Features

• Plugs into a standard USB port and requires NO software
• Ideal for quickly transferring files from a laptop to a desktop or vice versa
• About 3 inches long and less than half the width of a business card
• Works with almost any OS: Windows XP, Me, 2000, 98, and MacOS 9

Reviews (2)

Does the job, cheap and easy!
I have an older (4 years) Dell 7500 laptop running Win 98. I wanted a flash drive to use as a cheap and easy way to do backup because I have no r/w drive. All my s/w is licensed so all I was really concerned about was backing up Word, Excel and email files. My main concern from researching many of these devices was price, durability and the ability to work with my older and slower USB port.

This product had a nice price point for the memory size, 256 meg. The 128 sized drives out there are about 40% cheaper than the 256's, but I think the doubled size is worth the extra $20-$30. The larger drives are at a premium right now with the 512 meg drives going for more than double the 256er's, and larger storage jumping even higher. It was not worth it to me. I'm sure in a year or two, even multi-gigabyte sized flash drives will be available for cheap, but I wanted it now.

Next, I was a little concerned about this brand; I'd never heard of CD Cyclone. I did a little research though, and they seemed like a reasonably dependable company.

Finally, some of the newer model flash drives gave me some concern about compatibility with my older system and USB ports.

Amazon had the best price when I factored in their free shipping program. The product arrived sooner than promised; the free shipping is supposed to take 6-9 business days and I got it in about 5 days overall.

The product comes insparse packaging with minimal documentation, the drive itself, a necklace cord, and a USB cable. Nothing else like a CD. The drive looks pretty cool, and weighs next to nothing. I popped open the cap to check that there was SOMETHING inside. (There was!)

The documentation says that newer operating systems than mine will do plug-and-play, but Win98 required downloading a small file (a driver, I guess) and rebooting before the device will be recognized. After installing the file and rebooting, it was plug-and-play instantly.

Using the drive from that point was extremely easy. It showed up on My Computer as the "E" drive, and all I had to do was drag the files I wanted onto it. It took about 30 seconds to copy about 80 megs of files. It couldn't have been simpler. Later I took the Flash Drive to a friend's computer running Win 2000, popped the drive in a USB slot, and was instantly able to read my backed up files.

It feels good knowing that if my older laptop dies or the disc crashes, I've got my files safely backed up. This was cheap and easy peace of mind.

The age of "Star Trek" type storage is here
Specifications: Like most "USB ram drives" this device is the size of the average disposable lighter and about as heavy.The interface is USB version 1.1, which means that you can expect a transfer rate of about 1.5MB a second.The ram configuration is static, which means that you cannot upgrade the drive for greater memory capacity. The drive is plug n play for Windows ME, 2000 and XP only.Other operating systems will need a driver update.

Performance: Plugging this drive into the USB port of my computer, the drive was instantly recognized and installed.Within "MY COMPUTER" it was listed as a removable drive for ME, 2000 and XP.I have not tried any other OS.

There is no special formatting necessary to get the drive to work with Windows operating systems.These drives behave as any other hard drive. Files can be written and deleted with simple drag and drop actions.Copying enough files to fill the entire 256MB of this drive took about 5 minutes, as expected.

Quality and Fit:These drives are small enough to put into your pocket, and easy to misplace as well.All manufactures offer some way secure the device to a tether and wear around the neck or on a key chain.Unfortunately, the case these devices come in are often flimsy and will likely wear out and break eventually, exposing the ram and board inside to the elements. Additionally, The cap that protects the USB connector will likely be lost within a couple of weeks.Again, this exposes the device to the elements and limits the mobility characteristics.

This drive is small enough to fit into a USB interface without an additional cable extension, though one is provided.It is a tight fit when there is another USB device next to it though.

Other issues:Because not all computers have Windows ME and up installed on them, you will need to take the driver CD with you when you take your "ram drive" out to remote locations.

It is sometimes inconvienent to plug the ram drive into USB Ports on the back of a computer.A front USB port on a computer is a welcome site.

Because the drive uses the USB 1.1 interface, the read and write speed is limited.Other drives use the USB 2.0 standard and can read and write data much faster.Above 256 Megs this becomes relevant.

Other drives have the ability to change out multiple ram cards to make the USB drive truly flexible.Those drives tend to be twice the size however.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

-Does everything it should do, and fills an important void in computer storage
-Very Small and convenient for transport
-USB interface available on most all computers made within the last 5 years
-All recent computers use ME and above for a OS (USB Plug N Play)
-About a million read/write operations before the ram fails

Cons:

Features

• 256 MB of storage space
• Can hold any kind of data--MP3 files, pictures, video, etc.
• Data protection light that blinks until your data is safely stored
• Built-in hole where you can add an optional key ring
• PC and Macintosh compatible

Reviews (123)

Beware
I had a really bad experience with this jumpdrive. My original stick gave up on me in just 4 months. It just stopped working. The replacement died from a power surge within one week. Unfortunately, Lexar doesn't replace damaged jumpdrive so I have to by a new one. From my personal experience, I highly recommend against this flash drive. You may be more lucky, though.

