Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a garish, Swarovski crystal-encrusted anything, much less a USB thumb drive, the Transcend JetFlash V85C. Our cup runneth over! But seriously, there’s really no reason for a self-resecting gadget hound to spend $50 on an 8GB, Swarovski or not. → Read More
Hot on the heels of our back to school week comes one of the most seemingly indispensable storage devices to date: The TrekStor USB stick with built-in bottle opener. Let’s face it, there have been a lot of stupid, dumb implementations of flash drives before (keychains, wristbands, necklaces, etc.) and a lot of brilliant implementations of bottle openers before (Reef’s “Fanning” sandals, for one) and it’s about time we got some crossover between the two. The TrekStore flash drive comes in a solid, brushed aluminum housing and is available in capacities between one and 16 gigabytes. It’ll be available in October (hopefully it’ll make its way here) for between 6.99 and 49.99 Euro, depending on which capacity you choose – that’s about $10 to $70 US. [via DVICE] → Read More
Here’s the 16GB Flash Voyager from Corsair – regular price: $64.99. Then you get a $30 mail-in rebate, bringing the price down to $34.99. Then, according to the fine folks at FatWallet.com, you can use promo code EMCAJCBBB to get another $5 off. That’s a 16GB thumb drive with 256-bit AES encryption for $30. Good deal, no? CORSAIR Flash Voyager 16GB Flash Drive [Newegg.com via FatWallet] → Read More
I thought I’d seen everything when I saw a website dedicated to selling shirts with bacon on them. However, I was proven wrong when I saw a website dedicated to selling a USB flash drive in the shape of a huge nail. The name of this USB flash drive is “Nailed” and you can learn all about it at Plankton Station. With a name like Plankton Station you’d think the site would be selling fish food for your expensive saltwater aquarium and not a USB novelty. You’d also think they’d want to wait to go live until they had more than a single product and a mission statement. The drive itself is a little pricey, it comes to about $46.50 USD and features only a 1 GB storage. I guess that is a small price to pay for the illusion if hammering a nail in to your beloved and/or hated computer. (No actual hammering required or recommended) → Read More
You may have seen our review of the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX high-speed thumbdrive. If so, you’ll remember how it proved itself far superior to the peasant drives I put it up against. Well, it’s far from the only high-speed USB key on the market, so we got our hands on a couple other leading offerings from Corsair (the Voyager GT) and SanDisk (the Cruzer Contour) and have evaluated them thoroughly. Find out which of these handy little things comes out on top by reading on. → Read More
Not quite. While the SanDisk Contour is without a doubt the sexiest looking flash drive that I’ve ever seen, the device is suffering from one major disparaging oversight. → Read More
My favorite part of the M-Flyer Pilot—part of Memorex’s TravelDrive line of USB flash drives—is that its USB connector is retractable. In fact, that’s its most exciting feature, though it does now support Vista’s ReadyBoost feature and it’s been gussied up a bit with metallic blue or red accents. The drive also comes loaded with Portable Vault USB security software from Migo Software for password protection and 256-bit encryption of files. The M-Flyer Pilot will be available next month at “major consumer electronics retailers and office super stores in the United States and Canada” in 2GB ($49) or 4GB ($79) storage capacities. You’ll have to try to contain your excitement till then. Memorex Introduces Next-Generation TravelDrive M-Flyer USB Flash Drive [press release] → Read More
With flash memory prices dropping faster than Apple stock after a fake iPhone delay (I swear it’s the last time I’ll mention it), manufacturers of USB thumb drives have to do something to convince consumers to buy its drives over a competitor’s. Memorex’s TravelDrive 2007 for example uses a unique jack-knife design, multiple color options and encryption software to make you grab its drives first. Available in sizes from 512MB to 8GB (with MSRPs from $19.99 to $129.99) the TravelDrives come in metallic colors with names like Desert Orange, Sagebrush Green, Ocean Blue, Fire Red and, um, Silver, and are encased in a black, soft-touch outer shell for protection and easy gripping with your greasy fingers. Another useful feature: A wrap-around blue LED indicator lets you always see when the flash drive is transferring data. To keep your data safe once it’s stored, the TravelDrive 2007 comes standard with the Migo-powered Portable Vault USB security software with 256-bit encryption and password protection. The drives are also qualified for use with the Windows Vista ReadyBoost feature, allowing your PC to use a portion or all of a flash drive’s memory to bolster your computer’s system memory. Memorex TravelDrive 2007 [product page] → Read More
