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Intro:
Kingston Technology makes all kinds of memory products. While most enthusiasts know of their high end RAM, there is another facet of products that Kingston has a bring presences in. Flash is a huge consumer market and Kingston hopes to capture all segments of the market including the tiny form factor type drives. The 4GB Data Traveler Mini Slim drive comes in to sweep up this "size matters" crowd.
Packaging:
Kingston's consumer grade packaging is red and white (the normal Kingston color is blue). The product comes with a 2 year warranty which I believe is very good for a product that doesn't protect the connection pins.
If you flip the packaging over, you'll see the supported operating systems. I'm glad that Kingston puts Linux 2.6.x as a support system. Now they just need to place the penguin on the packaging.
DTMS:
Comparisons to known size objects is coming in the next images. The DTMS is about an inch and a half long and not much wider than the USB connection itself. This product is small enough to place on your key chain. It is also small enough to get lost very easily. With 4GB of data storage, you have a bunch of data you can lose. Let's not beat around the bush, though. This product is targeted to the crowd that needs a small form factor with a large data storage. This product fits the bill just right.
The back of the unit contains the Kingston textual logo and is gray. It would look nicer if the entire thing was black, but I suspect they did this to easily discern how to insert the drive into a USB port (usually black side up). The specific certifications and such are also listed on this side. The DTMS comes in 3 color schemes (the others being pink and blue).
Here is the comparison to a standard SD flash card. It is slightly longer but much thinner. Something like this is better for storage since the interface is already on every computer. No toting around a card reader with this device.
Testing:
The unit was preformed with vfat (FAT32) to utilized the entire space (formatted available space is 3.7GB). In addition to being physically small, don't expect to be impressed with the performance of the unit. This unit isn't built for speed, but that's to be expected. I gauged write speeds of about 2.2MB/s (that's Megabytes) which is no speed demon, but it is fine for general use. Since the target market is the small form factor crowd, you are best to gloss over the performance anyway. The read speed was about the same as the write speed.
The unit was detected fine using Kubuntu 8.10 and popped up on the plugged in device plasmoid without issues. This drive should have no problem working in any current operating system since it is normal USB mass storage compliant.
I would like to point out that the connections for "hanging out" for the world to oxidize. The unit seems sturdy enough, but it you cut a lead, there goes your data. The metal connections themselves are inset so you aren't likely to damage them, but it still doesn't hurt to point this out.
Conclusion:
Remember when 1GB of flash storage was the new thing and it went for a premium price a few years ago? You can pick up this amazingly small Kingston 4GB DTMS for about $10 which is very nice. With the amount of space available on the drive, you'll have no trouble shuttling files between computers and keeping a backup handy just in case. I always say to backup on two devices (at least) and this can accomplish the task with ease.
Granted, you'll notice the read and write speeds (or lack-of) when copying big files, but in normal use, it should be fine. This unit doesn't aim to set speed records, just physical form factor ones. I believe it targets a good niche and the price is right. If you're looking for a physically small flash drive, look no further than the Kingston 4GB DTMS.
I'd like to thank Dave from Kingston Technology for making this review possible.
Intro:
Kingston Technology makes all kinds of memory products. While most enthusiasts know of their high end RAM, there is another facet of products that Kingston has a bring presences in. Flash is a huge consumer market and Kingston hopes to capture all segments of the market including the tiny form factor type drives. The 4GB Data Traveler Mini Slim drive comes in to sweep up this "size matters" crowd.
Packaging:
Kingston's consumer grade packaging is red and white (the normal Kingston color is blue). The product comes with a 2 year warranty which I believe is very good for a product that doesn't protect the connection pins.
If you flip the packaging over, you'll see the supported operating systems. I'm glad that Kingston puts Linux 2.6.x as a support system. Now they just need to place the penguin on the packaging.
DTMS:
Comparisons to known size objects is coming in the next images. The DTMS is about an inch and a half long and not much wider than the USB connection itself. This product is small enough to place on your key chain. It is also small enough to get lost very easily. With 4GB of data storage, you have a bunch of data you can lose. Let's not beat around the bush, though. This product is targeted to the crowd that needs a small form factor with a large data storage. This product fits the bill just right.
The back of the unit contains the Kingston textual logo and is gray. It would look nicer if the entire thing was black, but I suspect they did this to easily discern how to insert the drive into a USB port (usually black side up). The specific certifications and such are also listed on this side. The DTMS comes in 3 color schemes (the others being pink and blue).
Here is the comparison to a standard SD flash card. It is slightly longer but much thinner. Something like this is better for storage since the interface is already on every computer. No toting around a card reader with this device.
Testing:
The unit was preformed with vfat (FAT32) to utilized the entire space (formatted available space is 3.7GB). In addition to being physically small, don't expect to be impressed with the performance of the unit. This unit isn't built for speed, but that's to be expected. I gauged write speeds of about 2.2MB/s (that's Megabytes) which is no speed demon, but it is fine for general use. Since the target market is the small form factor crowd, you are best to gloss over the performance anyway. The read speed was about the same as the write speed.
The unit was detected fine using Kubuntu 8.10 and popped up on the plugged in device plasmoid without issues. This drive should have no problem working in any current operating system since it is normal USB mass storage compliant.
I would like to point out that the connections for "hanging out" for the world to oxidize. The unit seems sturdy enough, but it you cut a lead, there goes your data. The metal connections themselves are inset so you aren't likely to damage them, but it still doesn't hurt to point this out.
Conclusion:
Remember when 1GB of flash storage was the new thing and it went for a premium price a few years ago? You can pick up this amazingly small Kingston 4GB DTMS for about $10 which is very nice. With the amount of space available on the drive, you'll have no trouble shuttling files between computers and keeping a backup handy just in case. I always say to backup on two devices (at least) and this can accomplish the task with ease.
Granted, you'll notice the read and write speeds (or lack-of) when copying big files, but in normal use, it should be fine. This unit doesn't aim to set speed records, just physical form factor ones. I believe it targets a good niche and the price is right. If you're looking for a physically small flash drive, look no further than the Kingston 4GB DTMS.
I'd like to thank Dave from Kingston Technology for making this review possible.