Kingston DataTraveler 100 - 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive DT100/8GB
by Kingston Technology
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List Price: Our Price: $20.00 You Save: $79.99 (80%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Kingston DataTraveler 100 - 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive DT100/8GB
Customer Review: Great value and nearly indestructble
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a rugged drive of ample size for most everyday purposes. I received mine as a Christmas gift. After about 3 months of use, I left it in my pants pocket and the drive (and its 3 GB of stored files) were washed, in hot water (complete with laundry detergent and powdered oxy bleach), and then dried on cotten setting for almost an hour with dryer sheets added to the mix. I had my doubts, but after allowing the drive to sit for a day to ensure all residual moisture had evaporated, I plugged it in and not only did the little thing work, but all the files were still there and working in FULL, and my victim passed repeated examinations with Tech Tool Pro and Drive Genius (I am using Mac OS X.5, and Ubuntu) for catalog/B-tree/other damage. The poor drive subsequently got kicked around a concrete courtyard and bounced down a cast iron staircase. The case is scratched a bit, but again files are fine, as is case integrity, LED activity light, and connector/slider. I am more careful now, but the ruggedness of this Kingston USB thumb drive has impressed me, and I think I will buy a 16 GB model soon (and treat it a bit more kindly!). Can't think of a thing I didn't like about the 8 GB model, only withheld the last of 5 stars on the principle that I have only owned it a few months, so long term reliablility is unknown, and besides, 5 star items should also be sexy and almost unique (like an iPod Touch, iPhone), not "merely" a very well designed and extremely well-constructed utlity item.
UPDATE 3/17/10:
Another year has passed, and this little drive is still working up to spec and fine. Haven't washed it or otherwise abused it again, but it still shows no (functional) signs of being the worse for the wear. So I bought another a few weeks ago, and likely will get a 16 or 32 gigabyte model DataTraveler 100 before the summer (or better, if offered by Kingston, the ONLY brand of ANY type, [USB, SD/uSD etc.] flash memory I'll buy, perhaps excepting SanDisk).
UPDATE 3/4/11: And another year, all working fine, under regular use. Yay, Kingston!
Customer Review: Rocky start, but...
Summary: 4 Stars
At first, this flash drive was so slow I was certain it was defective. It took hours to transfer about 2GB of data, then it aborted before it finished. I tried again, with similar results. I didn't know exactly how an thumb drive was supposed to behave, as this is the first one I've tried, but was quite sure it wasn't supposed to act like this.
I reformatted to a Mac format and tried again. A little better, but still painfully slow, and still freezing before completing the transfer. Back to FAT32. Again, a small improvement, but still unsatisfactory. Back to Mac. More incremental improvement. I tried formatting on a different Mac. Not noticeably different.
After nearly a dozen failed attempts over a couple of days on two computers, I was about to give up on it. I started to write Amazon asking for a refund. Then, more out of stubbornness than anything, I decided to give it one last try.
Voila! It worked (in Mac formatting at this point). It's a mystery why it didn't work at first or why it does now. Nothing seems to have changed: Same files, same USB ports, same computers.
It's still not the fastest thing ever, but that may be inherent to the technology. I have no other flash drives to compare it to. In any case, it's adequate for it's intended purpose, which is to transfer files between my two Macs. It's faster than a wireless network, at least.
Most likely this was a unique, freakish occurrence, but in case it isn't, I thought I'd share my experience to encourage others persist if they have an initial problem.
Customer Review: Great Value, Great Thumb Drive
Summary: 4 Stars
I have used alot of different kinds of thumbdrives since I work in the IT industry.
Here are the pros:
1. It's less than $27!!
2. It's 8GB!!
3. NO U3!! (I will elaborate on this in a minute)
4. It's a Kingston (well known for it's quality and reliability)
Here are the cons:
1. It's hard to "slide" the USB connector out of the casing.
2. No lanyard included (or anything to use to connect it to a keyring etc)
however, if you do have an old usb thumbdrive lanyard it will work with it...
3. It can be difficult if not impossible to plug in another usb peripherial beside it due to it's casing size. If you have usb ports on your monitor or on the front of your computer this is not an issue.
Bottom Line:
8GB for less than $27 from Kingston? Where do I sign!! Overall great value and NO %$@#*@ U3.
U3 for those that don't know is a VERY annoying program that has come standard on alot of thumbdrives that you CANNOT just delete off the drive. It takes about a minute to let you just get to the info, and flashes a splash screen above evertyhing you have running at the time.
It's like permanent "trial software" that you would never use anyway.
Anyways I applaud Kingston for NOT using U3 technology! Well then what happens when you plug it into a USB port you may ask? Takes about 20 secs or less, and a Windows Explorer window pops up displaying the contents of the drive with no action required, thats it... NICE!!!
Customer Review: Solid, no-nonsense performance, good value.
Summary: 4 Stars
The Kingston DataTraveler 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive DT100/8GB I purchased from Amazon.com has performed flawlessly. My particular usage has been to transfer files, mostly large video, project backup and photo files, between computers. I have not noticed any lag and have been pleased with the speed. I am running Windows 2000 (a version of NT), Vista Business, and Windows XP laptops and each has recognized and loaded the Kingston DT100 immediately.
While I have been to busy to run any benchmark tests to share with you, I can only compare it with my previous 2GB flash drive from Best Buy's Geek Squad which was pre-loaded with some "helpware" I did not care for and did not really help so much. I think their heart was in the right place but it just got in the way and tended to upset my Windows XP machine and never wanted to eject properly. The Kingston is by far more stable and at least twice as speedy.
The only reason for the lack of 5-stars is the lack of an included lanyard or other attachment to keep from losing this device. Now that I've found a flash drive I'm attached to, I'd like it to stay attached to me. I spent about 45 minutes one night rigging a way to keep it hanging onto my computer bag, yet be able to detach it when needed. There is a recessed area to thread a very small nylon lanyard if you have one, but it has to be VERY small.
Other than that, it's a keeper. No regrets ... get it!
Customer Review: Solid little performer
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this drive for a few uses. First, to make it easier for me to transport large files from work to home and back again without having to lug my heavy and slow laptop. Second, I wanted to use ReadyBoost (see other reviews for details, but basically Windows Vista can use this drive as additional RAM so you don't have to upgrade!) to pump up memory on my home computer when the drive is just sitting around.
This drive delivered on both. Reading and writing is super fast. I can fill up the drive in a little over a minute, which is pretty outstanding relative to other USB drives. Of course, that means there's less space available for ReadyBoost.
I also use this to use music and videos and photos on my Xbox 360. The Xbox sees the drive and is happy to either play right from the drive or copy to the Xbox hard drive. I find this incredibly useful and very few people seem to know that those little holes on the front of the Xbox 360 are just plain old USB ports. If only the Xbox supported ReadyBoost! :)
One word about the retractable USB connector: NICE. I've had too many break or get crushed, bent, filled with lint/crumbs/crud/etc. By no means is this drive 100% impervious to all that, but at least you have a better chance... and you won't lose the cap.
All in all, this is an outstanding piece of hardware for a very reasonable price.