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Hi-speed USB2 Flash Drive Round-Up
An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has a USB
2.0 Flash drive review featuring 8 drives from different manufacturers. What's so interesting about the review is that not all Flash
drives are created equal. Some have very unique features while some are clearly
better than others. They also took a detailed look
inside one of the drives as well as put two
drives in a RAID-0 array (a la Mac OS X). Now that's cool!"
in a raid array has to be the geekiest thing I've ever heard of. What is this world coming to?
On the playground?
In a raincoat?
I'm just saying...
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
not always, in my office we share usb drives to save time, so far they're the handiest things i've found so far... but if you really need biomectrically locked drive that looks like an inkpen, go right ahead
The issue of durability and/or reliability wasn't addressed in the review but I have to say that I was impressed as hell when my Cruzer-mini went through both my washer and dryer with no apparent effect. That was several months ago and it still works great.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
Last time I checked, RAID still stood for
"Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks"
So where is the spinning magnetic media?
This seems to show some of the microsoft influence, where every storage medium plugged into the PC is defined as a disk drive.
www.effectiveelectrons.com "chips that work" Analog, RF, Mixed Signal
Gotta love it. Remember this guy. He used USB floppies in pretty much the same manner. I actually emailed him because I was curious about portability(traveling kind). Apparently all the raid information is stored on the drives so the entire raid array could be plugged into another machine and would work with no problems.
I fail to see how it can be classified as zealotry, at any rate. It's not like they said that Linux sucks or anything. Here. Let me click my jolly, candy-like button and see how fast my knee can jerk to your bait.
-------
And we also have a cancel button...in case you don't want toast.
NAND Flash is what's making this possible. It's denser and faster than NOR Flash.
If you haven't heard of MRAM, that's definitely another technology to be on the lookout for. According to IBM and Infineon Technologies, it's supposed to start shipping this year.
Basically, it has the density of DRAM, 15ns access time, and doesn't loses it's state even when powered down.
Google turns up some articles: here, here, and here.
Regarding the SanDisk Cruzer Mini, Ars Technica mentions:
Unfortunately, we were unable to ascertain the type and strength of encryption.
Apparently, even the product packaging neglects to mention it. Neither is it listed on SanDisk's website. It could be as simple as rot-13 or as complex as multiple cascading one-way secure pads with quantum elliptical entanglements. Do you dare probe further to figure out what it's doing? Certainly not; you could well violate the DMCA.
Now all we need is a small motherboard, lcd display + keyboard + network card, and we have a nice (cheap?) QUIET portable xterminal.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Conclusion
When we started this review, we only had an inkling of what we might come up with. By the time we finished, our perception that USB drives were a commodity was completely erased. While every USB Flash drive is essentially the same in that they carry data, they are all slightly different and not every drive will meet everyone's needs.
Drive summaries
PNY Attache: As drives go, this one was stylish and sturdy. It comes with a full assortment of accessories, including the USB extension cable and a neck strap. Aside from that, the drive itself is a rather lackluster offering. While much faster than any USB 1.1 device, the read and write speeds are rather slow for Hi-speed USB. The other unfortunate thing about this drive is the lack of extra software outside of the Windows 98 drivers. While it may be possible to find this drive for as little as US$15 to US$20 (after Mail-in-Rebate), it typically goes for US$30+. That is too expensive for such a mediocre drive. --- Score = 5/10
SanDisk Cruzer Mini: Of all the drives in this review, this drive is the thinnest. Some might even call it sexy, but we would not go that far. Unlike most other drives, it does not block dual-stacked USB ports in the slightest. Other positive things include the excellent LED visibility, good read/write scores, and it even works in unpowered USB hubs. Even the CruzerLock encryption software was solid and pretty easy to use. Some complaints would be the lack of a write-protect switch and that the plastic loop for the lanyard is rather weak. (It's fine for hanging around your neck, but it certainly is not load bearing in the least.) That said, the prices found for the 128, 256, and 512MB models make this a good deal. --- Score = 8/10
Mushkin Flashkin: We had mixed feelings about this drive. On one hand it offered a full complement of accessories and features, such as the standard neck strap, USB extension cable, write-protect switch, security software and it even worked in unpowered USB hubs. Yet despite this, everything about the drive felt like it was cheaply made and the security software felt like it was coded as an afterthought. The plastic body was very bulky and felt extremely hollow. On top of this, the slow read/write performance was troubling and the one-year warranty made us wonder how long this drive would last. Overall, the drive is not that bad, but what really lowered the score is that the price for the drive is more expensive than most of the other drives (which are notably better equipped.) --- Score = 6/10
SimpleTech Bonzai Xpress: This drive has the best physical design of the bunch. It is both strong and sturdy, yet still compact and a comfortable to carry. While it does not come with a USB extension, it does have a write-protect switch and some very helpful file synchronization software. What makes this USB drive especially nice is the strong read/write speeds, the solid two-year warranty, and the very nice price (considering how much is included.) --- Score = 9/10
Fujifilm USB Drive 2.0: Two words: speed demon. Without a doubt, this drive is fast! With top read speeds reaching 8.5MB/sec and write performance that destroyed the competition, this drive is perfect for anybody who is impatient or never seems to have enough time. Unfortunately, this drive has its drawbacks. The drive is the largest of the bunch, has no accessories included, no write-protect switch, no low-power support, and a higher price than most. Fortunately, it does come with decent security software and a lifetime warranty. --- Score = 8/10
Verbatim Store 'n' Go: In a nutshell, this drive was consistently above average. Never spectacular, but never terrible either. Read/Write performance is definitely strong, but nothing amazing. It comes equipped with neck strap, USB extension
Well, for those that are interested in the 'bulk' data, you can pickup a 1GB SanDisk Cruzer Mini for only $162 after an instant rebate...
