The lightweight ORB drive is certainly not lacking in features as far as removable media goes. With SCSI, EIDE and parallel port versions available now, and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) and USB coming soon, the drive really has all of the major interfaces covered. The most important thing to note about removable storage solutions like the ORB drive is its fragility.

Able to withstand an operating shock of only 3Gs of force, this drive is somewhat delicate. While testing the ORB we put it through the bumps and jostles that it might experience in the typical user's hands, and found that it suffered from no errors or problems. Still, caution should be the rule when manipulating the ORB drive while it's running, better to be safe than sorry. This is somewhat of a change for consumers accustomed to jogging style CD players and handheld camcorders.

Beyond features, once in a while something catches our eye and makes a productan even greater value. In the case of the ORB drive, the extra value comes in the form of its price. We were able to find the EIDE version of this drive for just over $150, and disks for about $30. Compared to its closest competitor, the Iomega JAZ 2GB, the 2GB JAZ disks cost $80, and an internal 2GB SCSI JAZ drive is around $280. Clearly the ORB drive's primary selling points are its price tag and it's performance level, both of which are currently unmatched.