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Review: Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drive Reviewed by: crossg Provided by: Memorex |
their latest Travel Drive, the 8GB Mega Travel Drive for review.
Company
Information:
Let us take a look at some of the company information found at the Memorex European website
Corporate Profile:
| Company Name | Memorex |
| Business Outline | Since Memorex burst onto the recording scene more than 40 years ago with "Is it live or is it Memorex?" a lot has changed. But with each generation, Memorex continues to remain one of the most widely recognised and respected names in the consumer electronics industry. By bringing to market the high performance products consumers demand, Memorex is a dominant brand in CD and DVD media, flash drives and media accessories. |
| Not just a media company, Memorex markets a wide range of products that consumers use to capture, save and share all facets of life, from music to memories. Other products offered by Memorex include a fast growing line of USB flash drives, and a wide assortment of media labelling and organisation products.
The Memorex brand continues to thrive, serving as the benchmark for lifelike sound and image reproduction. Is it live or is it Memorex? You decide. |
Corporate Highlights:
Recordable Media
Memorex is the number one provider of digital media, outperforming all other brands of CD and DVD media. 2004 marked the fifth consecutive year in the CD category and third consecutive year in DVDs that Memorex led its U.S. competitors in all blank digital media, in both volume and sales.
Accessories
Memorex offers a complete line of media accessories, including CD and DVD labeling tools and storage cases. With a wide assortment of media accessories.
Travel Drives
For consumers looking to keep important files, music, video or digital photos with them wherever they go, the Memorex family of Travel Drives offers sleek and stylish high performance storage in a flash drive small enough to fit on a keychain. Memorex Travel Drives are ideal for securely taking precious files home, to school, to the office, or anywhere in between.
Drive Specifications:
The specifications of the Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drive (also available in 4GB and 6GB versions) were found at the Memorex European website.
Technical Specifications
| Type of Drive | External |
| Capacity | 8 GB of storage space |
| Interface | Hi Speed USB 2.0 or 1.1 compatible |
| Dimensions | 1.8 x 1.7 x .5 inches / 45.7 x 43.1 x 12.7 mm |
| Weight | 1.4 oz / 40g |
| Warranty | 2 years Europe/1 year elsewhere |
Compatibility/Capacity
|
Reviewers Note: Windows 98SE requires software drivers available from www.memorex.com.
What's inside the package?
In this section we will take a look at what the Travel Drive came shipped with and take a look at the drive itself.
Front of Package
Back Of Package
Package contents
The drive was supplied with a 5 inch/12.7 cm USB extension cable, soft leather carrying case and a Quick Start Guide.
Now it's time to take a look at the drive itself:
Front
Back
USB connector 90 degrees
USB connector 45 degrees
USB connector 180 degrees (from closed position)
Blue Led operation
The drive itself has a brushed aluminum style black metallic finish with a blue coloured activity LED and a 180 degree pivoting USB connector.
On the next page we will take a look at the test machine, and the drive installation.
Test machine:
On this page we will take a look at the test machine, and the drive installation.
For this review we will be using a computer with the following configuration:
Hardware:
-
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800 DELUXE
-
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz with Hyper Threading support
-
RAM: 1 GB OCZ 4000 Dual Channel Gold
-
GFX: ATI RADEON X850 XT PE. (AGP)
-
Sound: SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
-
Hard disk: 1X 120GB Maxtor
System set-up:
The Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drive was plugged into to a USB 2.0 port. Windows XP immediately recognized the drive and installed it ready to use within seconds.
Device Manager
My Computer
Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drive Properties
Software set-up
Windows XP Professional is installed on the computer along with Service Pack 2 for Windows XP.
No drive software was required for this configuration.
We will be using the following software in this review:
On the next page we will take a look at the drives performance.
Performance:
On this page we will
take a look at the drives performance compared to other High speed USB 2.0
Removable drives.
Memorex
informed us that this Travel Drive is a MICRODRIVE not a Flash drive.
The
specifications of the Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drive are: High speed USB 2.0/USB
1.1 compatible.
For the performance tests
we will be using HD Tach and PassMark Performance Test 6.0 benchmarking
utilities.
For these test Write
caching was set to Optimize for quick removal. However it is recommended to read
the safe removal notes under the options.
Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drives
write caching options
Sequential Read and Write
test
Burst test
Benchmark results
HD Tach
results:
- Random
access = 34.6ms - CPU
utilization = 4% +/-2% - Average
read = 7.8 MB/s - Average
write = 7.8 MB/s - Burst Speed
= 23.9 MB/s
Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drive
Performance Test
results:
- Sequential Read = 9.4
MB/s - Sequential Write =
9.4. MB/s - Random seek -0.41
MB/s - Disc Mark '“ 69.5
Composite average - PassMark Rating = 13.9
Composite average
For comparison purposes
here is a test of a Simpledrive Mini 4GB Microdrive
Simpledrive Mini 4GB
Microdrive
- Sequential Read = 7.3
MB/s - Sequential Write = 5.7
MB/s - Random seek -0.87
MB/s - Disc Mark '“ 36.7
Composite average - PassMark Rating = 7.3
Composite average
Reviewers
Note: Composite
averages are using CPU and other installed hardware for the final computations.
The Simpledrive Mini 4GB Microdrive was not tested on this computer and is only
shown for comparison purposes.
