BIOS: Technology Means Business

V-Tec's Cutie OTG is an elegant USB external storage and backup device for users on the go. Besides is compactness and attractive aluminium finish, the drive has one unique feature - it provides a one-touch backup facility for digital photographers and PDA users, allowing you to backup files directly from digital cameras, card readers, PDAs or any other USB device that supports USB Mass Storage or Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) - without the need for a PC. Unfortunately, there's one major flaw - all images and files need to be stored on your digital camera, MP3 player, or mobile phone's built-in, and not on removable memory cards. This is because the Cutie OTG can't read directly from Flash memory cards. If you can accommodate this, or you're simply looking for a stylish external hard disk, the Cutie OTG is a reasonable offering. However, it's worth noting that there are faster drives available and ones that come with built-in shock protection.

Pros: Attractive design; one-touch backup; battery-powered
Cons: Can't backup data from memory cards; no security tools

V-Tec's latest innovation is a 'one-touch' backup device for those on the move. The aluminium-encased Cutie OTG is a battery-powered 2.5in. USB 2.0 hard disk (75x127x20.25mm, 220g) that is available with storage capacities up to 100GB, and should appeal to digital photographers because it lets you backup directly from digital cameras, PDAs or any other USB device that supports USB Mass Storage or the Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP). The range starts with a 20GB model reviewed here (£135 ex. VAT) and ends with a 100GB unit (£250 ex. VAT).

The really clever thing about the drive is that unlike a regular external hard disk, the Cutie OTG can backup data stored on a digital camera or any other supported USB device without using a computer. Just connect one of the four USB cables supplied to your camera and then press the 'Function' button on the back of the drive. The Cutie OTG then transfers all files from your camera to the hard disk, allowing you to restore valuable storage space on your Flash memory card.

Unfortunately, there's one major flaw with this process. All images and files need to be stored on your digital camera, MP3 player, or mobile phone's built-in, and not on removable memory cards. This is because the Cutie OTG can't read directly from Flash memory cards. This, of course, is a significant flaw because you first have to transfer files to your device's internal memory - which, of course, it may not even have. In addition, files created by new high-end digital camera's can be huge, so it'll take you a long time to frustratingly transfer files from a memory card to a device's built-in memory, and then to the Cutie OTG.

External hard disks are great for providing additional data storage, data transfer and backup facilities. They also add piece of mind when you know that you've got important data backed up and stored somewhere secure, such as a safe or off-site office. Transferring data to a hard disk is also a lot quicker and more intuitive than having to worry about optical or tape media and recording software.

On the downside, hard disks are more likely to fail than an CD/DVD or tape drive, they're more delicate and less likely to survive knocks and bumps, and they're more expensive. However, the attractive appeal and compactness of the Cutie OTG, and the fact that it comes with a built-in Lithium-ion rechargeable battery (lasts for about 1 hour of transfers and can then be recharged through the USB port or an optional 5V AC adapter) will likely be enough to convince many that an external hard disk is the most practical way to carry relatively large volumes of data around.

In terms of technical details, V-Tec only states that the Cutie OTG has a claimed data transfer rate of up to 480Mbit/s. However, in our tests we can reveal that it has a spin speed of 4200rpm, cache buffer of 8MB, and access time of 18ms. These speeds are way off a regular hard disk drive, but are relatively good considering the drive is destined for personal use on the move. The drive supports systems running Windows 98/SE, ME, 2000 and XP, as well as Mac OS 9.0 or higher. File systems supported include FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS.

The Cutie OTG is a reasonable performer, highlighted by Business Disk WinMark 99 and High-end Disk WinMark 99 scores of 5090 and 16300, respectively. However, the data-transfer line on the disk inspection test is a jaggy rather than smooth, which indicates that the quality of platters is not of the highest standard and data transfer rates will be irregular, thus resulting in unsteady recording density or read performance. For example, from a clean format of the Cutie OTG you can expect data transfer speeds of around 24KB/s to 16.9KB/s. Don't be too put off however, as all hard disks suffer from speed reductions across their platter(s) - the sign of a top-quality drive is determined by the degree of this difference.

About our tests:
BIOS uses VeriTest's WinBench 99 version 2.0 to test the performance of a computer's components. It scores tell you how well a hard disk performs when executing disk operations. Because the test reproduces the kind of disk activities applications carry out, you can use the results as a guide to the kind of throughput you can expect to see when working with a hard disk's subsystem. In most benchmarks, the higher the score, the faster the component. However, in the CPU Utilisation tests, the lower the number is better. This is because the CPU Utilisation measures the percentage of total processor time the PC spends running that test. The less time the CPU spends on the test, the more time it has to do other things. On the Disk Inspection graph, the left-hand side of the graph is the direction to the outer radius of a platter and the right-hand side to the inner radius. Dynamic change in a speed within a zone means unsteady recording density or read performance.