There have been a few extraordinary events in the life of yours truly. The Cubs trip to the NLCS in 1989 stands out as does the 1997 NCAA championship win for the Arizona Wildcats. But this my friends is more exciting than both of those moments, yes I said it, better than postseason baseball in Wrigley and better than a double overtime championship win. It is the debut of the Accutower Flash USB duplicator.
Just as the propeller gave way to the jet engine and the stove gave way to the microwave oven, the world of data storage has also gotten faster. Data storage formats like floppy disks and optical discs have now given way to solid-state USB flash drives, the latest and greatest way to store data. In the duplication world, the torch of speed has been passed to the Accutower FLASH, the fastest new way to make copies of USB drives.
So here we go, let’s talk about this thing, this great big powerful beautiful thing, this revolutionary mind-blowing thing, this USB duplicator that has really earned its moniker as “The world’s most powerful USB Duplicator”.
The world of digital media is changing and the new rock star of the industry is the teeny USB drive. As a re-writable digital device the USB drive is appearing everywhere. Building on the fact that any computer worth turning on has a USB port, the USB drive is quickly making a name for itself. So what do you do when you need 2000 copies of a USB drive to hand out at this weekend’s big conference? Well you turn to a USB duplicator. You have a few choices in the market, some hardware based units that will copy 3, 7, or 11 drives at a time, or maybe a PC based unit that can copy 7 to 20 at a time. The hardware units are a bit confusing to use and the software based models rely on a Windows PC (that you have to provide) and so they tie up your time and your workstation. What should you choose? The answer becomes clear as soon as you look at the Accutower Flash. The Accutower flash is that rare item that falls into the win-win category, you get speed, power, scalability, AND low price. The best part is you get all of this and you sacrifice nothing.
 The XL700 is one of two new Control Centers that carry the Accutower FLASH name. If awards were given for small and cute duplicators, this thing would be a shoo-in. Don’t let its small size fool you, because this machine is fully loaded for maximum USB duplication. It features 7 USB target ports, 2 USB source ports, a 25-in-1 card reader, and a built-in 80 GB hard drive. Trust me when I say that it takes some very clever engineering to fit all that technology into a box slightly larger than a toaster...mmmm toast.
 The big brother to the XL700 is the XL2800. The XL 2800 Control Center is everything a USB duplicator should be, and more! The case sports a sharp metallic blue finish and contains 28 USB target ports, the same 2 USB source ports, card reader, and hard drive as its little brother but add a DVD/CD drive! Boy howdy, this sure is one sweet duplication machine right here.
With the Accutower Flash you get everything you need, just plug it in an off you go. It is easy to use with the included mouse, keyboard, and 17” LCD flat panel monitor. But the real power comes from the Command Center Software from MasterUSB. A simple graphical interface makes operation a snap. Designed around the idea of easy AND powerful the software design is really impressive, it even satisfies the uber geek in me because it can be run entirely by the keyboard shortcuts.
So let’s talk numbers. Accutower Flash offers 2 control centers and 2 add on towers. The Control Centers are the heart of the system and are available in a 7 port version and a 28 port version. Each Control center operates as a duplicator on their own, so you can copy up to 7 at a time with the 7 port or copy up to 28 at a time with the 28 port, simple enough. NOW, for the killer feature. You can add an additional “add on” tower for extra capacity, and these “add on” towers are available with either 21 ports or 49 ports. YES, that is right I said 49 ports, and for those of you doing the quick math that means that the Accutower Flash is capable of copying 77 drives at once!
Talking about the numbers leads us into talking about “scalability”, possibly my favorite part. You can start with a just a control center then get an “add on” tower for additional ports. With a 7 port Control Center (2100X) you can go from 7 to 28, or from 7 to 56. With a 28 port Control Center (4900x) you can go from 28 to 49, or from 28 to 77. Adding a tower couldn’t be any simpler either, it only took me 4 clicks to change the configuration in the software and POOF all the additional ports showed on the screen.
 Let’s talk about function. The software has a color coded scheme to tell you when drives are inserted, when they are mounted, busy, complete, they even have a black color to indicate if the drives has partition errors, more on that later. I especially liked the feature where the corresponding light on the screen changes with the drive you plug in, no matter where you plug it in. This is an interface even my mom would use.
With the Accutower Flash you can copy from a USB drive, a CD, a DVD, any of the 25 supported flash card types (all of the major formats are supported), or even copy your projects onto the internal hard drive so you can recall them later. You can copy to any number of drives plugged anywhere in the tower(s). Making copies is a 3 click process, select a source, mount your drives, and click copy.
There is a Format/Volume label function that will format the target drives and change their Volume Labels (the name that appears when you plug in a drive into a computer). The format was so fast I didn’t believe it was possible, the format of 77 drives only took 5.18 seconds, I was skeptical so I checked all of my drives (yes all 77 of them) and they were all properly formatted, VERY IMPRESSIVE!
I wanted to know more about the black color so I thought I would throw this thing a curveball by inserting drives I knew were screwed up. A few seconds after I put them in they were identified in black and a new button appeared for Partition repair. I clicked on this button, it asked me if I wanted to attempt repair, then a few moments later they showed up ready. I copied data onto them and brought them back to my workstation and now they work great. EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE!
Operation could not be simpler and the power and reliability were flawless. I am just about out of superlatives for this thing so I am creating a new scale, let’s call it “The Tech Guy’s chubby thumb scale”. This product has set the scale against which all other products will be compared and has earned a rating of “5 chubby thumbs up”.
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