Nifty microSD MiniDrives For MacBooks

The Nifty MiniDrive is a forthcoming SDXC card reader for (most) SDCard slot equipped MacBook models.

How It Works

The MiniDrive is easy to use. A microSD card is simply inserted into the MiniDrive, which is then placed in the MacBook’s SD card slot. Unlike an SD card which sticks out about 1cm from the body of the computer, the MiniDrive sits flush against the body of the MacBook, becoming a semi-permanent feature of the computer. It is this complete integration with the MacBook that distinguishes it from other forms of removable storage that must be continually disconnected from the computer.

Removal

Whilst the MiniDrive is designed to be a semi-permanent feature of the MacBook it can be easily removed using the Nifty Tool (included with the MiniDrive) which is simply inserted through the specially designed eyelet at the front of the MiniDrive.

The MiniDrive As A Storage Solution

The MiniDrive means more storage for the things that are most important to you – holiday snapshots, music, movies and any documents you may need with you, wherever you go.

Currently the largest capacity microSD card available to put in a MiniDrive is 64GB. Of course the MiniDrive is bound only by the capacity of the microSD card inside it and with this technology set to grow, the MiniDrive will continue to remain relevant.

The MiniDrive As A Back-up Solution

Completely water and air tight, the average microSD card is about as rugged as it gets. Their robust design means that when combined with the MiniDrive they are perfectly suited as a primary back-up device.

With the Minidrive designed as a semi-permanent feature of the computer, a daily back-up of your critical files may be set up and then occur automatically without having to remember to plug anything in. If you happen to spill coffee on your computer or drop it down the stairs, you can simply remove the MiniDrive to access your backed up files, meaning you will not be forced to re-do days, weeks or even months worth of work, or even worse lose memories in the form of photos, or videos that may be irreplaceable.

Flash memory will eventually wear out, but it will not be a problem.

The typical microSD card has a write cycle durability of 10,000 writes per bit. As modern microSD cards are designed to write evenly across the entire bank of memory, theoretically, any bit that has just been written to should not be written to again until all other bits have been written.

In practice, you will have some bits sitting idle as you often will keep certain files for an extended period on the drive (i.e. only reading those bits), while others are changed regularly. However, on the provision that the drive is never completely full, and you do a full re-write every time you use it, you will generally have a fair degree of latent memory that any write cycles may be spread over.

As a result you will have far more than 10,000 writes of your drive before you see any failure. In the most extreme example; you should be able to do a reformat of the entire drive, 10 times a day, for 3 years before there is a memory failure.

Specs

MiniDrive is designed to match the computer for which it is designed. This is especially true of the aluminium front of the MiniDrive which will go through the same kind of rigorous anodizing process that the MacBook Air, Pro and Retina go through themselves. Naturally looks are not everything, and to ensure reliability and longevity the components selected have been tested to be reliable for over 10,000 insertions and removals of a microSD card.

Note that the casing material of the main body will be made from engineering plastic in the production model, whereas in the prototype model seen in the video it is made from aluminium.

The MiniDrive will work with either Windows or Mac, but it all depends on the dimensions of your computer’s SD card slot.

Nifty strongly recommends getting the correct MiniDrive for your version of MacBook as each MiniDrive is designed specifically for the MacBook it is intended to be used for, however:

The MiniDrive Air can go in the MacBook Air, Pro and iMac

The MiniDrive Pro can only go into the MacBook Pro and iMac.

The MiniDrive Retina can go into the MacBook Pro Retina, MacBook Pro and iMac.

MiniDrive Retina

The MiniDrive Retina is compatible with the 15″ version of the MacBook Pro Retina. It will not currently work with the 13″ version.

The 15″ version of the MacBook Pro Retina has a Secure Digital Extended Capacity, or SDXC reader in their SD card slot. This format can support a microSD card of up to 2TB (2000GB), meaning they can utilize the 64GB microSD cards currently available on the market today.

MiniDrive Pro

The MiniDrive Pro is compatible with all non-retina versions of the MacBook Pro that have an SD card slot (the 17″ MacBook Pro does not have an SD card slot).

All non-retina versions of the MacBook Pro that have an SD card slot from the mid 2009 refresh onwards have a Secure Digital Extended Capacity, or SDXC reader in their SD card slot. This format can support a microSD card of up to 2TB (2000GB), meaning they can utilize the 64GB microSD cards currently available on the market today.

MiniDrive Air

The MiniDrive Air is compatible with all 13″ versions of the MacBook Air made since mid 2010.

All 13″ versions of the MacBook Air made since mid 2010 have Secure Digital Extended Capacity, or SDXC reader in their SD card slot. This format can support a microSD card of up to 2TB (2000GB), meaning they can utilize the 64GB microSD cards currently available on the market today.

Pre-order price – $35.00

Shipping In December

For more information, visit:
http://theniftyminidrive.com/collections/minidrives

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