Tosh: External hard drives the new 'personal clouds'

Calling an external hard drive on a desk at home "a personal cloud" is a bit of a stretch - but that is exactly what Toshiba is doing with its latest 3.5in disk product, the STORE.E CLOUD. After announcing internal-fitting 3.5in drives using technology acquired from Western Digital, Tosh has quickly followed up with 2TB and …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Richard Scratcher
    Facepalm

    See icon

    See title

    1. N13L5
      Facepalm

      Re: See delusion

      I think the scribe of the article is off his rocker...

      With 6 grand for 3x1GB USB sticks, we can safely say that Toshiba's NAS has enough time to absolve a full service life, before those USB sticks come down to challenge it in its price range.

      And cloud with "guaranteed up time" is something that's guaranteed only for as long as the current tech bubble lasts.

      Is he not watching governments all over the world clamp down on electronic communications, with folks like Anonymous & co giving them the perfect excuse?

      The only thing sure in regards to that fantastic distributed cloud is that some criminals, or worse, some government agency is going to end up with your data.

      Because nothing has changed in our modern times: Governments are just the most powerful crime syndicate in any given country, well second most powerful now; bankers took the number one spot, since they managed to absorb control of the money supply.

  2. frank ly
    Facepalm

    "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

    Please tell me where I can get these high capacity USB sticks. (Or very big pockets)

    1. Kane
      Thumb Up

      Re: "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/09/swiss_penknife_ssd/

      Your welcome!

      1. Bob H
        Trollface

        Re: "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

        At $2000 you need big pockets indeed!

        1. Fink-Nottle
          Thumb Up

          3TB USB Stick

          ... just think how many MOD documents or Child Benefit records you could loose down the back of a train seat.

        2. LateNightLarry
          Paris Hilton

          Re: "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

          Not so much big pockets as DEEP pockets... or a very big wallet.

          Paris, just because she's there...

      2. Annihilator
        Paris Hilton

        Re: "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

        @Kane Last I checked, 1TB < 3TB

        1. Kane
          Go

          Re: "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

          @Annihilator - Last I checked, "sticks" is plural, so 3x 1TB = 3TB

          1. Annihilator
            Pint

            Re: "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

            @Kane - Touché! :-) Final pedant, "will hold more" means 3 x TB !> 3TB. I'll leave it as an intellectual exercise to work out how we can solve that problem too :-D

      3. Frumious Bandersnatch

        Re: "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

        Your welcome!

        My what now?

    2. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket. "

      Yes, oops. I did intend to fully qualify the USB stick quip by referring to what we'll be carrying in our pockets in the future. Brain fart in the morning. Apologies for the stupid oversight.

      Chris W (not Chris Mellor).

  3. Tank boy
    Facepalm

    Apple?

    Could the author mention that any more in this shoddy work? The short answer is no.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Agreed

    That's just going too far... If there's no upping or downing it can't be high as a cloud, must just be fog, or just smoke and mirrors (although probably not Raid 1).

  5. SuperTim

    I can see it.

    It is a personal cloud because it isn't your main store (it is designed to back up your files) and it is accessible from anywhere. That does kind of match the definition of cloud storage to some. Sure it isn't itself robustly backed up or strung across several servers with guaranteed uptime, but you can put your stuff on it, and then get it from anywhere so that is cloudy enough. It also has the benefits of you knowing exactly where all your stuff actually is. So what if they use the catchy cloud word. Apple have a time machine, but nobody has suggested they are no Doc Brown...

    I run a similar set up with my home server and it is handy, but this may be handier still.

    1. DJ Smiley
      Thumb Up

      Re: I can see it.

      Well, timemachine = sequential backups but no one pulled them up on that.

    2. simplifried

      Re: I can see it.

      @SuperTim; I agree with you but will qualify. One of the key (selling) points of "cloud" is it's off site location and the implied or stated promise of a high level of curation and security. I believe the author's contention is based on that distinction. However, it is at best, an arguable point. Like you I am more comfortable in assuming the role of curation, including security, simply because I have no trust in device reliability, fate, and someone else's surety. That said, your point, imho, is enough to make a product and the thread only quibbles about what to call it. As we all might agree, clouds are a nebulous and ephemeral phenomena , and therefore cloud may in fact be exactly the right term for all of backup. Reaching the goal is still largely dependent on the user.

      1. Displacement Activity

        Re: I can see it.

        One of the key (selling) points of "cloud" is it's off site location and the implied or stated promise of a high level of curation and security

        I suspect there's nothing in Toshiba's Ts&Cs that says you have to put this in your own living room.

  6. killakrust
    Trollface

    3TB + memory sticks FTW

    "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket." - Awsome, can you point me in the direction of these 3TB+ USB sticks?

  7. Doug Glass
    Go

    Now I Understand

    If the external storage is connect to the computer by a cable thats say one meter long it's well ... external storage. If the cable and other pathways are say 10,000km then it's "cloud" storage. Glad I got that all cleared up.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    USB sticks

    "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket"

    I'll be generous, let's say, 32GB sticks. A quick comparison (hdd v usb sticks, quantity, price, weight, pocket size). I'll spare you the details, for obvious reasons. So please!

    p.s. yes, the name of this box is beyond ridiculous.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: USB sticks

      There's a 512Gb USB stick on eBay right now for £35. You could stick six of those on a hub. Can you RAID up USB sticks?