Corsair announced an update today to its Flash Voyager line of USB drives by adding a “GT” to the end of the name and changing the color from blue to red. Oh, and the company hand picks the NAND flash for each one and is using a new flash controller with enhanced dual channel and interleave memory technologies. What’s all this mean my friends? Put simply: Speed. As the sizes of these drives get larger (the GT comes in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models) speed becomes increasingly important. The read speed on the GT gets up to 34MB/s with write speeds up to 28MB/s. That’s about five times faster than average drives. And if you’re thinking about taking advantage of the ReadyBoost feature in Vista, you need this kind of speed, too. Other features include a proprietary all-rubber housing that is water and shock resistant and is able to operate in extreme temperatures, TrueCrypt encryption software for AES 256-bit encryption for the super spy in all of us and a 10-year warranty. The introductory MSRP for the three capacities are: $29.99 (2GB Flash Voyager GT), $59.99 (4GB Flash Voyager GT), and $119.99 (Flash Voyager GT 8GB). → Read More
Back in Nov. Josh conducted a glowing review of Lexar’s new Jumpdrive Mercury. The company announced today that the drive is now shipping. The Mercury offers a bevy of features, including an exterior capacity gauge. It also has a nice software set that allows you to encrypt and shred files amongst other features. It’s available now in 1GB and 2GB capacities for $70 and $110 respectively. Lexar → Read More
OK, so it’s not really a cube at all, but it is square and it does manage to contain 12GB. It measures about 1.7 x 1.9-inches wide and less than half an inch thick and it features a USB jack that pivots 180-degrees. Another pertinent feature is its one touch synchronization. Simply plug the drive in, push the button on the drive and it’ll perform its automatic backup function. The 12GB Mini Cube comes with a carrying pouch and a strap. It’s available now for $124.99. Product Page [via Chip Chick] → Read More
I don’t like to brag, but I’ve got a fairly large collection of USB flash drives. (I know you’re jealous.) Sometimes I like to dump the whole lot of them on my bed and roll around in them. Sadly though, none of them go above 2GB. So I have to get my hands on one of these new 16GB bad boys from Corsair. The Flash Voyager drive has all the features of its smaller-capacity siblings including its proprietary all-rubber housing that’s water resistant, shock absorbing and allows it to operate in severe temperature situations. The drive can be password protected, too, and used to boot Windows, which is fun. It also features 8-bit Error Correcting Codes (ECC) for keeping your ones and zeros free from corruption, hopefully. Best of all, this size is so big you could totally go into your office and swipe all kinds of crucial documents and sell them to spies. You’ll make back your $299 investment in no time. EDIT: Blake says “the 16gb corsair flash drive is officially the stupidest looking flash drive I’ve ever seen.” Corsair Flash Voyager USB drives [product site] → Read More
Kanguru has released a new flash drive that includes biometrics. The Bio Slider II comes in capacities ranging from 256MB up to 4GB and features fingerprint recognition. To activate, simply plug in the drive and and slide your finger across the sensor on the drive. The fingerprint recognition software is stored on the drive and does not install anything on the computer. It utilizes USB 2.0 and is compatible with Windows 98 – XP. It’s available now for $99.95 – $299.95. Product Page → Read More
With standard consumer hard drive disk sizes quickly approaching 1TB for a single drive, this 16GB Flash-based drive (with a street price of about $500) from memory manufacturer Super Talent is puny. However, the company’s IDE Flash drives (available in 4GB, 8GB and 16GB capacities) are perfect for UMPCs and laptops because they are lightweight, have low power needs and are highly reliable. Also, with no moving, they are less susceptible to data corruption from drops, vibration and shocks. No, this isn’t new technology, but in less than two years, IDE drives will be sitting in right along side HDDs in your favorite laptop vendor’s configurator. And believe me, once you’ve booted up your laptop from one of these, you’ll never worry about rotational speeds again. Super Talent IDE Flash Drives [Product page] → Read More
