Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB

Features of the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB

Small Size

All to often flash drive manufacturers make the drives to fat to fit into a USB port in a crowded USB hub. Thankfully Memorex kept that in mind with the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB. The drive is very thin, though about the same length as typical flash drives. The thin profile allows the Mini TravelDrive to fit into even the most crowded USB hubs. As an example, with my recent review of the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 1GB Flash Drive I had to unplug one of my USB devices for the Cruzer to fit into the hub on the back of my mainboard. Memorex on the other hand made their drive thin enough so I didn't have to remove anything from my computer to plug the drive in.

U3 Smart Drive

Also like many other flash drives currently on the market, Memorex made the Mini TravelDrive a U3 enabled smart drive. U3 applications preloaded on the Mini include:

• Mingo
• U3 Anti-virus
• Thunderbird U3

Package Contents & Warranty

When you purchase the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB you get the following items in the package:

• Mini TravelDrive USB 2.0 Flash Drive
• Quick Start Guide
• Lanyard Carry Strap

Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB in Use

Installing the Drive

Like any other flash drive on a Windows XP machine, no drivers were required to install the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB. All I had to do was plug the drive into a vacant USB 2.0 port and the drive was immediately recognized and ready to use. U3 launched automatically giving me access to the included U3 applications as well as links to download more. Users on older Windows operating systems may need drivers for the drive to function.

Benchmarks & Testing

To test the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB I ran a series of synthetic tests as well as real world tests to gauge the performance of the Mini TravelDrive. I used Sisoftware Sandra 2007's removable storage benchmark utility, HD Tach, and copied a large file folder to the drive then copied it back from the Mini and finally deleted the folder and timed each step of the process.

SiSoftware Sandra 2007

First up was a synthetic test with Sandra 2007. I used the removable storage benchmark utility for this test. These results are with 2MB files and are as follows:

• Read: 355 operations per minute
• Write: 124 operations per minute
• Delete: 4970 operations per minute

HD Tach

The next test series up was with HD Tach. HD Tach showed a 0.5ms random access time for the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB and an average read time of 15.9 MB/s.

Real World Tests

The final tests I ran on the drive are the ones I think tell you the most about a flash drives performance. I use a 584MB folder consisting of a Windows XP ISO and record the times in seconds it takes to copy to, read from and delete from the Mini. It took a full 2:17 to write the folder to the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB. As a comparison the fastest drive I have tested to date was the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 1GB Flash Drive which was able to write the same exact folder in a mere 47 seconds. The Memorex Mini TravelDrive was positively glacial in comparison. To copy the folder from the Mini back to the computer took 51 seconds as compared to the Cruzer Titanium's 37 seconds for the same task. It took only about 1 second to delete the folder from the Mini.

Final Thoughts on the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB

It's pretty clear that the Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB isn't the fastest flash drive around, but does that make it useless? In short, no. For many people the much slower performance won't be noticed in daily use. The Memorex Mini TravelDrive U3 1GB is a good flash drive, just not as good as the current king of the hill, SanDisk's Cruzer Titanium. That said, unless you find the Memorex Mini TravelDrive on sale at a really great price, you can buy the Cruzer Titanium 1GB drive for the same money. That simple fact makes it hard to recommend the Memorex Mini TravelDrive over the SanDisk Cruzer. My advice is buy the Memorex significantly cheaper, or go with the Cruzer Titanium for it's faster speeds.