Watch closely.  I am about to break one of the cardinal rules here at Gear Diary.  It has always been our practice to put a break immediately after the first picture.  But I am going to eschew that rule for a minute.  So I can show you exactly what One Terabyte looks like…

There it is.  One Terabyte!!  Now, some of you may be looking at that wondering what the big deal is.  So, let me tell you about my first computer.  I was a sophomore in college.  Yes, you read that right.  I went to college with a Smith Corona electric typewriter.  For you youngsters, well, I will leave you to research exactly what a typewriter is – or was.  And bonus points to anyone who can pinpoint the reason for the QWERTY keyboard that you find on every computer ever made.

Anyway, my first computer was a speed demon 386, running MS DOS.  I somehow managed to cram Windows 3.1 in there by tweaking the 4 (yes f-o-u-r-4) megabytes of RAM.  I can also tell you that Windows used a disproportionately large amount of space on the 20 Megabyte hard drive.

To those of us who used computers back then, a terabyte was almost a mythological place, like Mount Olympus or Atlantis.  And to be honest, I am still just a little amazed to have found it at all.  So, sit back, relax, and we’ll explore the mythical land of the terabyte, as interpreted by Hammer Storage and their Morespace external hard drive.

So, let’s take a look at the face of a terabyte.  Pretty innocuous, really.  It just looks like a black and gray box…a pretty big box at that.  Then again, with the speed at which flash memory is growing…and shrinking (did anyone else see Sandisk’s new 16 GB micro SDHC card?) it is only a matter of time before something this big can fit in the palm of your hand.

So, if the outside is not much to look at (all of your connections, including a power switch, are on the back) then there must be something good on the inside.  And what we find on the inside of that one terabyte box is…everything.  

• 250,000 songs
• 350 movies
• 1,000 digital video hours
• 330,000 photos
• 500 video games

And that all says nothing for your Word documents, personal records, files, and more.  Your entire life…stored in this small, black box.  It is really pretty amazing when you think of it like that.  Then again, there can be a danger in all of that.  Store all of your personal data on a single drive like this and then what?  What if it gets lost…or stolen?  What if it falls into the wrong hands?  Well, Morespace thought of all that (although, perhaps less dramatically) and included a Kensington lock slot on the back.  So, your data is secured in the drive, which is secure on your desk. 

But, I see there is still some concern there.  What if the drive gets damaged?  All of your personal data would be destroyed.  Well, unlike most external hard drives, Morespace does not come with a lot of complicated software to gum up your computer.  But the software it does include is perfect.  The only software you will find here is Total Media Backup, a backup solution which is incredibly easy to use, and helps protect your data from almost any eventuality.

And don’t think that the prospect of losing your data is so far fetched.  Morespace does not include a fan or any other cooling mechanism with this drive.  This has the advantage of making it absolutely silent.  The downside, however, is that it can burn out much faster than similar drives.  I have not had any issues with this yet, but make sure you are doing those backups just to be safe.

The Morespace drive connects to your computer, any computer, with ease.  Just grab the included USBcable and connect it.  Plug and play technology will automatically allow your MacOS, Windows XP or Vista based computer to detect and access the drive.  No word on how this will work with Linux. 

The other cool thing about the MoreSpace drive is that it can be made to fit into any space.  Despite its size, it can be made to rest on your desk horizontally (which you saw above) or vertically, and can even be stacked with other Morespace drives.  This means you can have an almost infinite amount of storage, without increasing the desktop footprint of the drives.

Of course, in these economy conscious times, all of this is meaningless if it will cost a fortune.  That is the beauty of the Morespace drive.  A full terabyte costs only $134.99.  To be honest, I had to look at that price several times.  I figured it had to be a typo.  A full terabyte cannot possibly be under $150…but it is.

Unlike many of the items I review, the Morespace drive has earned a permanent home on my desk.  In fact, it is now the primary repository for…well, for just about everything.  All of my photos, videos, programs…everything.  All of it is neatly stored in one place.  Then again, it is a bit humbling to know that pretty much every shred of critical information is stored in one tiny 7 inch block, and I still have 844 GB to go.

What I liked: Come on, it is a freaking terabyte.

What Need Improvement: A smaller box would be nice.  No cooling mechanism.

Where To Buy: It is available at a number of retail outlets.  I found Newegg to be extremely helpful

Price: $134.99 (based on Newegg).

As a final note.  I did not discuss any of the technical specs of this drive.  If you are the kind of person who wants to know more on the technical side, like Maximum Bus Transfer (480 MBps) or Sustained Transfer Rate (34 MBps) the check out all of the specs on the Hammer Storage website.