Duplicators have long been using the USB connector to allow the user to transfer content from a computer to either a single drive or directly to the duplicator’s hard drive (HDD). This method is often the easiest or only method by which the user can create the master disc or upload the master content onto the duplicator’s HDD. When it comes to CD or DVD, the transfer rate was adequate and didn’t take too much time that it would cause an issue.

Now, we are living in the world of Blu-ray and disc capacity is growing by leaps and bounds. The older USB 2.0 transfer rate (rated at 60MBytes/sec) is just not gonna cut it when you need to burn or transfer anywhere from 25GB’s to over 100GB’s of data. At that rate it would take hours to make a single Blu-ray master disc.

With the introduction and the implementation by Vinpower of the USB 3.0 (backwards compatible with USB 2.0) which offers a transfer rate up to 5Gbit/s, the transfer time will be knocked down to minutes or even seconds. This will enable those looking to duplicate content onto Blu-ray discs the ability to transfer that data through the USB 3.0 onto a master disc or the duplicator’s HDD rapidly and eliminate wasted time just to get started.

We’ve all seen these handy little devices that plug into the USB ports on our computers and allow us to carry around a tremendous amount of data. The current size leader is the Kingston DataTravler 300, boasting a massive 256 GB of data in the palm of your hand. This is equivalent to carrying around one of the following:

•  365 CD’s (700 MB each)
• 54 DVD’s (4.7 GB each)
• 10 Blu-ray’s (25 GB each)

The majority of these units are actually in the 4 GB to 8 GB range. Which is much larger than the $100 1 GB hard drive I bought 20 years ago. I wouldn’t have been carrying that around in the palm of my hand because there wouldn’t have been anything convenient to plug it into, to extract or share the data. Plus, one static shock or a strong magnet could wipe out all my data.

More and more we are receiving calls and inquires regarding our flash duplicators. We have flash duplicators ranging in size from 3-targets to 63-targets. The Vinpower units have many desirable features such as asynchronous copy mode and an encrypted erase function. The other day a wedding photographer asked me if this was the next wave for picture sharing. I’m not certain but now that USB ports are becoming a standard feature in cars and the fact that many of us carry these devices on our key chains, I’d have to say USB  might just be the next big wave of the future.