3. OCZ Mini-Kart USB Flash Memory Gumby Style

By Barry Gerber

I have a couple of USB 2.0 flash memory devices. They're OK, but I often don't take them with me because they bounce around in my pocket, crashing into my keys or my phone or a pen or something. I also often forget to take them out of my pocket and they go happily tripping through the washing machine and dryer, which can't be good for them. If I put one of the things in a shirt pocket, it inevitably falls out onto the hardest floor around, setting off fears that I've finally destroyed it and my precious data. And, don't tell me to wear it around my neck. First, it makes me look like a 1 year old kid with a pacifier around his neck. Second, with my luck I'd catch the cord on a door knob or something and hang myself.

No, there has to be a better answer and memory maker OCZ has come up with one I like. The company's Mini-Kart USB 2.0 flash drive is to USB flash memory what Gumby is to stop motion animated cartoons. Think flat. I mean look at that little wonder, it's about a 1 and 5/8 inches long, 3/4 of an inch wide and 1/8 of an inch thick.

There are no caps to cover the USB connector. It's just plain raw memory, up to 2 GB, in a little plastic case. So how do you carry this flat wonder? If you're just a little brave, you can drop it naked into your wallet or a pocket in your purse. Since you're likely to always have the Mini-Kart with you, you're less likely to lose it or curse yourself for forgetting it just when you need it most. The only concern I would have is that, without a cover for the USB connector, the four metal contact strips might get torn off or roughed up to the point of being unusable. The strips appear to be fairly well affixed to the device and should do well in a confined space where the Mini-Kart can't move around too much. Of course, if you're a total wimp, you can always stick the flash drive in its little plastic case, but where's the fun in that? You can be somewhat comforted that OCZ provides a three year warranty with this flash drive.

The Mini-Kart has a small hole on one corner. You can use the little piece of string with a metal ring on it to put the device on a keychain or a necklace. I'd shy away from carrying the little memory card in this way. Keys and the Mini-Kart's connector strips seem like natural enemies to me. And, even if you can overcome the pacifier on a string image with necklaces, who knows what evil awaits the USB connector strips when the suspended unit is flopping around in space?

OCZ is quick to point out that the Mini-Kart was designed more for small size and ease of carrying than high end performance. A recent roundup of flash drives on our sister site, Tom's Hardware, proved out OCZ's performance claims. The 1 GB Mini-Kart had good access time rates, but had read transfer rates less than half those of the top flash drive, Crucial's 2 GB Gizmo and was second from the bottom with average write rates of 2.3 MB/s compared to ATP's 1 GB Tough Drive with average write rates of 18.2 MB/s. In my real-world tests, using the Mini-Kart to backup Word, Excel and JPG files, the drive's performance was just fine for me.

If you're looking for a flash drive that's small and that you're unlikely to lose or forget to take with you the OCZ Mini-Kart is for you.