DC power is provided directly through the PCMCIA interface. A model is available with a rechargeable battery for extended periods away from a power source. This is ideal for use with very low powered systems that don't have the battery capacity to support an external disk drive. An automobile lighter adapter is also available as an option.

The Travel HD utilizes a Type II PC card as the interface between the drive and the host computer. The card is hot swappable (with the exception of Windows NT 4.0) meaning that you can plug the card into the host computer's card slot, while the computer is running, and it's ready instantly. The Travel HD is typically assigned a drive letter such as D, E, F, etc. for all operating systems other than Windows CE. Windows CE assigns the Travel HD as another storage card.

With capacities of 10 Gb and greater, depending on the model, the Travel HD opens up many opportunities for the smaller computers with limited memory storage. Applications include backing up the main system hard drive, quickly storing large graphic files or images, or readily moving large amounts of data quickly from one computer to another - i.e. from the office to home.

The Travel HD utilizes shock absorbers to withstand the rigors of field use. In certified laboratory tests, the Travel HD passed all standard vibration, shock and drop tests for an instrument of its classification.

Installation is easy. Run the setup program and the driver software is installed in seconds. The driver software features power management allowing the user to optimize the Travel HD's configuration to conserve the computer's battery.