Edge Tech Corp DiskGO 1" 4GB Portable Hard Drive

Features of the DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive

The DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive is a small portable drive with some good storage capacity. The DiskGO measures in at a diminutive 1.9" x .63" x 1.9" and weighs a mere 0.1 lbs. The outer cover of the DiskGO is made of aluminum which not only protects the drive internals better than plastic, but acts as a heat spreader as well to keep the drive operating longer. USB 2.0 connectivity gives you 480 Mbps of bandwidth, though the DiskGO will wok in USB 1.1 ports as well. No external power supply is required for the drive nor are drivers required for Windows XP and 2000.

Edge Tech Crop, the makers of the DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive, also bundle a handy leather like carry case with a belt loop on the back. The bad part about the carry case is that the loop requires that you thread your belt through it, rather than slipping on and off easily like most cell phone cases. Also included is a ten inch USB cable allowing you to connect to crowded USB hubs with ease. DiskGO is also Mac compatible with OS 9.x or later and will work with Windows 98SE, ME, XP and 2000. Edge Tech Corp says the transfer rate is up to 7.9MB/s.

DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive in Use

To benchmark the DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive I used several different methods. First I used a program called HD Tach to get burst speed and random access speed readings. I also used Sandra 2007 to test the drive in addition to moving large files to and from the DiskGO and timing the process.

The first test was with HD Tach. HD Tach is a nice program that gives you burst speeds and random access speeds. The burst speed for the DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive was 19.4MB/s. The higher the number, the better the drive performance. This burst speed was much slower than typical internal hard drives, but right in line with other removable hard drives. The random access time for the DiskGO was 26.3ms and the average read was 6.3 MB/s.

The next test I ran was with Sandra 2007's removable storage benchmark. With Sandra 2007 I measures the operations per minute the DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive was able to handle. The combined operations per minute was 9407. The repeated sector rewrite speed was 761 Kbps, the sequential sector rewrite speed was 629 Kbps and the random sector rewrite speed was 19 Kbps.

The final tests I ran was to copy a large folder containing different file types including Jpeg images, Word documents and executable programs to and from the DiskGO. The size of the file I used was 3.56GB. Writing the 3.56GB folder to the DiskGO took 27:04, copying the same file from the DiskGO to the computers hard drive took 10:55 and erasing the file took 9:00 flat. Compared to internal drives these speeds are slow, but on par with other drives of the type.

Final Thoughts on the DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive

Overall, the DiskGO 4GB 1" Hard Drive is a nice product. While larger than flash based drives like the OCZ Rally 2 or the OCZ Mini-Kart, the DiskGo offers much more storage space than the other flash based drives. The integrated USB connector that hides flush with the drive is nice and feels robust enough for extended use. While the belt pouch is a nice feature, I would prefer to see it be easier to put on and take off your belt. At the end of the day, if you need more storage space than common flash drives have, the DiskGO is a great option. If you don't need 4GB of space the flash based drives are smaller and easier to carry with you.