Reviews related to : Flash memory

The cards class and speed make all the difference and when shooting video from a camera is a good way to know if your class and speed is adequate. Speed used to be easy to judge with the number shown on the card 2 was around 2MB/s, 4 was around 4MB/s, 6 was around 6MB/s, 8 was around 8MB/s and the best was 10MB/s which was a 10.

It looks like a slightly large USB memory stick and indeed it is but apart from being able to move items from one USB device to another it does something two other things. It is 3.5cm wide around 1cm thick and around 6cm long. Its width will require either a flush fitting USB port or a USB extension lead. When inserted around 4.5cm is exposed from the PC. The first extra thing is the ability to transfer files either to or from Lightning devices.

Time was when to install an operating system on a new hard disc meant having a CD or DVD and doing the installation from that. More recently computer BIOS settings allow you to install from USB stick. The basic installation files of Windows 7 fit easily onto an 8GB memory stick so providing a memory stick is reliable then that’s fine.

The phone in your pocket (with appropriate apologies for the original saying) has tended to grow in both power and functionality with each new version.  However there is one aspect of your mobile friend that is sometimes neglected.  That area is the one of storage capacity.  Often manufacturers believe that by offering devices with a MicroSD card slot, the needs of their customers will be satisfied and this approach will allow them to keep their costs down.

The Mobi SDHC Class 10 cards are coloured orange and clearly state “mobi” and also their capacity – 8, 16 or 32GB. They can just replace an existing SD card in a camera and create an 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi hotspot. Having downloaded and installed the app from www.eye.fi/mobi via the Android Play Store or the iOS app store onto the smartphone or tablet and then switched on the camera one will be prompted to key in the mobi activation code to “pair” phone and camera.

The PhotoFast iFlash Drive HD measures 4.7x2.5x1cm and its total weight is 8grams. These devices are available in different capacities – the one sent to me was 8GB – one end is a USB plug the other end is the standard Apple 30pin plug. For those with the very recent new connector size there is an adapter available. Transferring files from the PC is as easy as drag and drop just like to any USB stick.

I have reviewed several 500GB drives and even a couple of 750GB ones which although they come with extra power leads they have not needed them, here even when the drive is out of the cradle it can need that extra boost. The main drive has a small partition which is seen as a CD enabling it to have software concealed on it. More on this software in a little bit. The usable part of the drive is 465GB with the other GB taken by pointers.

The size of hard discs continue to rise so people expect the size of memory sticks to keep pace. With USB3 starting to attract attention moving larger files quickly is getting ever easier. Of course the more data you carry the more disastrous the outcome should unencrypted files fall into the wrong hands. Here lets deal with size. I have seen two of these such devices at 8GB and 16GB they are not light as they are made of metal and the USB plug slides out of the casing when required.

Last year with the aid of Kingston Technology - and how to tell what the various numbers found on stood for. These covered 4GB up to 32GB. Now however there are 64GB and soon – I am told – 128GB. One word of caution if you are purchasing a 64GB or 128GB card you will need a new card reader as older readers can only recognise up to 32GB. Two of the cards I am looking at came with readers.

While a good number of computers these days do come with built-in memory card readers this is by far from being universally the case. Here in the office my year old desktop machine for instance has no such card reader. While it's still common to see 17-in-1 card readers available, the industry has thankfully, for the most part, standardised on a couple of card formats, although with variations.

While you may not recognise the name of Gemalto, the chances are that you have probably used at least one of the products that have been developed by this company.  In its B2B (Business to Business) persona, Gemalto produces a large percentage of subscriber identification modules (SIMs) and smart cards in use today.  Developing a more consumer orientated approach, Gemalto’s latest product is entitled YuuWaa – now there’s a name you are not going to forget in a hurry.

So what exactly do things like Class 2, Class 4, and, Class 6 mean and do they make any difference apart from the larger Class number meaning the memory is likely to be more expensive to purchase? In fact a visit to certain sites like say give you the information as to what class the card you are selecting is and certain other sites just tell you the make and maybe a card name like say Ultimate or Elite Pro and on their own this means little other than the manufacture has dug into a thesaurus

I have long transferred data by a four slot card reader and up till now it has always done what I needed. However when the ‘mini’ this and the ‘micro’ that come along they need an adapter so that they adapt to their full size cousins before they can fit in the reader. Here with six slots that is almost solved. It is 10x4.5x1.

Verbatim has recently introduced a new range of Store'n'Go USB drives.  Decked out in the company's familiar blue livery, these drives will be available in capacities of 1, 2, 4 and 8GB.  I have been looking at the 4GB model which has been priced at £19.99. This new USB drive immediately solves one problem that many users of this type of device will be familiar with on a regular basis.

However until very recently transferring to a PC has meant not only removing the micro SD card from the phone but finding the adapter to convert it into a standard SD card and also then the card reader.

From Imation we're looking at the new "Atom Flash Drive", available in 1G, 2G, 4G and 8G bytes sizes. Our test sample is 1Gbyte. This is pitted against the Kingston Data Traveller 100, available in the same sizes.

Poker Mate USB Drive It is 4cm across and .5cm thick. It is red and white with 12 alternate sections the six white ones are plastic and the red ones rubber. This gives a distinct feel in the fingers. There are various capacities available, mine was 1GB and this is clearly written on both sides of the chip.

Apart from the obvious problems with knowing which format you need for a particular product, you're also often left having to buy different card for each of your gadgets. Even ignoring competing formats, individual formats have now spawned whole families of related standards sharing confusingly similar names.

Verbatim USB Drive 4GB This looks like a conventional USB stick drive, just for a moment think that not long ago a 4GB hard disc would be large. It is quite able to do the job of speeding up Vista and indeed does carry the ReadyBoost name. However apart from part or all of the available space being allocated to Vista it comes with a £16.

In an effort to differentiate their USB flash drive products from the competition manufacturers have put in varying degrees of effort into trying to make their particular products stand out from the rest of the pack.  Physical dimensions and various shapes have been tried as the means of differentiating certain brands while others have opted for the approach of adding extra value in the form of bonus software such as Ceedo, U3 and encryption protection.