Drive Time

A supercar designer takes on computer accessories

April 26, 2007—What with all those MP3s, photos, and illicitly downloaded Welcome Back, Kotter episodes, it doesn't take much to fill up a computer's hard drive these days. Luckily, the unwieldy external drives of yore are being replaced by a new generation of models that offer both smart design and extra storage capacity. Chief among them is SimpleTech's new Pininfarina-designed SimpleDrive line, which sports a sleek, aerodynamic profile and comes in a variety of splashy colors (each capacity level gets a different hue). So how did an outfit known for sculpting curvaceous Ferraris find its way into the unsexy market for computer peripherals? "I think there was a lack of awareness concerning design in this sector," says CEO Paolo Pininfarina. "It is not because of a lack of clever and talented designers. It is because of a lack of vision concerning the power of design among final consumers." Well, whether or not you buy that reasoning, the hard drive–car connection doesn't end there. La Cie, the French brand behind Ora-Ito's "Brick" and Karim Rashid's "Skwarim"drives, offers a collection designed by Porsche. Now if only they could do something about your actual computer...

SimpleTech SimpleDrives, from around $100, www.simpletech.com; La Cie hard drives, www.lacie.com/us, also from around $100.