LEXAR MEDIA 512MB JumpDrive USB 2.0

Rating:
Summary: Can't Live Without It Now
Review: I absolutely love my JumpDrive. I'll never need a floppy disk again. I use it to store just about everything I'm currently working on so I can access my files no matter where I am - home, work or anywhere there's a computer.

I only have two complaints. For some reason, the cap fits better in one direction than the other, but there's no way to tell by looking. And it's inevitable that I'll lose the cap one day.

On the positive side, it seems very sturdy. I like that the keychain ring is metal instead of plastic. I've pretty much abused it by throwing it in my purse, pockets, and laptop bag. It still works like a charm. It's easy to use and transfers files quickly.

Rating:
Summary: Totally unreliable
Review: I bought this less than a month ago, handled it carefully, and always used the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature of Windows.

The drive worked for two weeks, then stopped working. I paid to return it, waited two weeks, and got a new one. The new one lasted only one week. Lexar will not do anything beyond replacing it again.

This product is far inferior to others on the market, such as PNY (and even Lexar's older Jumpdrive models). Stay away if you value your data (and productivity).

Rating:
Summary: Lose the cap and it's a goner...
Review: I carried an ill-fated Lexar Jump drive Secure for about three months. It saved me hours of work in many situations where I needed to transfer files from one computer to another quickly. About a month into it I lost the cap. I just set it down while I was working and voila it was gone. During the next two months, the metal USB connector got polluted with whatever else was in my pocket, so much so that one day it just wouldn't work. No computer would recognize it. Thank goodness that I didn't have crucial data on it at the time. I have been carrying the Lexar Jump Drive Sport for about six months now and have not had the same problem because the rubber lid is ingenuously attached to the device on the "Sport" model. I'd rate the Sport model 3-stars higher simply on account of its durability.

Rating:
Summary: Poor Quality
Review: I have sitting on my desk TWO dead Lexar Secure devices. A 256MB device and 512MB device. The 512MB device died when I ejected it using the Microsoft tool for safely removing the device. After waiting on hold for 40 minutes they told me to just send it back it was dead. I'm terribly disappointed with Lexar's Quality and ability to produce software and hardware that work correctly. The second device took a small amount of trauma I personally feel that it should have easily survived a drop from three feet. However, this could clearly be my fault.

Rating:
Summary: Don't do it!
Review: I was really excited to get the JumpDrive because of the reviews I read. True, it is a lot more durable than many flash drives, but I've had so many problems that it's entirely not worth it. From day one I was unable to use it with most of the computers at school because the JumpDrive tries to install its "secure" software onto whatever computer you plug it into. Most public computers will not allow this due to all of the computer viruses going around. Unfortunately, if the software doesn't install you can't access the drive. Another problem that I've had while using it with friends' computers is that it will occasionally delete entire batches of files! I've always been careful to properly eject the device, but more than once it has deleted numerous files that I had recently saved onto it. I generally like Lexar products, but not this. My friends have cheaper flashdrives that do a much, MUCH better job.

Rating:
Summary: Cap hard to put back on
Review: If you need the Secure Software (which requires Win 2000/XP) because you transport sensitive information, you haven't much choice if you want a Lexar product. If security is not the issue, get the Jump Drive Pro. Three times out of four, the cap to the Secure goes on smoothly, but that fourth time... The metal part of the drive catches on some ribs inside the cap and it becomes frustrating trying to get the pieces together.

The drive itself works with Win98 and up, with a driver available online required for Win98. However, when inserted in a Win 98 machine, the drive complains that is being used with an incompatible OS. Or so it seems. However, it's the Secure software complaining, not the drive itself. You can access the public portions of the drive by going to My Computer, right-clicking on the drive and choosing Open. If you're not going to be using the Secure software, you can disable it by changing the name of the file Autorun.inf to something else, perhaps Autorun_dot_inf so you don't forget what it was. This should have been explained in the instructions.

Otherwise, it's a perfectly serviceable USB 2.0 flash drive.

Rating:
Summary: Dumb design
Review: So far I have not experienced the reliability issues of others. My complaint is the width of this device. I have a 4 port USB hub and I cannot use the port adjacent to this device because it is too wide. Who are the design geniuses who came up with this idea?

Rating:
Summary: Piece of Junk
Review: This drive worked fine until I dropped my key chain in a parking lot. Now it will no longer mount by any computer. Good thing I used it just for backup.

Durable? Yeah right. Rugged? Hardly. These things should be able to survive more than a four foot fall.

Rating:
Summary: Defective
Review: Very buggy memory and software/drivers - the encryption interferes with multiple OS environments. I don't recommend this product. Go for the bare bones, non-secure products if you can. Mine now offers no useful function being too light for a paperweight on my desk. I will be pitching it, rather than put someone else through the frustration.