Just bought a very special USB drive from PC Fair

Pretec CU-Flash 128MB USB 2.0

More info on this special unit: http://www.pretec.com/PR/2005/Computex/FashionPretec.htm


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I've been contacting Kingmax since PC Fair after I bought SuperStick ... It's extremely small with high capacity. I got Pretec iDisk Diamond, which is smaller than SuperStick, but iDisk Diamond only has 128MB!!!

Anyway, the Kingmax ppl replied back to me, saying that there's a new "blue" version of SuperStick with higher read/write speed!

check the site below. Can't wait to get one yeah, I'm a geek for tiny-USB stuffs. ... that's why i didn't bother to get stick-version of usb drives (Pendrive, Apacer, Transcend, Kingston, etc) ... hehehe ... i'm prefer tiny-card-sized USB storage

http://www.kingmaxdigi.com/news/news_produ...s_p20060824.htm

READ: 20MB/sec (max)
WRITE: 13MB/sec(max)

worth the wait, worth the buy

it's a feature on Vista ... not a product brand ...

Intel Robson Technology: Windows Vista supports two technologies that are taken advantage of by Intel's Robson (NAND flash in a notebook) technology: Windows ReadyDrive and Windows ReadyBoost.

http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2841&p=3

Bright future for flash chips and drives!

2GB Pretec iDisk Wave has very poor reading & writing. I regretted buying it

Now, I suspected that the unit has bad Flash since I can't seems to write large files (10-30MB++) into it.

I have 1GB Pretec iDisk Tiny (white/blue) .. This has fast read and write (due to different Flash/controller used). Not the fastest but more reliable and good tiny swivel design! I've seen 2GB iDisk Tiny at Low Yat Plaza, maybe I ought to get one.

I'm still searching for Apacer HA202 2GB, seems that no one cares to carry this model. 512MB is what I've seen around, but it has poorer read/write speed than 2GB

I got Pretec's iDisk Wave (1st model, black color) before the '4 seasons' edition released ... this is the colorful

5 years warranty is fine, but not full 5 years by the shop that carries it! if i'm not mistaken, 1st or 2nd years by the shop ... the rest, you must return to the distributor at PJ (forgotten where) ...

i was told by InfoFlex when I returned my Pretec iDisk Diamond 128MB for warranty (hehehe, yeah I'm a sucker for small, tiny usb drives!) ... oops, my Pretec Diamond is still in my wallet, although small capacity, must sometimes it saved my life (data backup lahh!)

i got it from InfoFlex

anyway, there's new pendrive in town by Transcend ... somthing similar to Pretec's iDisk Diamond!

*ok, not in town in Malaysia, but just announced. ... official read/write speed as Read: 9~10 MB/sec, Write: 2 MB/sec ... not too good either, but heck, it's small and tiny

http://www.transcendusa.com/Press/index.as...etail&PrsNo=661

This post has been edited by cybpsych: Feb 4 2007, 09:41 PM


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now the question i've been dying to get an answer: have anybody seen Apacer HA202 2GB being sold in Low Yat Plaza?

gimme a shop name and price! just kidding ...

any info would be helpful though ...

Transcend is the company name ... JetFlash is the usb product family name ...same like

1) Apacer (company) Handy Steno (usb product name) ...
2) Kingston (company) DataTraveler (usb product name) ...

Corsair Voyager GT 4GB

Pic 1: Added ATTO Disk Benchmark. Max Read: 31.2MB/s - Max Write: 22.7MB/s.

Pic 2: SiSoft Sandra benchmark ...

Pic 3: My USB drives collection From left: Pretec iDisk Diamond 128MB, Kingmax SuperStick 1GB, Pretec iDisk Tiny 1GB, Pretec iDisk Wave 2GB, and finally the *king* Corsair Voyager GT 4GB!

:: Pretec iDisk Diamond: In my wallet

:: Kingmax SuperStick: Tied to my handphone

:: Pretec iDisk Tiny & Wave: Tied to my keychain. Will be used to transfer files betwen computers (good to prevent viruses attacking ur drive, which happened to me earlier this month from my colleague's infected pc!)

:: Corsair Voyager GT: Just tied to my keychain as my master backup unit.

Pic 4: The nice, shiny packaging. Fierce red to show the turbo speed *H-A-T-E the blister packaging! Used a big scissor to cut the left-top-right sides!*

Pic 5: My personal real-life filecopy test. Seems that the rated speed (34MB/s read and 28MB/s write) is loosely based on *single* file size (possible 256MB or 512MB).

