Storage in a Flash

The number of workers who share data between a computer in the office and one at home grows with the popularity of home computers. Vendors have introduced different types of storage to meet the challenge of transferring more than a couple of megabytes of data between non-networked machines. Most of these solutions have garnered lukewarm acceptance because of cost and performance problems and the necessity for special hardware to read and write to the chosen storage media. A much better solution exists in the form of flash memory devices that use the USB interface. Connected Home has gathered some of the most popular USB flash storage devices to test their usability, performance, and special features. Most USB flash storage vendors offer devices in a range of capacities. We asked vendors to submit devices with the largest capacity and the most features. See Web Table 1 (http://www.winnetmag.com, InstantDoc ID 27420) for a comparison of product features and prices.

Installation
All the devices I tested have a similar form factor—about 3.5" long and 1" wide—with the exception of SanDisk's Cruzer, which is wider to accommodate replaceable media. Most of the devices are available in various capacities, and each model sports a unique color scheme identifying its capacity. All the devices feature some type of USB connector protection in the form of a cap or retractable connector mechanism.

Numerous operational abilities and requirements are common across the products. All require special drivers for Windows 98 and operate in Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Mac OS without requiring a vendor-supplied driver. All the devices feature an activity-indicator LED that lets you know whether the device is busy or whether you can safely remove the device from the system. Before you can remove a device in Win98, you must wait a few seconds for the device to go into standby mode, signaled by a slowly flashing LED. To remove a device in XP, you must use the Safely Remove Hardware utility, and in Win2K and Windows Me, you must use the Unplug or Eject Hardware icon utility in the system tray before physically disconnecting the device. In Mac OS X, you must eject the device before removing it.

Sony's Micro Vault USB Storage Media. The Micro Vault is available in 16MB, 32MB, 64MB, and 128MB models. I received the 128MB USM128 model in its retail blister pack. I followed the documentation's instructions about using the media for the first time. I placed the mini CD-ROM containing my Win98 device drivers into the CD-ROM drive on a Win98 system, inserted the USM128 into the USB port, and let the New Hardware Wizard search the CD-ROM for the driver. The driver installed easily, and the USM128 appeared in My Computer as a removable disk. I removed the USM128 from the Win98 computer and plugged it into a laptop running XP Home Edition and a Win2K Professional desktop system. Both systems recognized the device but inexplicably reported it as a Sony DiskOnKey device, and an OS-supplied driver was automatically installed to support the device.

M-Systems' DiskOnKey. The DiskOnKey is available in 8MB, 16MB, 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, and 512MB capacities. The 512MB model I tested arrived in its retail packaging. KeySafe, M-Systems' security implementation, is preloaded on the DiskOnKey; but if you're using a Win98 system, you must download any necessary drivers to install the product before you can access the preloaded files. I downloaded the Win98 driver software, Windows NT driver software, and the latest version of the KeySafe security software from M-Systems' Web site. I ran the Win98 driver installation program on the Win98 system, then inserted the DiskOnKey, which the system automatically detected; the device then began loading the appropriate drivers. The XP, Win2K, and Mac OS X systems all detected and used the DiskOnKey with ease. DiskOnKey also supports NT, which I was skeptical about until I tested this capacity. I installed the NT driver on a system with NT Workstation 4.0 installed, specified which drive letter the storage should use, and performed a necessary reboot. The Removable Disk volume is present whether or not the DiskOnKey device is installed, and the volume behaves like a CD-ROM drive, prompting you to retry or cancel when media isn't inserted. Overall, the DiskOnKey operated well in all of the OSs, including NT.

Targus's Go-Anywhere USB Drive. The Go-Anywhere uses the same hardware that the DiskOnKey device uses, so the functionality was the same as that of the DiskOnKey I tested. The Go-Anywhere device is offered only in 32MB, 64MB, and 128MB capacities. The 128MB Go-Anywhere PA128 model that I tested came with a Targus-branded version of the DiskOnKey User's Guide and a CD-ROM containing Win98 drivers. I used the latest drivers and KeySafe software to test this product, which performed much like the DiskOnKey. To satisfy my curiosity, I tested M-Systems' NT driver with the Go-Anywhere. The driver worked, although switching back and forth between the Targus and M-Systems devices didn't proceed smoothly. Whether this problem is due to volume size or a difference between the Targus and M-Systems hardware is unclear.