Verbatim 12GB Store

Team Flash can’t compete with Team Magnetic on desktop computers, but the flash guys may have finally found a competitor it can conquer.

Unfortunately for Verbatim, its new 12GB micro-drive USB thumb drive is the victim. The Store ’n’ Go USB HD Drive uses Cornice’s Dragon-2 12GB miniature hard drive. This sixth-gen drive features lower power consumption, a 40 percent smaller size, and a 300 percent capacity increase. It also features a motion sensor, so it won’t die if you drop it while it’s running.

The Store ’n’ Go’s performance wasn’t stunning against flash drives—but it wasn’t atrocious either. It was the slowest in all our real-world tests using small text files, medium-size image files, and large files in both read and write; however, it didn’t always lose by huge margins. The 4GB OCZ Rally 2 key, for example, took 2:54 (min:sec) to write 1.9GB of large files while the Store ’n’ Go took 2:59. The Verbatim also took slightly longer than the other keys we tested to write 10,000 small files. The Store ’n’ Go is like a slow USB key in write performance, and its read times edge into the mediocre range. Using synthetic benchmarks, we saw about 10MB/s read and write speeds—which is what Verbatim rates the key for.

Performance isn’t the only factor here though. There’s also the gigabytes-per-buck balance, and that’s where Team Flash scores decisively. Compared to the last five keys we reviewed, the Store ’n’ Go is a bit pricey. The 8GB Corsair Voyager (since renamed Voyager GT) costs about $12.40 a gig, while the Store ’n’ Go runs about $13.10 per gig. What’s more, the 16GB version of the Voyager runs just $8.75 a gig (it is, however, slower).

That doesn’t leave the Store ‘n’ Go in a great position. It’s slower than all of the flash keys we’ve reviewed, and its per gigabyte cost is higher. The flash guys aren’t winning any other battles, but they sure as hell win this one.