Skatter Tech

When one normally thinks of a USB flash drive, a few beneficial characteristics like portability and convenience come to mind. Unfortunately, using a USB drive can often be a pain, especially due to storage constraints. At times, even a 60 GB drive may not be enough to transfer everything you want to. Then there’s the problem of the drive being full already, meaning you have to delete unwanted stuff first. One drive, however, might soon solve any problems associated with regular flash drives. At CES 2010, the folks from Dubai based company Infinitec revealed the world’s first “infinite USB flash drive.” Now, Infinitec has opened up pre-orders for the device, stirring up a fair amount of chit-chat.

What makes Infinitec’s new drive ‘infinite’ is it’s ability to utilize local wireless networks for the transfer of data. That’s right. It’s essentially a USB drive that’s wirelessly enabled. All you need to do is install the software and pair the device with your computer, which it recognizes as the host. From there on, the device uses your computer’s hard disk space as its own, in other word making ‘infinite.’ Two devices on the same local network can share and stream content with each other without worrying about drive capacity. All this is done through the software provided with the device called Infinite Portal which lets users adjust settings like maximum drive capacity, file system type, etc.

What’s even more interesting about Infinitec’s new IUM device is its dual Wi-Fi capabilities. What that means is that a IUM-enabled device can connect to another device while still being connected to the Web via a different network. This feature is incredibly useful as you don’t need to stop general web browsing in order to enable the IUM wireless bridge. While being connected to two networks seems inefficient, it’s certainly more useful than only being able to use the USB device to keep two devices connected. In addition to dual-Wi-Fi capability, the IUM device is supported by a wide variety of platforms and different types of devices. That includes the ability  to pair and stream media with video game consoles, printers, TVs and a whole host of other media devices. For example, users can stream photos on an LCD TV from their computer or stream media through an Xbox or PS3.

The ‘infinite’ USB drive is a device that offers an innovative solution for individuals data storage needs. It’s hard to point out any obvious flaws with the concept of wirelessly accessing a large amount of data via a thumb drive. That combined with the dual-Wi-Fi feature and the general compatibility of the IUM device make it even more appealing. As someone who loves collecting and sending music, I’ve long been on the lookout for the perfect solution. Instead of shuffling back and forth with small amounts out of hundreds of GBs of files, the ‘infinite’ USB drive might just be the savior someone like me has been looking for. We’ll just have to wait and see if it makes file transfer as efficient as Infinitec makes it out to be. Right now pre-ordering a device will cost you $129 and delivery will start August 31st.

Link: IUM Drive