PNY 8GB Attache USB Drive

USB flash memory drives are becoming extremely commonplace today, and their usage has basically become mainstream. With hundreds of brands with multiple features and size offerings, it's hard to tell a good USB flash disk from a bad one. Transfer speed and storage capacity are the two main features to look at when shopping for a flash memory drive, and where we will focus our attention today. PNY has developed the Attache 8GB USB flash drive, and we take a look at it today to see how it compares to the competition.

Design

As you can tell from the pictures below, the PNY Attache 8GB USB drive is black in color with a slightly textured casing. In terms of size, it is barely wider than the USB port. This makes it very easy to plug into a computer when all other USB ports are full. The memory stick has a place at the end to attach a lanyard or keychain, but neither were included in the package. I think it's pretty important to have something attached to the device due to it's small size. Personally, I would have preferred a lanyard that goes around your neck.

One very nice feature is the cap snaps firmly onto the back of the USB stick. This keeps you from losing the cap when using the stick, and even snaps on when it is attached to a thin neck strap. It is a well designed feature which solves a key problem with most devices that go without caps shortly after purchase.

Unlike some drives which come with drive specific hardware, the only thing in the package was the drive itself, and the USB port cap. This drive functions plug-n-play with Microsoft Windows XP/Vista, Apple OS/X, and Linux. This means there is no need to search to find drivers for the installation - it just worked out of the box.

Features

• Compatible with most PC/MAC laptop and desktop computers with available USB 2.0 port (Backwards compatible to USB 1.0)
• Store, transport and share you favorite documents, photos, music, videos and more
• High performance, low power consumption, non-volatile flash memory makes Attache drives more durable than other storage devices
• New Design with integrated cap holder on the back to prevent lost caps
• Free technical support and 1-year warranty

PNY Attache Box Contents	PNY Attache Top View	PNY Attache Cap Removed

Performance

To give a clear picture on the overall transfer speed of this PNY flash drive, I decided to run a few speed tests. While these tests weren't performed in a lab, I think they are more indicative of normal use speeds.

The tests were set up as following:

• 50 MB tests contained 1 folder with 140 files
• 100MB tests contained 2 files
• 1GB tests contained 20 files

One noticeable difference is in the test speeds between 50 MB and 100 MB. Apparently the number of files makes a real difference when copying to the drive. This is probably due to the time it takes the operating system to write to the File Allocation Table. When you add a file to a drive, it has to make two different writes - one for the file, and one which adds the file's information to the file system. That's why the times on the 50 MB actually ran longer on the write than the 100 MB because the 50 MB write action had more separate files than the 100 MB write. It's interesting to see that this drive runs fast enough that we can see where the operating system is affecting the speed of the writes.

While I didn't check speeds on linux, I did use it in Ubuntu 8.04 where it automatically mounted and worked well. I also use my USB disk to hold DSL and puppy linux both of which run from the disk fine on top of Windows Vista in VMware Player.

I also used this drive for Vista Ready-Boost which really speeds things up on Vista. With 8 GB of space there is half left over when using Ready-Boost which limits you to using 4GB for Ready-Boost.

PNY 8GB Attache USB Flash Drive

Overall, this flash drive device performs very well in normal day-to-day conditions and is priced reasonably at $44.99 USD. Other than the lack of a neck strap or keyring which could be acquired separately, this USB stick fits the bill for a reliable and high performance storage device. It did very well in the speed tests and has the capacity to hold a lot of data with its 8GB capacity. I have used this device almost daily for file transfer, quick backups, and basic information storage and it hasn't skipped a beat. The bottom line is that PNY hit the target with this Attache 8GB drive.

Pros: High speed data transfer, small size fits easily into cramped usb ports, cap snaps firmly on the back, Windows ReadyBoost compatible.

Cons: No neck strap or keychain included, no software included.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5

www.pny.com