Verbatim TUFF-N-TINY 8GB USB Drive

Just when you thought that USB flash drives could not get any smaller - Verbatim proves you wrong by releasing the new TUFF-N-TINY USB Flash Drive. At a miniscule size of 1.19 x 0.5 x 0.06 inch (about the size of a piece of Trident gum), tiny is an appropriate name for this portable storage drive. Verbatim claims that the drive is resistant to dust, water and static discharges. Let's see if it really is as tough as claimed and can hold up to the rigors as a daily-use storage drive.

Design

The TUFF-N-TINY is designed to be completely portable with the miniscule size and resistance to the elements. The rectangular shape is adorned with the Verbatim logo and the “8GB” text to indicate the storage capacity. A purple coloring on the outside insures that you don’t lose sight of the drive (which is easy to do considering the small size). A lanyard attachment hole protrudes from the end of the drive.

The contacts for the USB connection are exposed, which may lead you to think that the drive can be easily damaged. This was my first thought, at least, upon seeing that the copper colored contacts were exposed and there is no covering over them. Thankfully there is a plastic coating over the contacts that protects them from being damaged.

The size of the drive at 1.19 x 0.5 x 0.06 inch is roughly equivalent to the width and length of a thumbnail, and is about as thick as a penny. Certainly I have seen nails on women that would much larger than the petite sized TUFF-N-TINY.

Also included with the drive a pre-loaded password security software for Windows systems. It protects sensitive data in a user-defined private zone, while allowing a public zone for open access and sharing of non-sensitive files.

Features

• Tiny, rugged USB drive measures 1.19 x 0.5 x 0.06 inch
• Resistant to dust, water and static discharges
• Compatible with ALL USB ports
• Password security for Windows users
• Enhanced for Windows® ReadyBoost™
• Compatible with Windows 7, Vista, XP or 2000, Mac OS 9.x or higher, Linux kernel 2.6x or higher
• Bonus key ring lanyard for mobile phones or key rings
• Available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities

In the Box

• TUFF-N-TINY drive
• Key ring lanyard
• Instruction guide

Performance

To test the performance of the TUFF-N-TINY USB flash drive, I used the HD Tach benchmark program as well as HD Tune benchmark program. These tests will give a clear view of the overall speed of the USB flash drive.

One other note - this USB flash drive has been verified to support the “ReadyBoost” feature on Windows Vista. While I won't be testing Vista here, this is certainly an attractive feature of the drive if you are using Vista as your operating system.

Testing was performed using the following system:

- Motherboard: ECS KN1 SLI Lite
- CPU: AMD Athlon X2 3800+ Dual-Core
- Memory: 2GB Corsair TWINX (2x1GB) DDR RAM
- CPU Heatsink: Spire VertiCool IV
- Video card: EVGA 7900GT
- Hard drive: Western Digital 250GB SATA2 16MB cache
- Optical drive: NEC 8X DVD-R DVD burner
- Power supply: Ultra XVS 700W
- Case: Ultra Grid

As you can see from the test results, the TUFF-CLIP is certainly no slouch in the performance department. The average read speed of 31.8MB / sec and the average write speed of 23.4MB / sec are right up there with the fastest USB drives we have tested, and almost the same as the TUFF-CLIP drive. So you should no trouble running applications or loading large-sized files with the TUFF-N-TINY.

Portability, Toughness and Other Considerations

A miniature size and a claim of toughness is all well and good, but how did the TUFF-N-TINY actually hold up in real world usage?

To test the durability of the drive, I dropped it in water. Yes, you read that correctly – I took the tiny drive and dropped it in a glass of water and left it there for about 10 seconds. I also dropped it on the floor a few times on purpose to simulate normal accidents, and I carried it around with me on my keychain for over a week to subject it to bumps, knocks and whacks.

Dipped in water		Submerged in water

After this abuse I was not sure if the drive would actually survive, but I’m happy to say that it never skipped a beat. The drive continued to work just like it did out of the box, even after being submerged in water.

The only real gripe I have is that it is easy to get it flipped the wrong way and insert it into a USB slot with the USB contacts on the wrong side. It's so thin that it fits into a USB slot either way, and for the first few days of usage you'll probably waste a small amount of time figuring out which way it should be inserted.

Verbatim TUFF-N-TINY 8GB USB Drive

The TUFF-N-TINY 8GB USB flash drive lives up to its billing as a tiny storage drive that is rugged enough to withstand daily battering. It really does continue to work as advertised even if it is submerged in water and dropped on the ground multiple times, and it doesn’t skip a beat. Performance in both read and write speeds did not suffer at all after the beating it took.

Available for about $35 online for the 8GB version, it’s reasonably priced and is available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB versions. As long as you are dexterous enough to handle such a small device, this USB drive is a winner.

Pros: Completely dependable, fast read and write speeds, security software included, reasonably priced.

Cons: Easy to insert the wrong way into a USB slot, only available in purple color for the 8GB version, and green color for the 4GB version and orange for the 2GB version.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5

www.verbatim.com