Verbatim Store 'n' Go U3 Smart Drive - USB flash drive - 1 GB

Author's product rating:   

Memory / capacity	Good
Reliability	Good
Ease of use	Very easy
Speed	Fast
Value For Money	Good

Advantages:	Small, good looking, U3 feature, fast enough for Vista
Disadvantages:	U3 features don't work with Vista (yet)

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

My current USB drive is old & slow and packs a humungous 128Mb so I figured it was time to upgrade. I chose the Verbatim because the price premium was small over a no-name equivelent with the 2Gb version clocking in at just £14.99.

The device comes in a nice looking display package which contains the USB stick itself plus a nice black lanyard for hanging it around your neck, assuming you like wearing USB sticks.

The package is the sort that usually results in blood loss when you crack it open so use scissors and take your time. If there is an established technique for getting in to these tough platic bubble packs, I'm not aware of it!

In the flesh it's a nice looking thing in matt silver with a chrome edging. The cap is good and tight, unlike many and can be fitted to the opposite end when in use so you don't lose it. Whilst it is plastic, it feels well made, doesn't bend or flex and the tight cap makes it feel like it would survive being dunked in a puddle should you be of the clumsy disposition.

The packaging promises all sorts of nice additional features such as U3 and U Safe password protection. However, as I initially tried it with Windows Vista, I hit a snag.

U3 - What's that?

U3 is a feature supported by various USB drive makers and software developers that allows you to install software on your USB stick that you can then run directly from the stick without having to install it first on your PC. This lets you carry your favourite software around (assuming it supports U3) and run it on any PC just by plugging in the USB stick. Examples include Mozilla Thunderbird (email program), MiGo synchronisation software and Pass2Go password manager. You can download more from the U3 web site at www.u3.com

Sounds good but Vista is so different to XP under the bonnet, it stops U3 working. A new version of the U3 sofwtare has been released BUT the version on the stick doesn't and Verbatim's website (at the time of writing) hasn't got the new version available yet and you HAVE to download it from the people who made your USB stick due to possible firmware issues.

The lack of U3 also stops you being able to use the password feature which is part of the U3 system if you're on Vista.

Apart from that, it works well. It's fast for a USB stick and is available up to 4Gb in size so can carry a good chunk of your data, photos or whatever. It has a funky blue LED that flashes during data transfer so you can be sure when it's finished prior to pulling it out (although you should really use the little program in the Windows notification area (next to the clock) to tell the system you want to remove it.

Vista can also use USB sticks as temporary storage space to reduce wear & tear on your hard drive and to hopefully improve performance slightly. Setting this up is easy - Vista does all the prompting as soon as you insert the USB stick the first time and you can then allocate a chunk of the stick as your 'go faster stripes'. I can't say I really noticed much difference but reading around, it does seem to be very system dependent as to how much benefit you get. Worth a try, certainly.

Next I tried it with Windows XP which it supports along with Windows 2000 SP4. If you're on Windows 95/98/Me, it may be OK but don't expect support if it doesn't.

This was much better. As soon as the USB stick was inserted, the U3 software fired up and gave me access to all sorts of neat features and software. You can then download dozens if not 100's of bits of software from the U3 website including the password protection feature.

The Verbatim USB stick works under both USB 2 and USB1.1, the older & slower variant but with such a high capacity, I wouldn't fancy filling it up on a USB1.1 machine without a couple of cups of coffee to pass the time.

On balance, a lovely little device. Looks good, works well and has some nice bonus features (unless you're on Windows Vista).