      1. simplifried

        Re: USB sticks

        Good luck with that but with the kind of flash used for that stick, I fear you will be backing up the backup ad infinitum

  9. Steve Renouf
    FAIL

    Windows, Android &OSX...

    So where is Linux then?

    1. Steve Renouf
      Facepalm

      Re: Windows, Android &OSX...

      Er.. Umm.. I meant iOS of course - not OSX! Duh!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      So where is Linux then?

      You said it all...apparently 2001 will be the year of desktop Linux.

  10. skipper
    Go

    Fair enough...

    The whole concept of 'Cloud' is just marketing BS anyway, generaly being used as a trendy new word for lots of stuff that could be done before, but not called cloud so wasn't current.

  11. Haku

    Home cloud??

    Have the marketing team been smoking rainbows?

    1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: Home cloud??

      No, Unicorn horn.

  12. DaLo

    "What's needed is a drive vendor-built home storage hub with half-decent compute power and functionality to protect and deliver data - but simpler to run than a PC. You want to plug it in, set it up and leave it alone."

    The Synology range seem to be very good in this area

  13. GarethB
    Facepalm

    Wait I have a better option...

    "The box only holds 3TB - USB sticks will hold more and you can carry them in your pocket"

    I have seen 64MB USB sticks at a reasonable speed for just under £25 each. So you would need about 50 of them costing about £1200.

    I have a better idea which is cheaper and takes up less space. Its called an external hard disk...

  14. John H Woods Silver badge
    Happy

    Don't you need...

    ... fifty thousand 64MB sticks?

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Clouds

    I prefer mine outside the home and as far away from me as possible.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    It's fair to call this cloud

    Given that the term was rather meaningless to start off with. It's an internety storagey disky backupy thingymabob. Like every other 'cloud' device/service.

  17. AndrueC Silver badge
    Meh

    Frankly what else is the cloud apart from third party network storage and hosted VMs? It's hardly new technology - the only thing that's new is almost ubiquitous access over the internet.

  18. Slim
    Megaphone

    Bullsh*t Bingo

    Am I the only person who's sick of everything lately having the word "Cloud" in it's name or in the product description? It's the latest buzzword (Synergy anyone?) and I wish it'd sod off!

  19. JeffUK

    Can you store big data on it?

    I invented a private non-reduntant read-only cloud storage device.. I call it a piece of paper :)

    1. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge

      Re: Can you store big data on it?

      Dear sir

      I represent Apple inc. and that your 'piece of paper' storage idea infringes Apple patent #5639072522094-B

      As such , you are liable to costs stated at $5 for each 'piece of paper' produced and therefore you owe Apple inc $2.56322*10^24 in damages.

      If you wish to contest this, please apply at

      Cupertino City Courthouse

      California

      United States of America

      Thank you for your attention

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Off site

    Since it's internet-accessible I'd have thought that you can put it wherever you can get someone to agree to host it. It's just easier to get permission at home. That deals with location-independent.

    Now it just needs the software to be able to manage the storage and retrieval to multiple devices in a way that the user sees them as a single space. Then, as if by magic, a cloud appears!

    1. Anonymous Coward 15

      Re: Off site

      And wherever you can get assloads of upload bandwidth.

  21. Andy Farley
    Thumb Up

    HP MicroServer

    + OpenMediaVault for all your badly named storage needs.

  22. pixl97
    Devil

    Toony Cloudy Loony

    Why does Store.E Cloud make me think of Wile E. Coyote first thing? It makes me think of some spectacular device that ends in a spectacular failure.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_Road_Runner in case you were deprived as a child.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Mushroom

    Cloud

    I'm getting fed up of the phrase "cloud".

    I complained a while back about a website not working properly (the preview audio clips were stuttering). The website owner replied saying it couldn't go wrong because it was "in the cloud". He'd been sold his hosting on the fact it didn't use old fashioned servers, but "the cloud".

  24. This post has been deleted by its author

  25. JaitcH
    Happy

    No doubt ...

    as reliable as Amazon cloud, or the Apple cloud.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No doubt ...

      Yes, but at least you can't fall into a situation where everyone except yourself can access your "private" data.

  26. HippyFreetard

    Cloud is one of those weasly umbrella terms, like Web 2.0, Intellectual Property, or "because God." I have a Hotmail account from before the MS buyout. I used it to store my WAV files. When I was a kid, I had mates who stored their bleeping MOD files in each other's houses over phone lines.

    I can have a personal home server these days with a messenger-style protocol I can access from anywhere, but that's what it is. A server. Software as a service, is just a program running online, like Prestel. Virtualising the server OS to make it stretchable across hardware is tautologically that.

    But if somebody sells me a "Personal Cloud", I expect to ride around on it shooting lightning at people...

    Lumping unrelated things together under a single term is the opposite of science!

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Many people are just idiots

    Few corporations and even fewer individuals need cloud computing. It's like selling oil to the Arabs. If people are dumb enough to buy into this scam, then maybe they deserve to be scammed?

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like