Introduction

USB flash drives have certainly made a lot of headway in just the past year alone. Not too long ago, there were only a few models from a few companies; now there is such a multitude of USB flash drives it is hard to tell, sometimes, whether a particular unit is actually made by the company whose logo adorns the drive.

With the great selection of USB flash drives, it is safe to assume that their proliferation has increased as well; indeed many people still have the need for portable storage. I for one, am one of them. Whether it's moving data from my computer to my parents', or transferring a file or two from home to school or vice versa, there are times when a sneaker net solution is perhaps the most practical one. For a portable storage medium to be effective it must have a large number of computers that support it; USB flash drives are therefore perhaps the most logical replacement for floppies.

However, USB flash drives also offer more; increased transfer speeds and much larger capacities, plus maybe a few more features depending on the manufacturer, are the additional benefits. Recently, I looked at a USB flash drive from K&C Technologies, and while I found it to be part of a decent package, it was lacking in what many consider to be the most important aspect of a storage medium: speed, or data transfer rates.

Today, I'll be looking at a 32MB flash drive from Belkin, a renowned peripherals manufacturer. If you've been to any chain of computer or electronic stores, you'll most likely have seen some of their products. Can they live up to their established reputation in this flash drive? We'll see, today.

Specifications

Belkin currently offers their USB flash drives in four different capacities - 16MB, 32MB, 64MB and 128MB - all of which can work with up to USB 1.1 speeds. This means they'll work with your USB 2.0 controller, but you won't be able to take advantage of the USB 2.0 speeds. Other manufacturers are offering drives up to 1GB in capacity, and some may even offer higher capacity ones. Belkin should do well to note this - perhaps not for this particular line of USB flash drives, but instead for a potential line of USB 2.0 flash drives, as the potential for increased speed with USB 2.0 will go well with large capacities such as 512MB or greater.

• Features write/delete protection switch

• Power consumption: Write: 39.1mA ~ 39.4mA / Read: 35.0mA ~ 36.1mA

• Comes with a 3-Year Belkin Warranty and FCC, CE approval

• Dimensions (LxWxH): 77mm x 25mm x 9mm (3.25" x 1.0" x 0.625")

• Weight: 20g

• Erase cycles: 1,000,000 times

• Data retention time: ~10yrs

• Transfer rates: Read: >750KB/s / Write: >450KB/s

• More specs available here

In addition to the USB flash drive itself, you also get a 3' USB extension cable, a neckstrap attachment, a driver disk (for Win98/SE users) and a small user manual. The manual mostly consists of explanations detailing the driver installation process under Win98 systems, and so for the most part it isn't necessary, but nonetheless it was a nice addition. Although requiring a driver installation for Win98 systems may be annoying as many systems out there, especially in public institutions, may still run this old OS, it should be noted that I have never seen a USB flash drive that hasn't required drivers for Win98. The problem lies with the OS, not necessarily with the chipset of the USB drive.

Argh... the first thing you'll notice is that Belkin's USB flash drives come stuck in those hard-to-open plastic packages - the same type of which encased the Nostromo n45 gamepad I reviewed a while ago. Belkin has gotta change this; I understand this type of packaging may be more conducive to hanging the product on store shelves, but not only is it a PITA to open, but it potentially makes returning the product harder. The included accessories showed Belkin's attention to detail: The neckstrap is a convenient way to carry the flash drive around, and it has a small buckle for quick detachment. The USB extension cable is also useful if the computer that you mainly use the flash drive with doesn't have easily accessible USB ports.

The driver disk is only needed for computers using Win98/SE, and this is the earliest Windows OS that any USB flash drive, not just Belkin's, will support. With WinME, Win2K, and WinXP, the drivers should automatically be installed upon connecting the flash drive to a USB port - what plug n' play was meant to be. The flash drive will also work with any Linux using kernel 2.40 or later, and it will also work with MacOS 8.6 or greater - so a majority of Non-MS users should be happy to hear this. Indeed, cross-platform capability is something that should not be forgotten.

As with most flash drives, the size is small enough that they can easily be put onto a keychain ring or into a small pocket; Belkin's USB drive is no different. At less than half the size of a pack of cards, and perhaps just as thick at its thickest point, the drive shouldn't add much burden to your daily routine. In fact, I'd be worried about losing it, but that's just because I've stupidly lost things before. The drive is wider in the middle than at the ends, so it has a shape of a bloated rectangle; the entire case is made of silvery plastic that shines somewhat, giving it a professional look. On one side, is the logo and red LED that flashes when data is being read or written to the drive, and on the other side is the clip from the cap.

On the side, inset, is the write protect tab. This is a useful feature that not all USB drives possess, and while some of us may not have a use for it, I'd rather see it included than not. It can be good if you use the USB drive to carry around important data that doesn't need to be updated, such as drivers if you're a technician. With the tab set in quite a bit, you'll have to use something to move it, like the tip of a pencil, or, perhaps more practically, the tip of the clip on the drive's cap.

