Flash Food: USB on the Go

[RMcolder]

Hi,

I am sure many of you have either seen or perhaps own the relatively new portable USB devices that can are small enough to fit on your key chain, yet have enough memory to carry around tons of essays, photos or music (depending on the amount of memory available - 64MB to 512MB).
So, there are a plethora of companies out there - Sony, Iomega, Samsung, Lexar, Toshiba - as well as some independent companies. Does anyone have any advice on what to buy? What models have people dealt with that have proven to be reliable? Reasonable price? Was the version small enough so that is wasn't a pain to carry around? (If you want to see a ridiculous "portable" USB, check out Sony's 1st version of the microvault; it's huge.
I appreciate your feedback and hope others can benefit from it also.

 

[neut]

microVault

RMcolder said

If you want to see a ridiculous "portable" USB, check out Sony's 1st version of the microvault; it's huge.

i must have a later version of the microVault...i like it a lot and its very small. its always in my pocket.

it has worked with every comp i have inerfaced with. i use it about every third day on average. i lost it for a while and got out of the habit of using it.

so that's the only problem with this media is that it's easy to use and it's just as easy to lose.

i wouldn't want this thing on my keychain though. too many keys as it is. just don't wash it...i haven't done that yet.



peace.

 

[cazlar]

I've had a 64MB (generic Taiwanese brand - can't even remember the name) for about a year and it's great. The price ($A117) has dropped to about half of what it was since then. If you need to transport small files around between computers, nothing beats it for ease of use - plug it in and there it is...
Mine is a bit slow on writing big files, but it does the job. I believe there are USB 2.0 versions out now, so they may work better.
As for carrying it around, mine is small enough to easily be forgotten about in my pocket, and the new ones i have seen are about half the size! When I decide to get a new one, I'll probably just keep it in my wallet, so I've always got it on me.

 

[superbovine]

ok, first thing you gotta know about these things there is a big difference between most generic brands and the more expensive brands names. what you paying for compatibility. not all of those usb keychains will work with all different types of macs or pcs. some of the really cheap one need drivers, because they don't support file transfering with internal hardware.

sony for example comes with silly encryption software as well and cost like 3x more than everything else. diskonkey is the one that apple has in their store (i think). i personally have a linksys 32mb http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=36&scid=44&prid=442. it works with windows, mac, and linux. They have a newer model now which is a usb 2.0 model, which basically able to copy the data faster. what ever you do make sure you do a little research and make sure your keychain will work without software support. i have seen ppl who work at home and copy their data on the generic brand keychains then come to the lab and not be able to use their keychains cause it required software, so it kinda pointless. so it worth shelling out a lil extra cash for it work on everything. i would recommed against sony unless you just like to pay more .