If you’ve wished you could connect your external hard drive to your computer without having to use the USB cable, now you can.

Imation announced Thursday the availability of the first wireless USB external hard drive, the Pro WX. The hard drive works just like any other USB hard drive, with one exception: it doesn’t require a USB cable.
Wireless USB has been under development for about five years, and some of the first products were demoed at CES 2009. This technology allows you to connect USB 2.0 devices to a computer wirelessly from up to 30 feet away with a throughput speed of up to 480Mbps.

The Pro WX system, which provides 1.5 TB of storage capacity, works within a 30 feet range of a user’s computer, and uses a dedicated one-to-one connection that stops a signal being intercepted.

The USB drive automatically backs up data whenever the user’s device comes within range. Operating at 15 megabits per second, the company said that the USB drive can backup a typical CD in under 50 seconds.

The wirless USB drive features an integrated stand for vertical or horizontal orientation, a low capacity indicator to tell when it is nearly full, and a built in sleep mode for energy conservation. The wirless USB drive, which supports the PC and the Mac, also includes a synchronization button for automatic data backup. It sells for $449.99 in the US.

The device may be the first wireless USB unit, but other wireless storage devices are available. Imation offers the StorCenter, a network attached storage device that features built in WPA wireless security.

Alternatively, Linksys features a Storage Link product that will connect existing USB storage devices to your wireless local network. And Asus sells a Wireless Storage Router which includes an internal hard drive.