Crashed On Me
Had it for 4 months and it was working fine. Always safely removed it. but after 4 months it stopped being recognized as Lexar Jumpdrive and when i tried to access it it said Drive not formatted. When i formatted it, it stuck halfway and said. unable to format drive. Maybe i got a bad stick {it happens sometimes} but then i checked it out and alot of people had the same problem. Bought a Kingston DataTraveller and Sandisk Cruzer Mini, had them for over 8 months and they're working perfectly.

Editorial Review

With Linksys, there's no need to burn CDs or use slow floppy disks to move data. The Linksys Instant USB Disk makes portable data storage easy. When you need to transfer data, music, graphics, or multimedia files from one computer to another, the Instant USB Disk is the ideal mode, whether you're at home, in the office, or on the road.

This durable, shock-resistant, solid-state storage device is certified to retain data for at least 10 years. It complies with USB specification 1.1, which means you get full USB plug-and-play connectivity for hot-swappable, cable-free convenience. And it's bus-powered, so it doesn't require an external power supply. It even includes a pocket clip, and a key chain hole further simplifies transport.

Editorial Review

Editorial Review

The SanDisk Cruzer is the world's first portable, pocket-size storage device with upgradeable flash memory. Its compact size lets you slip it into a pocket or handbag whenever you need to move image, video, audio, or data files for personal use or for work. You can even use it as expansion memory for a digital media device like a camera or a portable music player.

The Cruzer comes with a removable, 256 MB Secure Digital memory card; most other USB drives come with embedded, nonremovable memory. This all-in-one unit plugs directly into the industry-standard USB port, and needs no additional components or driver. It gets its power directly from the USB port.

Features

• PC and Macintosh compatible
• Self-powered, no installation software required
• 128 MB of storage space
• Enables you to password protect your data
• Can hold any kind of data--MP3 files, pictures, video, etc.

Reviews (4)

Cracking due to Poor design
I've had two of these and both crack and break at the same place. There's a "bow-tie" sort of clip. The plast casing that holds on to the bow-tie cracks and breaks. The cover then falls off too easily. Otherwise, a good product. Just poor product design.

Best and fastest of what I've seen so far! Good name brand!
This was my first mini drive. Since I have 2.0 USB ports and WinXP, I went shopping for a USB 2.0 drive. I bought and returned 2 Lexar Jumpdrive Pro 2.0 and a SanDisk Cruzer Mini.

Their performance was awful under WinXP Service Pack 1 (SP1). In all cases the Iomega performed my benchmark of receiving a 44MB directory in appx. 1 min. 30 secs, while the allegedly faster 2.0 models I tested required 3-5 mins.+. I am attributing this to a flaw in WinXP SP1 (and not my machine) since I repeated the benchmark on a Best Buy demo computer with the same level of WinXP and again the Mini Drive beat the Lexar hands down.

I then downloaded the Win98 driver from Iomega's site for my 5 year old Dell (installed very very cleanly) and this time the 2.0 device timings improved dramatically to about 1 min. 30 secs., but the Iomega also improved to 1 min. 10 secs.

Since I'm not yet sure what is causing the 2.0 drives to deteriorate under WinXP, I am sure that the Iomega USB 1.1 Mini Drive runs at very acceptable levels under WinXP with 2.0 ports and under Win98 with USB 1.1 ports.

In other words, in today's Windows software environment, the Iomega Mini Drive runs acceptably fast, is consistent across Windows platforms, and is just ... well, a safe purchase if you want this type of device.

Worthy of mention is that the physical construction of the Iomega was far and away the best. It's size is smaller than most others I've seen, and it is flat enough to fit in a USB port alongside a USB cable attached device, without encroaching.

The case has good ergonomics designed into it, besides being a very professional looking, handsome, gray (like today's computer chasses). The end cap is large, bears a shirt pocket clip, and fits securely. The non business end of the drive has an attachment with a keyring which, if nothing else, will make it more difficult to lose, and it also lends to its appearance.

Iomega is a good company with a useful web site and acceptable technical support. I can't come close to saying this about the pathetic SanDisk site and the slightly less anemic Lexar site. There are also some free downloads available for the device which I haven't explored yet, but do take a look and see if they interest you.

So ... if you want this type of device, value performance, stylish looks, quality construction, and good vendor support, all at a reasonable price, consider this one. Can't vouch for the 256MB model since I didn't try it, but I do wish I had the extra capacity. You can basically leave it installed all the time and have the convenience of fairly adequate removeable storage for backing up frequently changing data, in my case a web site I'm actively maintaining, my Eudora mailboxes, and Excel spreadsheets.

From sketchy information on the Internet, it appears that Iomega will be introducing 2.0 versions of this device. Several vendors like HP have been advertising them but are all out of stock. If I can iron out the nagging XP performance issue, I will be buying 2 of the 256KB 2.0 models. They will probably fly and I trust Iomega will ensure that happens.

Good luck with your purchasing decision. You will likely find that this device is a "keeper", as I have.

Great bargain!
My work teams travels a lot and frequently transfers large files, so I asked our IT department to get each of the members a USB drive.They selected Iomega.The drives have been a great success.They have all worked reliably, and endured a lot of jostling in briefcases. As the review above states, the cap is very sound and stays on well.I've been using mine for about six months now and it has not gotten loose.I highly recommend these drives.