The cap is quite sturdy, and I didn't worry about it breaking during removal; a nice attention to detail for Belkin. One thing I did find annoying though, was that the cap could be a little difficult to remove - there aren't any real grips on it and it's attached quite tightly. This problem is aggravated if your fingertips are sweaty. The neckstrap attaches nicely to the loop at the end of the drive, but to be honest I don't really have much use for it - I don't like hanging things around my neck, but for many people the neckstrap will no doubt be useful. Additionally, the neckstrap also has a small buckle/clip at the end so that the drive can be quickly detached from it without having to remove the neckstrap from yourself. However, the loop also attaches nicely to a keyring, my preferred way of carrying this thing around. The braided USB extension cable is a nice 3' long, and it's of the same quality you'd expect from Belkin, if you've noticed their extensive line of cables in stores - it was nice to see that Belkin didn't skimp in this area.

One thing that would be even nicer than an extension cable, is a docking station for those of us who don't have front USB ports - though something like that would add on to the price tag - something that Belkin surely did not want to do especially when not everyone would need one.

Installation

Plug it in. Seriously, that's about as complicated as I can make it. Well, unless you're running Win98 - then you'll have to install the drivers on the disk. After that, and a restart, you can plug the drive in. It should be automatically detected, and the proper drivers will then be loaded. The flash drive will appear as a "Removable Disk" in My Computer for Windows users, and when you're moving data to or from the drive, its red LED will flash. Because Belkin's USB drive is a little wide and thick, it will block of access to the adjacent USB port if it's directly attached to the computer. This can be remedied by using the extension cable, but that can be cumbersome; I would have liked it if the drive was built in such a way that it did not block off a USB port, but unfortunately this is a problem I've seen in some other USB drives as well. There's simply not a lot of room between two USB ports.

Testing

I tested this Belkin 32MB USB flash drive on the following system:

• Athlon T-bird 1.2@1.33GHz

• Asus A7V-133 motherboard (used onboard USB ports for testing)

• 512MB PC-133 SDRAM

• Windows 2000 w/ SP3

I tested the flash drive both using HDTach and timing a real-world file transfer. The real-world file transfer tests are probably more applicable, as while they aren't perhaps as accurate, you'll most likely be using this drive just for pure data transfers.

As you can see, the read transfer rates were indeed as Belkin claimed to be - above 750KB/s easily. At 881KB/s, Belkin's USB flash drive easily beats K&C Tech's 265KB/s, and additionally, the CPU utilization, at 5.4% for Belkin's model, was below the 7.5% for K&C Tech's model. But perhaps HDTach isn't the best utility to test the drive with... so we'll move onto a real-world file transfer.

At an average of time of 20.4s to read a 19.1MB file, the Belkin drive was able to read data at a rate of about 0.94MB/s, while it took an average of 28.5s to write that same file, working out to about 0.67MB/s for a write speed. Both of these rates are easily above what Belkin had specified, and it was nice to see a manufacturer underestimating the performance of their product rather than brazenly overstating performance. Overall, I was very impressed with the performance - while the write speeds don't come close to that of CD burners, it's often much more simpler and quicker to use a USB flash drive, and the rewritability and speed of this Belkin unit far exceed other forms of removable media in terms of usefulness.

Conclusion

As I've said before, a USB flash drive can be an indispensable device for anyone. The ease of installation, the small size, the capacity and the cross-platform capability are the key aspects that won me over. But Belkin has made a unit that not only looks great, but performs just as well. With read transfer rates close to 1MB/s, you'll be hard pressed to find a better combination in a portable/removable storage device for the price. With most computers nowadays having USB ports, USB flash drives are the practical alternative to floppy disks - not only are they smaller and faster, but they're also more durable. Yes, it's true, for some situations burning a CD may be better; but for smaller, more frequent file transfers, I believe the USB flash drive rules. Belkin has put together an exceptional package with their offering; not only is the flash drive itself something to speak of, but the included USB extension cable and neckstrap seal the deal in a nice way. For those times when you still need to physically transfer files, I can wholeheartedly recommend any of Belkin's flash drives. My only complaints were fairly small. Firstly, the cap can be a little difficult to remove, and on a bad day, none of us need that. Secondly, the wide berth of the unit causes it to block off access to the USB port next to the one it's plugged into. These small complaints of mine will hopefully be something Belkin takes into account on their (potential) next line of USB 2.0-compliant flash drives, but shouldn't be taken as reasons to cross this drive out of your list.

Pros

• Easy to installation and use

• Neckstrap and 3' USB extension cable included

• Write-protect tab prevents unwanted data loss

• Performance - between 0.8-0.9MB/s read

• Comes with a 3-yr warranty

• Looks great ;)

Cons

• Cap can be a little difficult to remove

• Blocks off access to adjacent USB port when installed

Lastly, I want to thank Belkin for providing this unit as this review would not be possible without their support. Thanks for reading!