Iomega 32681 Mini 256 MB USB 2.0 Drive

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Summary: Windows XP and USB 2.0 Mini-Drives Run Degraded - CAUTION!
Review: These are generic comments of Windows XP's support of USB 2.0 mini-drives that are attached to USB 2.0 hardware ports. If this is not your environment, then please pass on this review. Otherwise, you would serve yourself well to share my experiences and testing. (There was no problem with any of my 2.0 mini-drives when I tested them on WIN98 with USB 1.1 ports.) I'm not picking on any specific brand.

I'll go right to the bottom line and tell you that I've found that these drives may perform VERY poorly in Windows XP SP1. They will appear to perform well, compared with similar USB 1.1 drives, but only if you are copying a very small number of very large files. They may perform incredibly slowly compared to their USB 1.1 brethren if you reverse the scenario and copy a directory of say 500 or more very small files.

I'll provide the solution now and then tell you about some tests I've run. THE SOLUTION: Format your mini-drives as "NTFS". (THEY DO NOT COME FORMATTED THAT WAY!) If you do, they will perform very well on USB 2.0 ports under WinXP SP1. It does mean, however, that you won't have portability to a WIN95, WIN98, WINME system (if you want high performance in WinXP).

If I've still got your attention, read on please.

I own an Iomega 1.1 Mini Drive and have purchased and returned two Lexar JumpDrive Pro 2.0 devices, a SanDisk Cruzer Mini, and almost returned my newest, a PNY Attache 2.0. I've also had a dialogue with someone in a forum who issued a similar complaint about his Sony MicroVault 2.0 device. I kept the PNY to have something to test with as I probed this issue, and have now just purchased another Lexar JumpDrive Pro because it prices well, and it also performs well if formatted as "NTFS".

After considerable experimentation and a frustrating 20 or so hours on the internet, I made my discovery!

After reading an Amazon reviewer boast that he copied a single 135MB file in under a minute, I decided to try that myself ... and it copied quickly, considerably beating the performance of my Iomega 1.1 device. Astounded at this, I became curious about whether WinXP had an issue with FAT and FAT32 on these devices.

I created a benchmark of a directory containing 508 icons totalling only 1MB of data, occupying 2MB of disk. Formatted at the default FAT or FAT32, the copy took an incredible 2 min. 56 secs., and I could read each file name as Windows revealed them during the copy. I decided that, before returning the PNY, I would format it as "NTFS" just "to see what would happen". It copied in 2 or 3 seconds!!!!!

To prove to myself this wasn't a freak event, I went back to my earlier benchmark which was a client's web site having a root folder weighing 44MB and containing 1800+ files. It had previously copied to my Iomega 1.1 Mini Drive in 1 min. 34 secs., but on my Lexar JumpDrive Pro 2.0 and the SanDisk Cruzer Mini 2.0 the times ranged between 5+ mins. to just under 10 mins. On the PNY 2.0 device formatted "NTFS", it took around 52 secs. My newly purchased Lexar ran in about the same 52 secs. (compared to 8+ mins. when formatted FAT32)

My final benchmark was a folder containing 3 files, weighing 44.5MB. They copied in 46 secs. to the Iomega 1.1, in 23 secs. to the PNY 2.0, and in 19 secs. to the new Lexar.

To lend a bit of credibility to these tests, I should tell you that I had taken the Lexar 2.0, the SanDisk Cruzer 2.0 and my Iomega 1.1 to a demo computer at Best Buy and the results were consistent. That machine was a Compaq Presario with "Certified" 2.0 ports with WinXP SP1. So it's unlikely that my personal environment was unique.

These comments should dramatically benefit many of you buying these devices. I should mention that I've been extremely happy with my Iomega USB 1.1 Mini Drive and its performance and will likely add this faster model to my "collection". The 1.1 model is the most durable and attractive of the 3 I now own, and is flat enough to not encroach on its neighboring USB port and narrow enough to not encroach on other ports above or below it.

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Summary: aquadoc from Albuquerque
Review: This item replaced my SanDisk 256 MB USB drive, which failed after three days. The Iomega unit is great. It works without any problems on my Windows 2000 and XP machines, with both powered (Linksys) and unpowered (Targus) hubs. The top fastens securely. Don't bother with any others - buy Iomega.