iTwin
MRP: $104 (Rs 5500)


UPDATE (19-01-2012): iTwin now supports more than two devices. This takes away one negative point of the device, allowing your data to be accessed by more than one person simultaneously. For more information, head over to http://www.itwin.com/itwin_multi.php.

---

 

Every once in a while, you find yourself in a situation where you wished you could access the files on your home or office computer. There are certainly a lot of solutions available for this, but a new and innovative solution offered by iTwin is certainly worth a look. iTwin consists of a pair of two similar looking USB dongles that appear like USB flash drives. The company claims, these USB dongles, when paired and plugged into two different online computers, act like they are two ends of a cable connected by an invisible cable, thus allowing data transfer between the two. Available for Windows as well as the Mac, iTwin uses AES-256 encryption to make sure your data is secure from unauthorized access.

 

 

Features
iTwin consists of two identical USB dongles attached to each other back-to-back just like conjoined twins. They join with each other using proprietary connectors and they fit so snugly that it appears like one single device. These are available in lustrous lime green and steel grey colours, and we received the latter. There is a blue LED on either side of each of these dongles, indicating activity.

 

 

How It Works
The purpose of this device is to provide a secure P2P connection between the two computers on which each of these dongles are installed. When you use it for the first time, you must plug it in your local computer for initial setup, while the pair is connected to each other. Make sure that the computer is online.

 

 

If Autorun functionality has been disabled on your computer, you can run the iTwin application by browsing to the device in Windows Explorer. In the first step of installation, accept the EULA and click on Install iTwin. The software will then check for updates and download them if required before proceeding further.

 

 

In the next step, enter a friendly and easy-to-remember name for the iTwin pair. Henceforth, the devices will appear with this name. Click OK to proceed further.

 

The next step allows you to enter your email address to be used to create and send a Disable Code. This code helps you to remotely disable the device in case you lose it or if it is stolen. An email will be sent to you with separate disable codes for each of the iTwin parts. You are advised to preserve the email because it also contains a URL link to directly terminate the connection between the iTwins. Detach one half of iTwin to take it with you to access data from any online computer.

 

 

At this point, the folder for iTwin connected to the local computer will pop open. You can identify this as the local folder by the green connector logo with the label Local Files. This is a virtual folder and therefore you can drag and drop an unlimited amount of data from your local hard drive or even from your network to here. When you move data to this folder, you don't actually anything, but rather it is similar to sharing the files and folders to be accessible on any online computer to which the other half of the iTwin is connected.

 

 

Now connect the other half of the iTwin to another online computer while keeping the local computer powered on and online. The device is detected and attempts to connect to the remote iTwin. Once connected, it shows the same files that you had dragged and dropped into the local iTwin. You can identify this as the remote folder by the dark orange connector logo with the label Remote Files. The remote files can be accessed just like you access them on the local hard drive, thus allowing all read and write operations including copy, move, edit, save, etc.

 

 

Each of the iTwin devices has its own Remote Files and Local Files virtual folders, which can be switched to by right-clicking on the system tray icon. The two halves can be used interchangeably, thus none of them is a master or a slave.

For those who are paranoid about security, you can make your data even more secure by protecting it via a password. To do this, you can right-click on the system tray icon, select Security Options, and then Set iTwin Password. A window will pop up asking you to create a password for the iTwin pair. This password will be required each time you plug in the device henceforth.

 

 

In case you happen to lose one of the paired iTwins, all you need to do is unplug the other half from the computer and the files will no longer be remotely accessible.

The time taken for data transfer depends on the internet connection speeds at both ends. While this is a non-issue in countries with fast internet speeds such as the US, it is certainly not the case in India. This severely hampers the usability of this device.

The Verdict
iTwin is no doubt a unique and innovative solution offering remote access to your data with AES-256 encrypted communication security. It is essentially similar to a P2P access between two peers and no one else. You can easily share files between a Windows PC and a Mac because it works with both. It is extremely easy to use as all the user needs to do is to follow the step-by-step guided process. Data access to one iTwin is limited to the amount of data available to the other iTwin, thus reducing the risk of unnecessarily exposing sensitive data. However, it is more appealing to small business owners than to the general user because the former can save cost of owning real servers and VPNs, but still enjoy the same benefits of secure access to their data. We still think that some kind of backup option to sync content between the local folders of the devices would have added a lot of value to this product. The general user will be happy with other options including remote computer access services such as Logmein.com, TeamViewer, or ShowMyPC.com, which also claim provide secure access to their computers and give access to the entire computer. Available for $104 (Rs 5500), iTwin is recommended for business owners, while general users can look elsewhere as mentioned earlier.

Features: 4/5
Performance: 3/5
Ease Of Use: 5/5
Value For Money: 2.5/5
Mojo: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

 

TAGS: Networking, Jayesh