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| Product: USBDrive |
Company: JMTek, LLC |
| Web: www.usbdrive.com |
Phone: n/a |
| Platform: PC or Mac |
SRP: US$40 (for 16MB model)
Street Price: same |
Cred Rating: | Special Award:
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Between the ever-expanding file sizes of MS Word, Excel, and worst of all, PowerPoint -- not to mention the need to download the occasional MP3 or shareware game from the big pipes at the office -- it's getting harder than ever to fit what you need on antiquated floppies. Luckily, there's an alternative that doesn't require new hardware or lugging around anything that can't slip easily into your shirt pocket. I'm talking about the USBDrive.
The USBDrive is a small, solid-state hard drive that's about the size of your forefinger. Despite its small size (about 3" long, 3/4" wide and 1/4" thick), it's jam-packed with memory -- up to 512MB (1GB expected soon). Because of the high capacity and teeny size, it offers something that few other devices can: simple transfer of large files between any PC, without specialized hardware or cables.
Included in the USBDrive package is a few amenities: a 12" USB cable, a lanyard and an installation disc. The disc is "credit card" style, which means it's actually a 3" CD-ROM with the sides cut so that it fits in any wallet like a thick credit card. While it's tempting to actually stick it in your wallet, DON'T. It's not made of titanium or anything and will easily crack if you sit on it, as this reviewer discovered during the rigorous Street Tech testing procedures (which involve a lot of sitting down). It will, however, fit easily and safely into a shirt pocket, PDA case or purse.
The trick of the USBDrive, if you haven't guessed already, is that it plugs directly into the USB port of any computer. To use the drive, it is necessary to install the driver first on any system you'll be accessing it on (except Windows XP). The next generation of the USBDrive will be true plug-n-play with all operating systems.
Once the driver is installed (you can download the driver from the Web, BTW), data transfer is super simple and fast. The drive appears on your computer just like an external hard drive, and file transfer is standard drag-n-drop. You can even read and write directly to it from programs like Word and Excel. This is particularly useful for data security -- you can work on all your essential documents right from the USBDrive, then unplug it when you leave the office, leaving no trace of your... ah... work on your PC. Of course, that also makes the drive a very handy tool for data theft, since anyone with access to your PC can plug the USBDrive into your PC, and in a matter of minutes, make off with a load of files.
While the compact size and understated gray color are appealing, there are a few niggling problems with the design, such as the fact that the lanyard doesn't easily fit a keychain, and would probably break if you did manage to get it on. The cap of the drive also has a clip on it, presumably so it will hang on a shirt or jacket pocket, but unfortunately, the clip is on the cap, not the drive, so if the cap comes off, your drive is history.
Other than these minor points, the USBDrive is an excellent solution for transporting large files between home and office, or for carting around important docs and media presentations while on the road. The price-per-megabyte is about twice as high (from US$40 for the 16 meg to $600 for the 512 meg) as comparably-sized Compact Flash memory cards, but the added convenience is unbeatable. The extra thought that went into including a credit card CD and a cable for hard-to-reach USB ports shows that the company really thought through how to make this device as simple as it should be. With the next generation plug-n-play version, this is likely to become a must-have device for everyone with data transportation needs.
- Nate Heasley [10/22/01]
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