Kingston U3 DataTraveler Flash Drive Review

Post by **Illuminati** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:12 am

Flash drives have come a long way in the last four years! Today Legit Reviews takes a look at Kinston's 1GB U3 DataTraveler Flash Drive. U3 flash drives allow you to install your favorite programs to the flash drive. So, anywhere you go, you will have your programs and data on one, small flash drive! Read on to find out the full set of features and performance this device has to offer.

Kingston U3 DataTraveler Flash Drive Review

Post by **Illuminati** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:26 am

This is definitely the flash drive that I'm going to start carrying around everywhere. I have open office, firefox, and firebird installed right now, so I don't have to worry about forwarding myself emails anymore... I'll always have all my email right on my keychain!

I definitely see myself giving U3 flash drives away as gifts throughout the next year!

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to try and answer them for you.

Dragon_Cooler · Post by **Dragon_Cooler** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:08 pm

well the idea of being able to isntall most any program and carry it with you is kind of cool. other than that pppfffttttt!!! NEXT....

pcrobot · Post by **pcrobot** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 6:07 pm

Now I know what to put on my b-day wish list!

Immortal · Post by **Immortal** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 3:37 am

have you guys seen the really small 6GB hard drive released by WD?
May i make a humble siggestion that about what you need to be reviewing next! ;)

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 5:55 am

Nice review Justin!!!

of course I do things slightly more geek-like!!

I have a very cheap 512Mb stick with feather Linux installed on it, I have firefox, thunderbird, samba and open office installedl.....

It might be an idea for future reviews to install Linux onto a pen drive aswell????

Post by **Illuminati** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 6:59 am

Thanks, Ken!

I like your idea of possibly installing feather linux on the next one... but I'll go ahead and state now that it would probably not work well for this drive just because of how Kingston has it partitioned with .exe files set for autorun when you plug the drive in. This device seems to be strictly for windows platforms. I am also willing to bet that this is the case for ALL U3 flash drives.

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 7:44 am

Do you know if it is posible to get hold of the U3 software for non-U3 drives?

So maybe buy an OCZ rally and put the U3 stuff on that?

Dan

Post by **Illuminati** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:48 am

DMB2000uk wrote:Do you know if it is posible to get hold of the U3 software for non-U3 drives?

So maybe buy an OCZ rally and put the U3 stuff on that?

Dan

Hmm... that's an interesting question.

My initial guess is no. mainly because the Kingston U3 drive has a small chunck partitioned off as read-only. When the flash drive is connected to your computer, this small partition is actually recognized as a CD-Rom drive. Since I don't think you could do this yourself, I don't think it would work the same as an actual U3 drive. The U3 launcher software is stored on this read-only partition where it is auto-run (like a CD-Rom) when you plug the flash drive into your system.

But, for fun, I'll do some digging and see if I can figure something out.

Post by **Apoptosis** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:53 am

The U3 smart devices have some different Hardware Specifications that must be followed for it to be a U3 device. If a device on the market is not U3 it can't be made one by installing software due to the hardware differences.

The key components of the U3 platform include:

The U3 Hardware Specification defines the set of functionality that enables device hardware to be U3 smart.

The U3 Device Services is the low-level software infrastructure that serves as the bridge between the hardware and the applications and data stored on it.

The U3 Launchpad is the friendly graphical user interface to the U3 smart drive and its content. It comes installed on all U3 smart drives and provides the user an easy-to-use entry point to the personal workspace

As you can see from the above quote three things most be enabled before a drive is "U3 Smart". Making the OCZ Rally drive a U3 drive is not possible.

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 4:18 pm

OK then, new question

Whats the fastest performing U3 Drive available at the minute?

Dan

Post by **Apoptosis** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 9:34 pm

DMB2000uk wrote:OK then, new question

Whats the fastest performing U3 Drive available at the minute?

Dan

In terms of data transfer I'm guessing? What's the most important thing to you? Read Speeds? Write Speeds? Applications?

Post by **DMB2000uk** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 9:53 am

Erm.. Yeah, transfer speeds.

I guess Write is the most important.

Dan