In August of 2002 I reviewed my first USB flash disk which was a USB 1.1 128MB Ur-Disk. Before I did my first review on the product back then I thought to myself, “What can I actually use this thing for?” Little did I know I would soon be using it on a daily basis.
Since that review I have used it almost everyday and it has saved me a lot of time and frustration. The only thing that I did not like about it was that it was a little slow and the capacity size was a little low. With the advent of USB 2.0 speeds have drastically improved and this technology has been implemented into these flash disks.
The capacity of these drives have also greatly increased to sizes of up to 4GB. This particular drive that Memory Suppliers sent to me is a 256MB USB 2.0 Pen Drive which should be considerably faster.
Specifications
- External dimensions(LxWxH): 85mm x 28mm x 15mm
- Transfer rate: read: 7000KByte/s, write: 2500KByte/s
- Compatible OS: Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows 98 (must use included drivers), Mac 8.6 and higher, Linux kernel 2.4.0 and higher.
- Capacity: 256MB
- Power Save Mode implemented to reduce power consumption when used with mobile equipment.
- All Pen Drives include Read/Write protection switch
- Weight: 21g
- Data Retention: 10 years
- Shock resistance: 1000G
The box that the drive comes with is pretty simplistic. From the front of the box you can see the drive itself and a little information about it. On the back of the box there is a long description and features list.
Inside of the box you will find a driver CD, quick installation guide, USB extension cord, neck strap, and docking station. The driver CD is only necessary if you are using Windows 98, all other operating systems supported should automatically detect it and install the drivers for you. The USB extension cord is a nice feature however I have not used it yet because of the docking station included. The docking station is a great added bonus because if your case does not have any front USB then you will have to plug it in from the back each time.
The top of the drive has a Pen Drive Plus 2.0 written on it with a sticker of that says 256MB. There is also a red LED activity indicator so that you will know when your drive is being accessed. From the back of the drive you can see the clip that is on the cap of the drive that you can use to keep it in place while you’re on the go. The one thing I don’t really like about this cap is that it comes off very easily which leaves the drive vulnerable to be damaged or lost easier. Also on the back of the drive there is a lock that is locked and unlocked this is for the read/write protection feature that the drive offers. I have never actually used this drive because I am the only one that uses it but it may be able to come in handy.
Once the drive is open you can see the USB connector which you plug into your computer. One complaint that I have with the design of this drive is that it is a little too large. If you are trying to plug this drive into a port with little room around it there may not be enough room. My previous Ur-Disk is much thinner than this one which I did like better. With the docking station it is a perfect fit, just plug the station into your computer and plug the drive in.
Installatiion simple like most USB devices, just plug it in and your good to go. Both Windows 2000 and Windows XP recognized the drive with no drivers needed and were ready to go in about 5 seconds. In the device manager the drive shows up as “USB Disk 2.0 USB Device” and is under the disk drives category. To unplug the device it is best to stop it before you unplug it just to be sure that nothing is using it so you don’t lose any information you might need.
Test Bed:
- Albatron K8X800 Pro II (review to come)
- AMD Athlon64 3200+ (review to come)
- 60GB Seagate Barracuda IV HDD
- 1024MB PC3200 Corsair TwinX
- XFX GeForceFX 5700 Ultra
- Koolcase’s Panther
- Plextor 40x12x40 CDRW
- SilenX 400w PSU
- Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
- Netgear WG311 wireless NIC
Drives tested
- 256MB USB 2.0 Pen Drive
- 128MB USB 1.1 Ur-Disk
SiSoft Sandra 2004 professional has a new benchmarking module for removable storage/flash benchmarking. You can use this benchmark to test USB flash disks which is a nice feature. The benchmark will test the drives read, write, and delete performance using a 512B, 32kb, 256kb, and 2MB files. This USB 1.1 Ur-Disk is pretty slow as you can see, all of the scores are on the low side and far below all of the other drives that SiSoft Sandra used as comparison.