m as terid=1956584/search=1gb%20usb
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/
Anonymous, 'cause I ain't no karma whore.
How about fixing USB 1.1 support in Linux first?
USB must be the crappiest kernel subsystem in existence: I can crash 2.4 in a number of ways just by plugging in and removing USB devices. Bug reports are being ignored, sometimes people sugggest moving to 2.6.
Well, 2.6 freezes dead hard when I plug in my USB audio device.
USB is the primary reason for the short (several days) uptime on my laptop.
Thou Shalt Not Use GIF for Screenshots!
f
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/004/flash/RAID0.gi
GIF really makes that screenshot look bad. The gradent in the window bar was reduced to just two colors and the icons and RAID tab are a dithered mess.
Does anyone know if Mac OS X 10.3.4 has better USB drive performance? I see that the release notes mention USB fixes/changes since 10.3.3, but it is not much more specific than that.
Anyone tried the MUVO TX from Creative? It's a USB 2.0 drive of the same type, but it has built in MP3 and voice recording and a cool AAA Battery carrying case for like $40 more than some of othe models Ars reviewed.
I have NOT tried it, by the way; just seen the marketing, but I'm thinking of buying one... I'd rather have something that is more than just an elaborate drive, and the MUVOs seem to fit the bill.
I was distressed that Ars ignored it in their review, but perhaps they didn't want to have to consider the extra functionality in their comparison?
> Do you dare probe further to figure out what it's doing?
> Certainly not; you could well violate the DMCA.
Exactly what copyrighted content does this encryotion protect?
I've had a 256mb Fuji for 18 months now, and a 8mb DiskOnKey for 2 years before that (the Fuji is a re-branded DiskOnKey drive). The complaints from Ars Technica are only valid if you keep your flash drive on a lanyard. As I can't stand anything hanging off my neck (too much like a tie!), I keep mine clipped to my keyring. I've never had it come unclipped, nor have I lost the drive part (the clip is on the cover, not the drive itself). In fact, having the clip on the cover is very useful, as I can leave it connected to my keyring while the drive is in use.
I'm surprised the review didn't cover performance under GnuPG and PGP -- I keep my keyrings on it, as well as my Quicken backups. Plus tons of room left for mp3s to listen while at work. The SiSoft benchmarks are nice, but I'd like to know how slow/fast they are relative to an IDE drive.
Chip H.
But I'm wondering if they reviewed anything that was inside of this little beastie.
And if what some of the above posters have put up about washer/dryer incidents is true, you can STILL take it into the bath with you!
mushkin-inside
you can see a dirty fingerprint on the chip
"If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts." -Albert Einstein
Karma? There's a serial modder out there.
it could take some adverbs though...
your post was surprisingly unique
mine is insterestingly unique
there was one yesterday that was uniquely unique
agreed....no DEGREES of uniqueness, but if you're going to be a language pick, let's tell the whole story
I have a Iomega USB 1.1 256mb Secure Drive. I love it and wouldn't change a thing about it, plus I got if for 45 bucks.
Rob
If the cap/lid comes off, there goes your USB Flash HDD! SanDisk and others are smart to put on the Flash drive, not the cap/lid! My 512 GB PNY brand (not the same one in the article) has it on the cap! I don't bother to wear it on my neck anymore since I can lose it easily.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Can you dual boot a bootable USB drive? Sounds like a fun way to waste a few hours....
