Nifty MiniDrive Gets Fast Kickstarter Funding

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ome Kickstarter programs never get fully funded. Others just barely eke out the required amount by their deadline. But some, like the one started by Piers Ridyard, hit their target almost right away. In the case of Ridyard and his ingenious “Nifty MiniDrive” it took just 10 hours to reach the goal of $11,000.

What is the Nifty MiniDrive? Basically it’s a device to let you easily expand the memory of your Macbook. More specifically, it’s a card that houses a MicroSD card. And why is this so special?

If you own a Macbook or a Macbook Air, you may or may not know that your laptop has a slot for an SD card in the side (it sits between the headphone jack and one of the USB ports). Chances are even if you know about it you rarely use it, because the SD card sticks out about a centimeter, and who wants to mess with an SD card every time you want to use your laptop?

Enter the MiniDrive. Think of it as an adapter that lets you use a MicroSD card with your laptop. The beauty of it is that it fits into the SD slot so that it’s flush with the side of the computer. It’s like adding a second hard drive without having to take apart your Macbook, or pay Apple for an upgrade.

When Ridyard launched his Kickstarter program to raise the funds to manufacture this product, he thought the goal of $11,000 was a bit pie-in-the-sky. 

"I'm hugely elated by this," Ridyard said in an interview with the Huffington Post. "Kickstarter and the Internet is just such a powerful medium for this."

The Nifty MiniDrive Kickstarter has now gotten $130,946, more than 10 times its original goal, with 24 days left to go.