| Combined Device Index USB 1.1 | ||
| Combined index: | 289 operations/min | |
| 512B Files Test | ||
| Read Performance: | 9753 operations/min | 81 kb/sec |
| Write Performance: | 157 operations/min | 1340 kb/sec |
| Delete Performance: | 200 operations/min | |
| Combined Index: | 405 operations/min | |
| 32kB Files Test | ||
| Read Performance: | 1255 operations/min | 669 kb/sec |
| Write Performance: | 125 operations/min | 67 kb/sec |
| Delete Performance: | 231 operations/min | |
| Combined Index: | 301 operations/min | |
| 256kB Files Test | ||
| Read Performance: | 170 operations/min | 725 kb/sec |
| Write Performance: | 33 operations/min | 141 kb/sec |
| Delete Performance: | 206 operations/min | |
| Combined Index: | 76 operations/min | |
| 2MB Files Test | ||
| Read Performance: | 21 operations/min | 717 kb/sec |
| Write Performance: | 6 operations/min | 205 kb/sec |
| Delete Performance: | 111 operations/min | |
| Combined Index: | 12 operations/min | |
With this USB 2.0 Pen Drive the scores are much better than the USB 1.1 drive. The drive is still below the other drives tested however not by much. With all of the tests on this drive the speeds are excellent and far surpass the USB 1.1 drive. I am really impressed with the drive and there is nothing that I can negatively comment on.
| Combined Device Index USB 2.0 | ||
| Combined index: | 616 operations/min | |
| 512B Files Test | ||
| Read Performance: | 22521 operations/min | 188 kb/sec |
| Write Performance: | 293 operations/min | 2500 kb/sec |
| Delete Performance: | 431 operations/min | |
| Combined Index: | 780 operations/min | |
| 32kB Files Test | ||
| Read Performance: | 6608 operations/min | 3524 kb/sec |
| Write Performance: | 277 operations/min | 148 kb/sec |
| Delete Performance: | 430 operations/min | |
| Combined Index: | 712 operations/min | |
| 256kB Files Test | ||
| Read Performance: | 1070 operations/min | 4565 kb/sec |
| Write Performance: | 80 operations/min | 341 kb/sec |
| Delete Performance: | 402 operations/min | |
| Combined Index: | 220 operations/min | |
| 2MB Files Test | ||
| Read Performance: | 138 operations/min | 4710 kb/sec |
| Write Performance: | 21 operations/min | 717 kb/sec |
| Delete Performance: | 288 operations/min | |
| Combined Index: | 52 operations/min | |
I made a graph to show the difference in the drive index speed which is basically the overall speed of the drive. As you can see the USB 2.0 drive is a lot faster than the old 1.1 drive. Not only is this evident by the benchmarking but I can really tell a difference when saving information to the drives. I am actually using this USB 2.0 Pen Drive to write this review and I use it all the time for other things.
Conclusion
I couldn’t wait to review this drive because I was getting tired of my previous USB 1.1 drive which is too slow for me. This drive is exceptionally faster than the old one and I am very pleased with the performance it offers.
I also like the fact that this drive is double the size of the USB 1.1 that I have. 256MB is more than enough space for this kind of device and I have yet to fill it to capacity with everyday use. The docking station that the drive comes with is great because you can just put it on your desk to plug the drive in.
This will be very nice if your case does not have front USB, and even if it dose you will probably end up using it. The only thing that I think would make this drive better is to make the housing of the drive thinner so that it wouldn’t be so big.
Overall I am going to give this product a 9.5/10 and award it the OCmodshop Seal Of Approval because it’s an great product. I would like to thank Memory Suppliers for sending this over to review.
Pros
- Fast USB 2.0 speeds
- 256MB storage capacity
- Comes with a docking station
- Comes with a USB extension cord and strap
- Cross platform compatible
- No external power needed
- Read/write protection switch
Cons
- Drive housing should be smaller