Introduction

With today’s busy, digital lifestyle USB flash drives are a necessity. I find myself constantly shuttling information between home and work. At each location, my data is transferred from one computer to the next. To be sure, there are more elegant, sophisticated solutions: Bluetooth, Ethernet, and WiFi networks come readily to mind. But for quick and easy, with no setup involved, it’s hard to beat the good ol’ “sneakernet.” This term was originally used for moving files from one machine to another using floppy discs (and Nike’s). USB flash drives have pretty much replaced floppy discs as well as the larger Zip discs for almost all users, due to their larger capacity, diminutive size, and affordable cost. In fact, 7.6 million of these units were sold in 2004, and even more growth is expected over the next few years. See where USB flash drives fit into the world of flash memory here.
Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go 512 MB
With that background in mind, let’s first look at the Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go USB 2.0 flash drive – 512 MB. Included in the package was the following:
-the USB flash drive
-lanyard
-miniCD with drivers, and password program
-stickers for labeling the drive
-instructions
This package can be yours for a mere $59 retail! Look around, these drives are often sold for less after rebate. The Verbatim flash drive is typical of the standard USB 2.0 flash drives out there today.
The drive itself is a red translucent color, with a clear plastic loop (more…)