The rest of the tests are based on multi-file copying @ 1GB and 3.7GB total size. Not bad considering it takes 3minutes 5seconds to copy the 60 files (totaling to a whopping 3.747GB!).



=> Antivirus was disabled.
=> Each read and write session were done separately by removing and inserting directly to the USB port.
=> No USB hub was used.

=> My read/write speed may vary with others due to different mobo/chipset used. My mobo is Asus P4P800SE using Intel 865PE chipset with 2.8GHz P4 CPU and 2GB DDR400 RAM. Windows XP SP2 OS.

=> I bet new NVIDIA mobo/chipset has much higher USB throughput.




This post has been edited by cybpsych: Mar 17 2010, 10:17 AM

Pretec iDisk Tiny 1GB

[3rd unit from the left, in my screenshot below]

(i think bought it around 2-3 years ago ... couldn't find the receipt )


*One thing can be sure. Manufacturers sometimes uses different Flash type and controller. That's why there's no identical units between batches or time period*


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I liked Pretec because of their *tiny* design ...

If I know Pretec Wave is slow, I wouldn't buy it. I thought since Pretec Tiny is moderately fast, Wave would be faster ... heck, it's much much slower! They may have chosen MLC flash to achieve 2GB size (that time), hence the low speed ...

FYI, Iomega is the *1st* company that introduces this 'swivel design' ... I bought it at Singapore ~3 years ago in a computer fair ... Later I saw Pretec introduced their Tiny using the same design, so I immediately bought it (since 1GB that time was considered 'huge' and I wanted more storage to store my files/apps) ...

The ultra-tiny pendrive (Kingmax SuperStick and Pretec Diamond) was because I wanted to hang it or put pendrive in my wallet as a full-time backup. Also, I enjoyed 'showing-off' my ultra-tiny drives to girls

the only 'big' pendrive I have is Corsair Voyager GT but since it's extremely fast, I can forgive it for its size ... 4GB and 31/22 read/write speed is the best pendrives I've seen and used so far ... NO REGRET!!



p/s: I have another drive, which I've *sacrificed by opening the plastic casing to see what Flash chip they were using* due to my absolute frustration: InnoDisk 2GB ... I warranty-ed it 2x 'cuz it's not stable and the file system always corrupted! Everytime I see InnoDisk and its cheap price, I stayed away ... BAD BAD EXPERIENCE!

---

Added on March 25, 2007, 9:06 amhi bro, sorry, I dont plan to sell it ... i'm still using it as a tool to transfer files to/from other computers ... think of it as an "innoculation unit"

likewise I wrote above, it's particularly useful when ur friend's computer is infected with viruses and tries to infect ur pendrive once connected ...

if i used my 4GB VOyager GT, darn, it'll practically infect all my EXE files there

This post has been edited by cybpsych: Mar 25 2007, 09:06 AM


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poor read/write speed ... but it's not my main purpose to get them ... i wanted them extremely tiny for portability

I tied my Kingmax SuperStick to my handphone And iDisk Diamond in my wallet (no use for now cuz it's just 128MB only)

I got SuperStick after I bought iDisk Diamond due to capacity ...

There were times when my iDisk Diamond 'saved' me all the troubles when I didn't bring my other drives with me ... 128MB is just nice to backup documents and stuffs ... but not enought o backup ur portable apps

1) Did u plugged the drive behind the mobo or the front casing ports?

2) If front casing ports, does it connected directly to the mobo header/pins?

3) What drive (brand/model) are you using?

4) What OS?

5) You wrote you're using external hdd. Is the enclosure rated full-speed or high-speed? Do note that the internal circuitry inside the enclosure may not be high-speed, thus the error msg.

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/430424

check the 1st post on what software to use and how to post the result. RM209 for Contour 4GB is *TASTY*!!

where did you get it?

Kingston's usb drives are cheap because they are in low-performance/price range ....

Reported at CES 2008, Kingston will soon introduce DataTraveler HyperX USB drive.

This product is similar to Kingston's other DataTraveler USB drives, but the company claims it has much quicker transfer speeds—up to 30MB/s when reading and 20MB/s while writing.

DataTraveler HyperX USB drives are launching with 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB capacities at suggested retail prices of $74, $131, and $266, respectively.

This post has been edited by cybpsych: Jan 15 2008, 08:53 AM

Review and benchmark for Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 8GB

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4284

Looks like the performance is similar to Corsair Voyager GT

Sandisk Contour is sexy

good read/write performance ... should get this instead of all those low-end models ... a bit expensive, though, but worth the purchase.