Below is an explanation
of the Benchmark from the Performance test 6.0 help file.
Disk
graphs (Read and Write):
These graphs show details
of the disk read and write performance. The graph shows the transfer speed (in
MB/Sec) over a period of time or compared to the number of megabytes transfer to
or from the disk. Depending on the disk test mode selected the Windows cache and
hard disk controller cache can have a significant impact on the measured
performance. If the file is transferred to or from the cache rather than the
disk very high results will be recorded. The size of the cache and its contents
are determined by the Windows operating system.
This suite contains a
number of tests that exercise the mass storage units (hard disk or otherwise)
connected to the computer. For each test a file is created in the root directory
of the selected disk. The file size needs to be large in order to get an
accurate measurement. The test file size is 200MB and the read or write block
sizes used are 16KB. Under Windows 2000 and above, each test uses uncached
asynchronous file operations (with an IO queue length of 20). Under Windows 98
and Windows ME, each test uses uncached synchronous file operations. Each test
runs for at least 20 seconds.
Disk
Sequential Read:
A large test file is
created on the disk under test. The file is read sequentially from start to end.
Disk
Sequential Write:
A large file is written
to the disk under test. The file is written sequentially from start to end.
Disk
Random Seek RW:
A large test file is
created on the disk under test. The file is read randomly; a seek is performed
to move the file pointer to a random position in the file, a 16KB block is read
or written then another seek is performed. The amount of data actually
transferred is highly dependent on the disk seek time.
Average file transfers
times with this Review computer are as follows:
- 20 MB File: under 5
seconds - 50 MB file: under 8
seconds - 100 MB file: under 12
seconds
Overall the Memorex
8GB MEGA Travel
Drive is on par with
other USB 2.0 Microdrive storage devices but far beyond with the amount of
storage space available.
On the next page we
will take a look at the functions and use of the drive.
Use and Functions:
On this page we will
take a look at the drives use and functions.
The Memorex
8GB MEGA
Travel Drive is a well designed
compact/portable drive that is very compatible with Windows file transfer
options.
Examples are
as
follows:
Copy and Paste
Drag and drop
Send To
Although Memorex does not
advertise this as a bootable Drive we thought we would see if it
was.
For this test
we used the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool to create a DOS start up disk, and
then copied the PowerMax utility to the drive. Computer was restarted with the
Travel
Drive set
for first boot device and proceeded to boot to the C: prompt, PowerMax was then
typed in and the utility ran without a hitch.
HP USB Disc Storage Format
Tool
Overall the
drive is very easy to use and has the same functions as an internal hard drive
and allows transfer of files from one hard drive to another or transferring
files within the same drive. Cross compatibility allows the transfer of files
between different operating systems very quickly and the drive is
bootable.
Reviewers
Note: Windows XP format utility
did not give us the option to create an MS-DOS startup disk, however the
HP USB
Disk Storage Format Tool worked well for this
purpose.
On the Next
page you will find the conclusion...
Positive:
- USB Connection for universal compatibility
- High capacity portable storage
- Cross platform compatibility- Windows and Mac operating systems
- No external power supply required
- Pivoting 180 degree USB connector for ease of use
- Soft leather carrying case with belt loop
- Wrap around Blue led indicator enables user to see that the drive is in use
- Lanyard attach point on bottom of drive for people who misplace things easily
- Very small and sturdy portable design
- DOS bootable
Negative:
- Size not ideal for attaching to a keychain
- Not Waterproof
- No data security or encryption software included
Conclusion:
The Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drive is well designed for ease of use and compatibility. The drive has a huge amount of storage space, allowing the user to quickly transfer small or large files from home or office from computer to computer. Transferring photos, MP3's and various other files is simple and quick, photos can be directly downloaded from your digital camera to the Travel Drive via the
computers USB interface. Pivoting 180 degree USB connector allows for easy access to most USB ports and the drive comes shipped with a USB extension cable for those extra hard to access/troublesome USB ports. When not in use, the USB connector closes inside the drive, thus preventing damage to the connector itself. This, along with its very sturdy design and construction make it a worthwhile investment for people that require the ability to transfer large files between computers or want to store numerous large files on a fully portable high performance drive.
Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:
The main positive points:
The main positive points for this drive are portability, cross compatibility between operating systems, high performance USB 2.0, huge storage capacity and a tough, sturdy well thought out design. The pivoting 180 degree USB connector along with the USB extension allows this drive to be connected to virtually any USB port. We found this drive had good performance and was very simple to install and use.
The main negative points:
Not much can be said about the negatives with this drive. Not being waterproof it should be protected from rainy weather or spilling your coffee on it at the office. Attaching the drive to a keychain may be a little cumbersome as the drive is not the ideal size for a keychain. Other manufacturer drives of this type offer data security or encryption software included with the drive.
To sum it all up, this is what we would say: 'The Memorex 8GB Mega Travel Drive is a good performing portable drive with an impressive storage capacity". If you are looking for a small portable drive with lots of storage space, this drive should definitely be on your list.
By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we did not find any offers, but at Buy.com the drive listed for $173.99 USD. (January 2006).
You may comment on this review below or in this forum thread .
Thanks to:
For providing the Memorex 8GB MEGA Travel Drive used in this review. Memorex is one of the largest providers of all types of media for larger parts of the world.
