Came across an article today, which I thought was a very good read. It’s a niche article, but for anyone who deals with flash drives, I would suggest checking it out.
From the article:
The optical drive is nearly dead – they are no longer found in laptops and rarely found in tower PCs. With that said, the trend for giving out data is shifting to USB flash, not CD or DVD media. Because of this shift, many companies are taking a closer look at buying a USB duplicator.
There are several factors one must consider before spending thousands of dollars on a USB duplicator. We have broken down the most important considerations into four categories. After reviewing these four categories, you should have an excellent idea of which type of duplicator is best for your organization.
USB Duplication Speed
Speed is the first area you should analyze to figure out which direction you should go. When considering speed, we are not simply talking about the copy speed of the USB duplicator, but other factors as well, such as number of USB sockets and the user interface required for feedback during operation. Questions you should ask, include:
# How many USB drives will you need to copy in a day or week?
# How large is the data load in MBs or GBs?
# What kind of turn-around time do you have between a duplication request and when that request should be completed?
# Is there printing, or branding required, on the outside of the USB?
# Do you need proof of performance via a log file?
Answering the above questions will give you an idea of what type of USB duplicator to consider. The type of duplicator will be size, how many USB sockets, copy speed of the duplicator and what type of software, if any, your organization will need.
Your Production Crew
Your next step is to consider the production crew who will be running the equipment. Will there be non-technical people running the equipment, or will a more hands-on approach be required? Is the IT department looking to restrict user access to the equipment or restrict access to the data content during the duplication process?
Much of the above depends on how the data is received before copied to the USB flash drive. For example, a duplication company might receive a physical master from a client; where-as a fulfillment house may get content delivered from a server from an on-line order submission process.
Will the organization require multiple USB duplicators located in different parts of the world? Said another way, many global companies standardize on one manufacturer so the user experience is the same across multiple locations. This also makes production easier as both support and experience can be shared between divisions to streamline processes on a global scale.
Knowing the production crew, their capabilities and responsibilities will help narrow the search for the right piece of equipment.
Read-Only or Read-Write
The third category worth investigating is asking the state of what the USB should be once sent delivered. Is the organization looking to ship out a read-only flash drive? By default all flash drives are read-write. Because of this, many organizations fear a virus could jump onto the drive and spreading to other computers. With that fear in mind, most companies are looking for a USB duplicator which creates a read-only drive product. This means the USB drive is locked, or write protected. The files cannot be deleted or formatted off the drive, and more importantly, files cannot jump onto the drive.
Nexcopy is world leader in read-only flash drive duplicators and therefore used as an example of a duplicator system worth considering.
Lake Forest, CA — July, 2015 — Nexcopy Inc., introduces a new software suite which supports data locking content to secure digital media. The software function supports both full size Secure Digital card media and microSD card media. The data locking feature will turn the SD card into a read only card so data cannot be deleted or formatted off the device.
Write protecting, or data locking content to flash memory is an important security feature. With the Nexcopy software and duplicator, data can be copied to the memory card and as a final step the device will be write protected at the controller level. Performing the data lock at the controller level blocks any third party from manipulating, hacking or tampering with the original content.
With the Nexcopy duplication software and hardware solution, a content owner has the following benefits:
LAKE FOREST, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nexcopy Inc., a leading manufacturer in USB Duplicator solutions, announces their all new CF Duplicator system for data loading to Compact Flash cards.
Deep CF sockets with guides for easy insert and removal
CF Duplicator available in 15, 30 and 45 target systems
Powerful duplicator software with many advanced features
Unique data may be copied to each card
Nexcopy is announcing the all new design of our CF duplicator solutions. These robust and reliable CF duplicator systems are available in 15 socket, 30 socket and 45 socket configurations.
The new CF Duplicators by Nexcopy are designed with functionality and ergonomics in mind. With top loading CF sockets in combination with deep rail guides to easily insert and remove CF media the new system will virtually eliminate bent pins from high volume duplication of CF media.
“Coupling the power of Nexcopy’s Drive Manager software and the new CF duplicator design our system can handle any configuration requirement by contract manufacturers or fulfillment houses,” reports Greg Morris, President of Nexcopy. “The system is PC based and provides tools such as duplication from IMG files, unique data streaming to each socket, network connectivity and rich Graphical User Interface for performance feedback and log reporting.”
All CF duplicators can copy from an archive IMG file, from a physical master device and include binary bit by bit verification functions. These systems are ideal for bootable CF cards. The new CF Duplicators by Nexcopy Incorporated are available for immediate purchase with a starting price of $1,299 US dollars.
Source:Â Business Wire.
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Nexcopy announced their new 20 target SD Duplicator earlier today. Definitely a device for the ubergeek who’s into data loading Secure Digital media. At first glance you ask yourself “Who’d want 20 copies of their SD card from their camera?” But it’s clear Nexcopy isn’t chasing down the guys looking to make a 100 copies of their weekend Vegas photos [or are they?]. The SD duplicator is geared towards companies who send out software applications on SD cards for field devices, or need to manage a large number of miniSD cards for an army of Palm Pilots.
The SD200PC also works with microSD cards so the phone companies will have a field day loading up their phones with promo material for lucky customers. Which makes sense, because these Smartphones and PDAs are getting so powerful and the media has so much capacity, many people keep most of their data on microSD cards these days.
The unit connects via USB and has 20 numbered SD ports so it’s easy to identify which SD card is which. The unit comes with software that supports FAT and FAT32 formats and includes NTFS support with their bit-for-bit copy function which also supports Linux distribution packages for those embedded applications these ubergeeks seem to dream up. All SD formats are supports and for the not-so-techy users, the Nexcopy software has a job wizard to guide you through the SD duplication process.
The SD duplicator has a list price of $1,299 and available for immediate delivery.
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We reported a while back on the Nexcopy, USB Flash Drive Duplicator and today VConsole announces a similar system but larger capacity and encryption technology.
The VConsole appears to be lightening fast as well, with a copy speed of 91 seconds for 512MB of information. Taking a quick visit to their site I see the 91 seconds copy speed is the same for their 21 drive system, 42 drive system and 60 drive system. Hmm…strange how those speeds do show, even the slightest, sign of degradation in transfer speed.
Putting that aside, the 128 encryption function is a nice benefit, although not included with the base unit for $8,000, it does make you wonder what the price tag is for that feature. From what I’ve seen, most USB flash drive duplicators are used to copy content to give-away USB drives and if that’s the case, I’m not sure why you’d want to encrypt a viral marketing gadget. However, with USB getting more popular as a distribution medium, I’m sure there are plenty of uses for the encryption function.
The USB flash drive duplicator can work as a stand alone system or the user can launch a GUI interface to see more details. Vconsole mentions they have a multi-casting technology in the works for stringing multiple units together for expanded production. This would be of a big benefit for the guys over seas making the drives.
I like the VConsole product, but I honestly see a better fit for the general market with the Nexcopy Inc, USB Duplicator USB Duplicator and with the attractive price tag of $1,299 verse the VConsole $8,000 unit, you’ll need to take a hard, close look at which system best fits your needs.
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Your Production Crew
LAKE FOREST, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
We reported a while back on the