The Flask Disk from iClever is a dual USB 3.0 64GB flash drive supporting both USB Type A and Lightning connections.
In the box you will find the flash drive along with a user guide and warranty card.
The drive small and light, measuring 60 x 16.4 x 8.2 mm and weighing just 21g. It is manufactured from a Zinc alloy and feels very solid indeed - I could find no play at all in any of the drive or connectors. It sports a rotating cap but this only covers one end at a time which seems to limit its usefulness as you need to decide which of the two connectors you would prefer were protected.
This acts just like any normal flash drive when plugged into a computer and comes formatted as exFAT. To use it on an iOS device with a Lightning port, you will first need to install the BoostStorage app available from the app store. With this app installed, when you plug in the drive, the app will automatically start and prompt you to allow access to the drive. Tapping accept takes you into the app with both the iOS and Drive storage space as options to navigate. The app supports all the same file formats that iOS does so if your drive has MP4 video files then you can play them back directly in the app. There are a few categories supported in the app such as Photos, Videos, Music etc. but you also have the option of sharing a file from the app to your preferred app of choice. For example, I selected a movie file on the drive and chose the option to share which brings up the iOS share sheet and I could choose to open the movie with nPlayer which copies the movie into that app then starts playing. The BoostStorage app acts as a conduit for this process and buffers the content during the copy so it is recommended to tap the settings icon in the app periodically and tap the clear cache option.
The BoostStorage app also provides backup options such as backing up your whole device, contacts or photos to the drive. You have the option of selecting all photos or just a selection. This is a great way of keeping a backup of your photos when out and about or even as a way to offload some when your iOS device is getting full to free up some space. More details of the app can be found on the app store.
The flash drive does not support a common protocol in the same way as Wifi enabled flash drives do so unfortunately you cannot connect third party apps directly to the storage, you have to use the BoostStorage app to access the drive. This means you need to use this app as a middle man when you want to share content to third party apps but at least the drive is quick in operation. Wifi drives using the likes of SMB for sharing usually transfer around 3-4MB/s but this drive was serving up content to the iOS device around 20MB/s. Writing to the drive from the iOS device such as backing up photos slowed down to around 15MB/s but this may have been due to the high number of smaller files instead of a single larger file. These tests were performed on an iPhone 6s. The new iPad Pros with USB 3.0 support may provide faster transfer speeds but I didn't get a chance to test this out due to an iOS 11 beta issue.
Timing the drive on a USB 3.0 Mac saw a write speed of 25-30MB/s and a read speed close to 60MB/s. Not on a par wth the faster USB 3.0 flash drives out there but much faster than USB 2.0 and very respectable for such a practical drive like this with its dual connectors.
The drive and software really are easy to use and offer a fast and convenient way of transferring data on an iOS device when on the go. It's very handy for holidays as a means to carry movies or music that can be loaded up as required or for backing up those holiday snaps. The only issue I have encountered is this drive does not get recognised under iOS 11 beta but that hopefully is just a temporary issue as the developers have said iOS 11 will be supported.
Link to drive:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N911GR8
Link to BoostStorage app:
https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/booststorage/id1208960194?mt=8
In the box you will find the flash drive along with a user guide and warranty card.
The drive small and light, measuring 60 x 16.4 x 8.2 mm and weighing just 21g. It is manufactured from a Zinc alloy and feels very solid indeed - I could find no play at all in any of the drive or connectors. It sports a rotating cap but this only covers one end at a time which seems to limit its usefulness as you need to decide which of the two connectors you would prefer were protected.
This acts just like any normal flash drive when plugged into a computer and comes formatted as exFAT. To use it on an iOS device with a Lightning port, you will first need to install the BoostStorage app available from the app store. With this app installed, when you plug in the drive, the app will automatically start and prompt you to allow access to the drive. Tapping accept takes you into the app with both the iOS and Drive storage space as options to navigate. The app supports all the same file formats that iOS does so if your drive has MP4 video files then you can play them back directly in the app. There are a few categories supported in the app such as Photos, Videos, Music etc. but you also have the option of sharing a file from the app to your preferred app of choice. For example, I selected a movie file on the drive and chose the option to share which brings up the iOS share sheet and I could choose to open the movie with nPlayer which copies the movie into that app then starts playing. The BoostStorage app acts as a conduit for this process and buffers the content during the copy so it is recommended to tap the settings icon in the app periodically and tap the clear cache option.
The BoostStorage app also provides backup options such as backing up your whole device, contacts or photos to the drive. You have the option of selecting all photos or just a selection. This is a great way of keeping a backup of your photos when out and about or even as a way to offload some when your iOS device is getting full to free up some space. More details of the app can be found on the app store.
The flash drive does not support a common protocol in the same way as Wifi enabled flash drives do so unfortunately you cannot connect third party apps directly to the storage, you have to use the BoostStorage app to access the drive. This means you need to use this app as a middle man when you want to share content to third party apps but at least the drive is quick in operation. Wifi drives using the likes of SMB for sharing usually transfer around 3-4MB/s but this drive was serving up content to the iOS device around 20MB/s. Writing to the drive from the iOS device such as backing up photos slowed down to around 15MB/s but this may have been due to the high number of smaller files instead of a single larger file. These tests were performed on an iPhone 6s. The new iPad Pros with USB 3.0 support may provide faster transfer speeds but I didn't get a chance to test this out due to an iOS 11 beta issue.
Timing the drive on a USB 3.0 Mac saw a write speed of 25-30MB/s and a read speed close to 60MB/s. Not on a par wth the faster USB 3.0 flash drives out there but much faster than USB 2.0 and very respectable for such a practical drive like this with its dual connectors.
The drive and software really are easy to use and offer a fast and convenient way of transferring data on an iOS device when on the go. It's very handy for holidays as a means to carry movies or music that can be loaded up as required or for backing up those holiday snaps. The only issue I have encountered is this drive does not get recognised under iOS 11 beta but that hopefully is just a temporary issue as the developers have said iOS 11 will be supported.
Link to drive:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N911GR8
Link to BoostStorage app:
https://itunes.apple.com/in/app/booststorage/id1208960194?mt=8
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