Amazing...8GB portable hard drive that fits in your shirt pocket!
Written: May 10 '06 (Updated May 11 '06)
Product Rating:
Pros: Incredibly small and light, attractive design, performs like any other USB hard drive
Cons: Mirror-finish case shows fingerprints & smudges, no included wrist-strap, still a fragile hard drive
The Bottom Line: If you need more storage than a USB flash drive but still need a tiny drive, this 1" hard drive gives you 8GB in an attractive, 2-ounce, 4.5 cubic-inch package.
esasaki's Full Review: Sony Micro Vault® USD8G (8 GB) USB 2.0 Flash ...
We all know that "faster, smaller, cheaper, and more capacity" pretty much describes the evolution of hard drives (and technology in general). But nothing quite drove that home to me than holding Sony's new MicroVault Pro USD8G 8GB USB Hard Drive. Whereas my first 1GB 5.25" hard drive cost well over $1,200 in 1994, this USB drive (based on a Seagate 1" hard disk) holds eight times as much data in a package that's about the size of two Zippo lighters and weighs only 2 ounces...for less than $150.
Design and Styling
The USD8G is basically a small, portable, external hard drive that connects to the USB 2.0 port of a Windows-based computer or laptop. It's not a flash drive--those use solid-state flash memory for storage--but rather a very small hard disk drive.
This device seems to be a more cost effective alternative to some of the larger USB flash drives (of which 2GB and 4GB sizes are now becoming common). Price-wise, the price of the USD8G is around half the cost per gigabyte. For the moment, this drive holds more data than a single USB flash drive can hold. For those who are willing to sacrifice small size for more storage can get 10 times more space for the same price by choosing a USB hard drive based on 1.8" or 2.5" hard drives.
Aside from being a marvel of miniaturization, the MicroVault is a looker as well. Stored in a black, removable, hard plastic jacket, the drive itself is mirror-finished, silver metal case trimmed with black plastic on the sides. The USB connector swivels out from the case (up to 180 degrees), similar to a camping knife. Opposite of the USB connector is an ice blue LED that indicates connectivity and drive activity. The SONY logo is embossed on the case. Overall, it's a very, very sharp look.
Unfortunately, the first thing you notice when you pull the drive out of the case is the mirror-finish's affinity for showing fingerprints and dust. Maybe it's a "CSI" type feature of the drive, but it's impossible not to leave fingerprints on the case unless you wear gloves or wipe down the drive after handling--especially since you have to grasp the metal to pull the drive out of its travel case. It would have been nice if the finish utilized a brushed-metal finish instead to avoid smudging up the case.
As I mentioned, the drive comes with a hard plastic jacket that envelops the drive for travel. There's a notched cutout on both sides to allow for easy grasping of the drive for removal. The drive audibly snaps into the jacket and will not fall out unless intentionally removed. Regrettably, while there's a hole for a wrist strap, one is not included in the package.
Installation and Operation
Using the drive is really easy. Just unswivel the USB plug from the drive and connect it to a free USB 2.0 port. It will work with an older USB port, but will transfer data much more slowly. The swivel design allows you to position the drive to line up either parallel or perpendicular to the computer, which may be important in cramped spaces.
The driver installation is plug & play for the supported operating systems (Windows XP, 2000, and ME). The drive was detected with no problems on my system and was available for use immediately without needing a reboot. The formatted capacity of the drive shows as 7.43GB in Windows XP (note that 7.43GB is using Windows' convention for a gigabyte--1024^3 bytes-- while Sony uses the other convention, with a gigabyte being 1000^3 bytes).
Transfer performance was on par with the other USB 2.0 hard drives I've used, which is quite snappy and generally faster than most USB flash drives. The drive is formatted as FAT32, for those who care. Activity is shown by the blue LED flashing.
The process of removing the drive is typical for a USB storage device: you must close all applications using the drive and then use the "Safely Remove Hardware" tray icon to stop the USB drive. The solid blue LED will shut off, indicating it's safe to remove the drive.
The drive comes pre-installed with a synchronization software that will synch the contents of folders to the drive, either automatically on a schedule, on insertion, or on demand. The software must be installed on the computer, and is Sony proprietary.
Once the software is configured, the Auto Sync software allows you to specify the folders to back up. By default, it backs up the Windows Desktop, the My Documents folder, and the Internet Explorer Favorites folder. You can deselect any of those, and you can add any other folder on the system except for system folders such as \Windows or \Program Files. The software must be running for the timed synchronization feature to work (although the program automatically starts with Windows, it's not configured as a Windows Service).
Another feature of the Auto Sync is the ability to retain older versions of files up to 10 generations (the default is 5 versions). So each time you synch a different version of a file (say an updated spreadsheet), the drive will retain a copy of the older file instead of over-writing it. The older verions are accessible via the Auto Sync program's Version Viewer.
On the USD8G, the synchronized folders and files are saved in \Auto Sync\(computer name)\(folders). As the files are synchronized, you see a progress box that indicates the copying and verification process, and there are accompanying status bubbles in the Windows tray area.
You can customize the amount of space available for synchronization, the maximum size of "versioned" files, the number of generations to retain, and the method and frequency of synchronization. In my tests, I've found the feature works well.
Overall Impression
This is a great little drive! Although it's bigger than the flash drives that I carry, it's still very portable--you can easily fit it in a shirt pocket or put it in your computer bag for large file transfers. The synchronization feature makes it easy to take your documents and web bookmarks with you.
There are few downsides, and they are minor. Although I love the metallic styling, the fingerprint-attracting finish is a poor design decision. I was disappointed that Sony didn't spring for a 25-cent wrist strap for the carrying case. Finally, it's a hard drive, so you still have to be careful how you treat it, in contrast to a flash memory drive that you can (probably) abuse without negative consequences.
Recording device - 1-inch hard disk drive Interface - Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Transfer Speed - Max 96 Mbps Connector type - Type-A USB receptacle Power Suppl...More at Amazon Marketplace
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