Posted 04/29/09 at 10:08:26 PM by Pulkit Chandna

USB flash drives are meant to do a very simple job. Try telling that to manufacturers who apparently regard them as a canvas that should, from time to time, tolerate their whimsical artistic and technological cravings. Our beautiful planet has been blessed with USB flash drives of various ilks, be it the radical or the rank outrageous.

Ennova Direct has announced a new thumb drive that has enough room for a miniscule OLED screen/biometric scanner. The OLED screen can be used for file browsing and other ordinary functions. And for those of you who require thumb drives to house valuable state secrets, the OLED screen can function as a biometric scanner. The company expects to launch the drive in Q1, 2010.

Read More

Comments 

4

TAGS 

Thumb Drive, USB Flash Drive, oled, hardware, ennova direct, biometric scanner

Posted 01/22/09 at 12:00:00 PM by Alex Castle

What’s a USB key good for? Carrying files from one computer to another? If you think that’s all, then you’re missing out. USB thumb drives can be used in almost all the ways a regular hard drive can, including storing all sorts of useful apps. We think that this presents a great opportunity for savvy PC users to keep their favorite programs at hand, no matter what computer they end up using.

In this article we’re going to show you a number of different loadouts for USB “tools.” With these on hand you’ll be able to do everything from checking your email to recovering data off a damaged hard drive on any computer you find yourself sitting in front of. We'll also show you a couple of cool tricks, like how to run a virtual, encrypted drive from a thumb drive, so gather up some of those spare USB keys you have lying around and read on.

Read More

Comments 

38

TAGS 

windows, Software, media, usb, Thumb Drive, troubleshooting, hacks, feature

Posted 12/13/08 at 07:26:35 PM by Justin Kerr

eSATA ports are starting to become more mainstream in mid to low end motherboards, and OCZ thinks the time is right to start adding on non hard drive based peripherals. Its new lineup of memory sticks will do just that and come in 8, 16, and 32GB capacities. The new drives will both communicate and receive their power from the eSATA port. To ensure backwards compatibility they have also included a rear mounted mini USB connection which will allow users to plug the device into laptops or other USB only machines.

No official benchmarks are have been taken by us, but the company is reportedly boasting read speeds of up to 90MB/s, and writes speeds as fast as 30MB/s. No comment has yet been made on pricing, but it will likely be in the same ballpark as its USB brethren.

It certainly is an interesting idea, but I can’t help but wonder if this type of device is really necessary with USB 3.0 right around the corner. USB 3.0 has a maximum theoretical throughput of 4.8Gbps which would easily max out most flash memory keys several times over.

Would you be interested in an eSATA flash drive? Hit the jump and let us know.

Read More

Comments 

14

TAGS 

harddrive, usb, Thumb Drive, external, esata, hardware, consumer electronics, backup drives

Posted 10/01/07 at 01:48:10 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

We’ve used too many Jack Bauer references lately, but c’mon, how could we review this key and not say it’s the one Jackie boy would use?

The 8GB Flash Survivor GT, after all, is shock and water resistant—and if your service automatic runs out of ammo, you can even fling its hard aluminum body at someone’s head. But how does it perform?

Click Read More for more. 

Read More

Comments 

7

TAGS 

corsair, usb, Thumb Drive, hardware, flash memory, survivor, portable storage, reviews

Posted 07/03/07 at 02:02:07 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

Ain’t technology wonderful? Just a few years ago our mouths were agape at 1GB USB thumb drives that cost $500. Yet here we have Corsair pushing the 16GB mark for $140—a mere $8.75 per GB.

Click Read More for more. 

Read More

Comments 

2

TAGS 

usb, Thumb Drive, flash, gordon mah ung, reviews

Posted 09/17/06 at 06:38:14 PM by Josh Norem

Crucial pulled out all the stops with its new Gizmo Overdrive key. This drive roars past everything but Corsair’s fastest offerings.

The Gizmo’s read speeds are more than twice as fast as OCZ's Mini-Kart and Kingston's DataTraveler, and its write speeds are 30 percent faster. This kind of performance has a price, however, as the Gizmo is twice as expensive per gig as these other two.

Click Read More for more. 

Read More

Comments 

0

TAGS 

Review, Thumb Drive, USB Flash Drive, Crucial Gizmo OverDrive, Crucial, reviews

Posted 08/16/06 at 03:53:19 PM by Josh Norem

Verbatim’s Store ‘n’ Go offers sassy looks and an awesome software package named Ceedo Mobile Launchpad. When the drive is inserted into a USB port, something similar to the Windows Start menu appears in the middle of the taskbar. This menu lets you run a variety of free programs right off of the drive itself.

Click Read More for more. 

Read More

Comments 

0

TAGS 

Flash Drive, Pen Drive, Thumb Drive, reviews, Verbatim Store, Go 4GB

Posted 08/15/06 at 01:59:41 AM by Josh Norem

The Kingston DataTraveler is like the 1969 Mustang of USB drives; it looks old but has a ton of power under the hood, thanks to its preinstalled U3 software.

Click Read More for more. 

Read More

Comments 

0

TAGS 

Thumb Drive, Kingston DataTraveler, USB Flash Drive, reviews