Fabrik external drives get eco makeover

By John Mello on July 28, 2008 10:11 AM

The company that brought style to a deadly dull product category released a revamped model line today. Fabrik, of San Mateo, Calif., a maker of external hard drives for computers, pulled the wraps off new versions of its SimpleTech SimpleDrive and Signature Mini products and introduced the eco-friendly [re]drive.

The new SimpleTech SimpleDrive family have storage capacities that range from 320 gigabytes ($99) to one terabyte ($259.99). Designed to be stacked either horizontally or vertically, the drives feature a new Turbo USB 2.0 interface that's 25% faster than traditional USB 2.0. What's more, the hardware has built-in cooling vents so it doesn't need a fan to contribute to the noise pollution of an office.

New colors have been added to its Pininfarina-designed Signature Mini drives. In addition to Black Cherry, Blueberry and Espresso the sleek portable storage devices also come in Cayenne and Ice. Storage capacities for the drives range from 160GB ($99) to 500GB ($229.99).

Packaging for the drives is 100% recyclable and their enclosures are made of recyclable plastics.

Fabrik is billing its new SimpleTech [re]drive as the world's most energy-efficient, resource-conscious Turbo USB 2.0 external storage and backup drive on the market.

Renewable and recyclable materials are in every aspect of the product where it's plausible and economically possible, according to the company. Bamboo, for example, one of the earth's most sustainable and environmentally-friendly natural resources, is used in the construction of the drive. Moreover, the drive's bamboo is local to its manufacturing facility thereby reducing the energy costs associated with transporting the raw material to the plant.

In addition, the drive's casing is made from aluminum because it is one of the most recycled metals on the planet. It also acts as a heat sink which, together with other design components, eliminates the need for a fan. The use of aluminum as well as a low-power internal hard drive, an Energy Star power adapter and a feature that automatically powers the drive on and off with a computer amount to power savings, the company contends, of as much as 90% over traditional external drives, or the equivalent of removing 475 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over the life of the drive.

"Many consumers are concerned with helping solve the most important environmental issue of our time--protecting our planet from the threats of climate change," Fabrik Vice President of Marketing Matt McRae said in a statement. "At Fabrik, we are making an effort to support the environment, while adopting our products to better meet consumer needs and interests."

"We know," he continued, "we have a lot more work to do across the board as a company, but we're committed to change and hope we will make a small dent in improving the environment--through our products, services, partner choices and company best practices."

Software included with the SimpleTech drives will automatically backup data periodically and includes an automatic file selection feature which will find files of a particular nature--for example, photo files--wherever they reside on a system and back them up without human intervention. It also contains integrated virus protection to guard against backing up infected files and the ability to create a disaster recovery CD that can be used to boot up a system that chokes on startup.

In addition to local backup software, each drive family comes with 2GB of free online storage. For power packrats, unlimited online storage is also available for $4.95 a month.