Nearly everyone has a USB drive today, but the one demographic that seems to have the most of them are students. Life would have been a lot different if I could carry around a 1-ounce piece of plastic rather than reams of ripped paper in my Trapper Keeper (which has been strewn down the hall on more than one occasion). There are literally hundreds of Flash drives available, each with their own set of pros and cons, but instead of innovative features manufacturers choose to focus on fashion to get their product sold.
Students need a flash drive that makes sense for their lifestyle. If they want to show their support for the latest hip thing, then they can add yet another sticker to the top of their notebook computer. Many students are lugging around a backpack and have to travel a lot. What if someone made a flash drive that was not only rugged, but had no caps to lose, still protected the USB connector, and could latch onto just about anything? Any trip to Eddie Bauer or REI will tell you that people put all sorts of gadgets on carabineer clips, so why not a flash drive, too? Verbatim is hoping you’ll notice this fashion trend and go with their TUFF-CLIP USB Drive. Here’s the marketing low-down…
Looking for a portable USB drive that’s tough enough for backpacks or key rings? Check out the new Verbatim TUFF-CLIP USB Drive. This rugged flash drive clips onto backpacks, belt loops or even notebooks. With an easy slider that protects the USB connector, the TUFF-CLIP USB drive is super durable and great for music, videos, school projects or photos. It also offers a password security feature that ensures you’re the only one who can access your important information. This drive is enhanced for Windows® ReadyBoost for Windows 7 and Vista users. With the Verbatim TUFF-CLIP USB drive, just clip and carry your files with you!
Features
- Portable USB drive with rugged clip for backpacks or key rings
- Durable easy slider protects USB connector
- Password security feature for privacy protection
- Enhanced for Windows® ReadyBoost
- Works with all USB connections
- Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP or 2000, Mac OS 9.x or higher, Linux kernel 2.6x or higher
- Available in either 4GB or 8GB
The Verbatim TUFF-CLIP drive is made from black plastic, and features a carabineer-style that lets you snag your drive onto your backpack, belt-loop, or stretched ear-lobe piercing. The loop area is extra large, and the clip is secured by a hinge spring, which easily opens, so you can just slap it on.
One feature that I really like in flash drives is the absence of a protective cap. Let’s face it, these caps are just begging to get lost, and most people can’t keep track of them. Instead of this, I prefer a drive that can hide the USB connector, much like the ADATA C702 16GB Flash Drive reviewed here. The TUFF-CLIP integrates a cap into the design, so you can slide the base of the USB plug.
The thing that strikes me is how un-rugged the plastic seems for being marketed as a “rugged” device. The plastic has an unusual amount of give, and the hook gives way too much. The pull-down cap also feels like a determined milk maid could pull it off without too much effort. The plastic is easily scratched, which means the finish will look like marred after a few months of serious lugging. This wouldn’t be the first time a “tough” device made of plastic couldn’t hold up. We once reviewed an Ultra m998 case that was modeled after a freakin’ Hummer but the plastic front bezel cracked a police informant.
The TUFF-CLIP drive comes with a V-Safe application that allows you to encrypt part of all of the available space into a secure password-protected area. The VSafe application appears to be in a non-writable or protected area of the flash drive, because the application exists even if you format the drive. Once you click on the application you are brought through a Wizard that asks you how much space you want to dedicate to the Secure Area, and prompts you to set a password and hint. Completing this process reformats the drive.
Once the drive is inserted, you are asked for a password, and if entered correctly brings you to the Secure area of the drive. If you log out of the Secure Area then you access the Public area of the drive. The issue with this mechanism is that the same drive letter is used for both, so you can’t see both the Secure and Public area at the same time.
We tested this USB drive against many other USB flash drives we had laying around the lab. We tested the drive using the ATTO benchmark and HDTach R/W. The following hardware was used:
- Dell Precision M4400 portable workstation
- nVidia Quadro FX 770M 512MB Graphics Card
- 4GB DDR2-800 memory
- Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 @ 2.26Ghz (check out notebooks with this processor)
- CoolerMaster Sentinel Advance 5600dpi Gaming Mouse
- Hitachi 160GB 7200RPM laptop hard drive (check out laptop hard drives)
- Windows 7 Ultimate
The Verbatim TUFF-CLIP held its own against many of the other flash drives, offering an average 12MB/s write speed and 32MB/s read speed, very similar to Verbatim’s Tuff n Tiny flash drive reviewed here. The write speed is about what you should expect for a mid-range USB flash drive, and is easily much faster than the many cheap promotional drives we get at trade shows, like the assets that came from Peregrine. It has slightly above-normal write speeds and very good read speeds, but if you want the next level of performance then you need to purchase an enthusiast-level USB drive.
The performance of the Verbatim TUFF-CLIP drive is pretty good, but isn’t enthusiast-level. I’m really surprised that a drive touted as being rugged did not come with a rubber coating or anodized aluminum carabineer clip. The plastic flexes just a bit too much for me to be confident in its overall durability. The size of this drive is almost as large as the Corsair Flash Voyager 64GB reviewed here, but has only an eighth of its capacity.
On the plus side, I do like the integrated pull-down cap, and even though the drive is large it easily clips onto just about anything. I’ve had lots of fun just slapping it onto Ethernet cables and key-chains. The performance of the drive is average, so you’re really buying this drive for its extra features, which may work for students or those who want to look like mountaineers.
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