(iBoyd)

Super Talent Pico Drive

By Boyd, November 20, 2008 1:16 pm

For deploying Windows XP to computers in our lab environment, we use 2GB 200x USB drives manufactured by Apacer. The reason for using these drives is simple: They are much faster and more reliable than DVD media. For Vista, we need to upgrade to 8GB drives (4GB would probably work for now, but having some padding is nice). The 8GB version of thet Apacer drive is very expensive (some retailers have it listed at over $100). Since we will eventually need to buy a lot of 8GB drives, I decided to look for some chreaper alternatives that have similar performance. I came across the Super Talent Pico Drive, which has fairly good performance reviews when compared to the Apacer drive. At $26, it’s a bargain. I decided to order one for testing.

I was shocked at how small this drive was. I would be reluctant to put most USB drives on my keyring because they are too bulky but this drive is really perfect accessory to your keys. The USB connector folds out of the casing. The one thing I dislike about the connector is that it allows you to put the key in to a USB slot backwards, so you have to pay attention when plugging it in.

In terms of performance, it is plenty fast for what we need. It is definitely faster than DVD media and may even have faster reads than the Apacer models we have used. If I have time someday I will do a side-by-side comparison. Writes to drive, while not blazing, are definitely fast enough for our needs since we only need to read data from the drive during our build process.

The verdict is still out for the sturdiness of this device. The USB connector is constructed of plastic that seems to scratch easily. I’m not sure if this will cause problems down the road. When the connector is folded into its case it seems to be fairly safe from unintentional damage.

Overall, I am really impressed with this USB drive. Having a USB drive with both gobs of space and great performance is spectacular, especially at this price. Super Talent has several other models that we may look at in the future.