Rob
http://www.bugmenot.com/
Now there sounds like the most expensive storage device other than carving into pure gold. Actually, solid state RAID may be more expensive.
ummmm... this is ars... not then NYT... No reg required. Move along... move along...
Wasn't 98 the first version of windows that supported USB in general? That might be why 95 "does not appear to have support."
You'd think this place was run by /. editors or sumptin.
I can't believe they did not consider the Cruzer Titanium by Sandisk. Yes it is expensive, but it is really fast. My own unscientific tests have it outperforming the iomega drive by a wide margin.
It's a shame they didn't review Kanguru's MicroDrive+. I don't know about speed, but it includes a SD slot (or CF slot on another model), so it doubles as a USB SD card reader.
The other misuse of "unique" that gets to me is how it's used as praise, as if simply being "unique" (or, more often, "one of the most unique...") were a good thing in itself.
All's true that is mistrusted
I noticed that some of these flash drives have "write protect". However, I noticed that some manufacturers claim that Linux cannot use the write protect functionality:
" When you put the write-protect switch to "ON" position, you cannot write any file or data into the device. You still can view and read the files and data in the device. You can switch the "Write-Protect" switch even you do not disconnect the device. Due to Linux OS limitation, the write-protect switch will not work on-line."
Flash drive manual
But I see in status messages when people plug in the flash drives that it says "write protect is off".
Does anyone have experience with these products in Linux and whether write protect works with the flash drive connected?
Okay, troll. I normally don't read down at these depths, but since I had mod points which I'm now not going to use in this thread...
Riddle me this, asswipe. I have a hard drive in a computer. Let's say it's running Linux. Let's say I get another hard drive and I want to make it RAID 1 (mirrored) with the first drive. It's a 30 second operation in OS X, a 30 second operation in NT, a 60 second option in Win2k (gotta make it dynamic first).
How long will this operation take in Linux? Yes, you can use all three mouse buttons, and no, I don't have a backup....
I wish they had tested the PQI Intelligent Stick. It's the smallest drive around and looks pretty sweet. Pricing isn't bad either if you look on Froogle.
I guess I could always pick one up and return it if it sucks. But really, how much could it possibly suck as long as it works? I can't imagine I'm going to get horrible transfer speeds with it.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
This review failed to test one practical side effect of a physical size: when a given device is plugged in a one of stacked USB ports, is the other one still accessable?
I actually got in to discussion today about people wearing usb sticks in a neck strap.
Seems like there would be a considerable market niche for stylish sticks. None of the drives I've seen look ugly but it would be nice to see some real variety. Something little bit more unique.
So does anyone make something "special"..?
Could you please explain the point you're making to someone who isn't familiar with the intricacies of Linux?
Have you ever picked one of these up? I have the Kingston version (Same as Fuji packaging) and the cap is fine, the drive isn't coming off unless you swing it by hand really hard at the end of a neck strap.
Our IT Dept. is cramming these things down user's throats as the ultimate floppy replacement. I've had one friend though who's usb drive went completely dead, no power, no chance at all of recovery, any body else want to comment on issues of reliablity with these things? Obviously, users should be storing their files elsewhere as a backup but these are the geniouses that save a semester worth of papers to an old floppy and store it in their book bag underneath their 7 lb. math book and the sand from the beach last summer...
I've seen a couple that have mp3 playback and voice recording abilities.
Anyone have suggestions on such devices? Or maybe a roundup of multifunction usb pen drives would be nice.
Riddle me this, asswipe. I have a hard drive in a computer. Let's say it's running Linux. Let's say I get another hard drive and I want to make it RAID 1 (mirrored) with the first drive. It's a 30 second operation in OS X, a 30 second operation in NT, a 60 second option in Win2k (gotta make it dynamic first).
How long will this operation take in Linux? Yes, you can use all three mouse buttons, and no, I don't have a backup....
Not that I'm supporting the troll, nor am I disagreeing with you per se. However, I don't know how to do that in any of those OSes, so it would sure take me a lot longer than thirty seconds in any of them.
I didn't have 1.4.1 on a couple of machines, so I installed it on the USB drive. Now, I run my applications off of the USB drive. Take it anywhere and it runs.
How about selling something like Knoppix on a USB drive? It'd boot faster, fit in your pocket, not need a CDROM drive, allow for customization by being re-writable, and you could keep some of your data files on it. Even better, if you eventually decide that you don't want to use Knoppix, you get a handy USB drive...
Note this understated bit in the article:
When plugging in the second drive to form the RAID array, the OS X very politely kernel panics with the Multi-Language Screen Of Death (MLSOD) declaring that you need to power off your machine.
My 512 GB PNY brand (not the same one in the article) has it on the cap!
