Freecom DataBar USB 2.0 256 MB
Contents
1. erase cycles which means you can erase your files and replace them with new files wp to one million times its a fairly sate bet that bigger better amd cheaper drives will be available long betore you reach that point thuagh ae A TE aFreecomn s USE card has sa wide range of features and caters for both USB1 and USE 2 USB flash drive performance usb entirely new features Freecom has B abandoned the standard stick like design of USB drives to come up with a really neat credit card sized storage device We also liked the litle docking cradle that comes 4 wih Sony Micro Vaultdrive A SmartDisk has designed its PowerPlay Pro te appeal to business users hy throwing ina wireless unit that acts as both a laser pointer and a control device hey for presentations The idea is ie eke that you can put your files on the See E drive and then justplug itintoa PE in any office you travel to and give instant presentations rs a good idea but the drive s 32bfb capacity is a serious limiration The most cxtravagarne design must be the Mega Wah from Memix which isa wrisrwatch with 128Mb of built in storage and a USB cable sneakily tucked inte the strap These added extras do push the price up though so you need to decide whether vou wanta plain and simple storage device or a more sophisticated model that provides additional features Flash card lf you want a specific feature then obviously you ll ope for th2. OMPUteT An on screen display tells vou how much room is left on the drive and there s a button that will instantly open a window so you can view its conbents The added extras don t step there either Some manufacturers even modify the basic hardware design toadd l r rh isau CMS Fernphetki C20 6902 2406 wa rey distro Oo 128Mo a i USB 2Full Speed Up UpminMe n Password protector Leer cine poison ubiity eb profection compression and mad uliidies Hot real time USB 2 Expensive eS ee Se e r kemiy O20 637i 9875 Ween Memini im pejt PEMb USE 2b WM LS 2 iis a watch Cheap plsstic strap The Pocket Flash Drive from Corega hasa write protection switth CTU a The Gizmo is a basic USE Flash drive at a very competitive price 052 BIO wie Sonysshorage Com E3 T2EMb USH Z Up to 255M Docking station paimo atid compression uflilites A bit slow for USG Z ip o e Wailer HFI Fus Www wile tam n a oon gt P 16 79 Octobar 2003 EPen ee Time for 10Mb seconds Durable drives Flash memory drives are very robustand reliable They don t have hats of mowing parts like a Zip disk or hard desk so there s not much that can ge wrong wilh them They don t last forever though Manutacturers seldom put a specific figure on these things but estimates put the biespan of a flash Greve in the regon of 1 000 000
3. SB t all offer read and write speeds of around o 7hsec read speed is the speed for copying data froma drive while write speed isforcopying files onto it Corega s Pocket Flash Drive is a bit below that average while the Disgo drive is a bitfaseer but the differences aren t enormous The drives with USB 2 interfaces are much faster though so if your PC or Mac has USB 2 it s worth paying that little bit extra te get better pertormancs USB drives also have the advamage of being really easy ro wee All recent versions of Microsol Windows and Mac O5 have USB software built in so you can use these flash drives without having to install any drivers You just plug the drive straight into your Mac or PC and you can save files onto it just as you would do with an ordinary floppy dick The only exceptions are older PCs that have Windows g8 on them You need extra soltware to use any USB device with Windows 95 but this is generally mncluded with each flash drive Some companies such as Crucial and SmartDisk ask you to download this software trom their websites Some manutacturers de throw in extra software with bonus features A common extra is the inclusion of some sort of password protection which will prevent anyone else from opening vour files it you lose the drive or leave it wing around The prize for best solrware goes to the Disgo drive for the MyKey application that pops up on s creen Wit ncever Wi plug the drive imio your C
4. e drive that offers it Price conscious users can go bor the low cost drives from Waites Crucial and Corega However the USB Card from Freecom is definitely the mostattractive flesh drive we ve seen It sa bit pricier but its Slimline design is both attractive and practical and a nice nod a case and some cuma software features are included Best of all it provides USB2 perform ance for newer PCs and haces while also being comparible Withexisting compurets that only have USH 1 Cliff Joscph anmkhactive gt is 20 Octobar storage fia on test lt The Mega Watch is a unigue combination of watch and USB drive Drivers Sofware needed in adios Windas and other operating swstems bo communicate witha penpharal Gb 4 measurement of storage capacity usually lor hard disks 1Gh a enisl oigb ervey tes Mb A messureme nt of cboragt capacey ws uay for computer memari USB 2 Faster but backwardly compabitie cucos to USE that s usad by such thangs as MPS players and externa disk dries e wee compwleractive comt for a Tol list of Jdargan Buster terms
5. es designed to appeal te many difterent types of people Read en to had our more Plug and play Whatever clever ideas manufacturers come up with these USB flash drives are primanly intended as storage devices so vou should first comsiderthe amount of storage each one otters its price and performance Flash drives are available in many different sizes or to be more accurate with many different storage capacities fanging from 32846 up to a vast 10b The most common size however is 28M b so that s what we ve concentrated on in order to compare like with like wherever possible USB FLASH DRIVES COMPARED PRODUCT Fa FLA POCKET FLASH DRIVE Parle hur es Bei Coria Taleporia m02 ous 920 9800 Websile were Delhi WWW Soraga Eran birje ternational com Capacity a E ii 128M5 Interface id Se zi USE Other sizes avaitable Up te SU 32Mb 64a Good paints Password Wirte protechom siia Bad points Eapen Siightiy bioa T lt o a memp perommance RATINGS i eres Ls Overall The pioa ee priest eee upped peter priora Fer eo le hesari pce os ee eg Performance isn ttoo much of an issue as all these drives use a standard USB port to connect to your PC or Mac There are of course different versiuns of USE available sce USB who previous page so there s a clear split between the drives which have a USB 1 referred to simply as USB interface and those with the faster USB 2 The drives with U
6. on testi g usb storage dev Hiie ee ee a j mutactive STORAGE USB who The standard version of USB that most of us have on our PCs iS technically known as USB LI and has a theoretical maximum transfer speed of L SMbsec The mew USB 2 standard is potentially 10 times faster but as our speed tests show practical performance levels tend to be quite a bit lower Contusingly there s also an intermediate type of USB known as USB 2 Full Speed which is merely a slightly faster version of USB L1 The Disgo drive we tested says USE 2 on the Box but it s actually the Full Speed version which is technically accurate but the claimed speed of Mb sec is still a good deal slower than USB 2 proper 4 There are different standards of USB with varying 6 29 October 2004 As the popularity of USB flash drives continues to grow manufacturers are coming up with all sorts of ingenious ideas to appeal to potential buyers We take a look at some of the options SB flash drives must be the smallest and most convenient storage devices available these days They re extremely simple things consisting of just a small memory chip that can be wrapped in a case only slightly larger thana pack of chewing gum Thar makes them an ideal wav of bac king up Important files ot transterring files ber rane ce COMipucers Despite their simplicity though the dives we ve seen have had quite a tew weird and wonderful featur
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