Yeah, that does sound pretty awful. I'd be willing to take that useless 512GB drive off your hands for, say, price of shipping?
We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
DOH! I meant MB, not GB. LOL! I wished I had 512 GB!. :)
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
In OSX:
Open Disk Utility, Click first drive conroller, Click "RAID" button, Drag first HD icon to box, drag second and etc drives to box. Choose RAID flavor and format, click Create. Voila!
Reviews with a twist! http://www.sardonicbastard.com
I love my MuVo. It's small and works great with Linux. You can store any file on it, but only MP3 or WMA files show up in the song list. The MuVo NX and the MuVo TX look good too if you need more storage capacity.
Depends.
....OK, I'm back (that was pretty quick). Here's exactly what you're looking for.
If you're using hardware RAID or pseudo-hardware RAID (i.e. Promise FastTrack), then it should just be a matter of entering into the RAID controller's setup utility during bootup and tell it to add the second drive into the RAID array and it's seamless.
I'm not familiar enough with Linux's LVM or other software-RAID to know how to do it that way, but I'm sure there are utilities that allow you add disks to unmounted RAID arrays fairly easily. Let me search Google.....
QED
I have found there are just two ways to go.
It all comes down to livin' fast or dyin' slow. -REK, Jr.
You would think that if it's a 256meg drive then you would know the size, 256 megs, right? But marketing has struck again, I've found that 32 meg drivs I have actually seem to have about 30 megs of space on them, and vary by drive. A 64 meg device is also short several megs (as are some flash cards I have). I would have found it really handy if the reviewer had bothered to tell us how much space each of these devices really delivers.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
I built a RAID5 array from jaz drives! It was the only way to get ANY reliability out of them! :D
-Foxxz
My favorite is the mind numbingly stupid expression "instant classic" that is constantly tossed about by the movie industry. They actually managed to make it worse by turning it into "soon to be an instant classic."
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Why was this modded overrated and redundant? It is useful for people who don't want to thumb through all of the pages. As the parent noted, Ars Technica should put a frigg'n index on the article so you can bounce around between pages.
Depends.
....OK, I'm back (that was pretty quick). Here's [unthought.net] exactly what you're looking for.
If you're using hardware RAID or pseudo-hardware RAID (i.e. Promise FastTrack), then it should just be a matter of entering into the RAID controller's setup utility during bootup and tell it to add the second drive into the RAID array and it's seamless.
I'm not familiar enough with Linux's LVM or other software-RAID to know how to do it that way, but I'm sure there are utilities that allow you add disks to unmounted RAID arrays fairly easily. Let me search Google.....
No, it's not. That presupposes you already have a RAID set up. And first poster, there's no hardware RAID controller (sorry, I implied that, but didn't say that).
After reading through the article not, I realized that all those drives are no match for the USB Devil Duckie Drive.
It used to be you'd go to McDonalds and order small, medium & large fries... but ever since they made "super-size" fries, they just dropped 'small' fries and switched all the names around (so they can say that every combo meal comes with a serving of 'medium' fries).
Ain't marketing wonderful?
It would be nice if they had attachment points on both the unit and the cap, so that the user can choose how to wear it.
With a stiff enough cap (or one that locked on), I can see attaching the strap to the cap.
But it would have to be small enough that it could be placed atop one's lap. Whatever could we call such a thing...
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
Data redundancy is possible with most forms of RAID, but the "Redundant" part of the acronym is referring to the fact that there are multiple disks of the same size. Redundant array of (usually) inexpensive disks.
What I want to know is where the encryption actually happens. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's all done on the PC side with the included software. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
vi /etc/raidtab /dev/md0 /dev/md0
(add a few lines to define disks and policy... maybe copy and paste)
mkraid
raidstart
I'd say 3 minutes if you already knew what you wanted to do. (!)
Or use YaST or something. And Solaris is no easier. I don't really understand the point...
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
Every object in the universe is unique, for if two objects were identical in every way, they would be the same object. Furthermore, no objects are unique because they all have something in common with every other object: they are all unique.
Degrees of uniqueness exist because there are different contexts for evaluating an object's differences from its peers. Every evaluation has a context within which it has more than two degrees.
If one in a billion oranges looks like Elvis, that's pretty unique. If one in a billion of those Elvis-shaped oranges is a life-sized bust of The King, that's an extremely unique orange. The uniqueness of the non-bust Elvis oranges is not undermined by discovering another instance because within the context of people's knowledge of oranges, two Elvis oranges would be rare enough as to be unique from an individual's point of view.
Absolute uniqueness is only a useful concept in abstract contexts like math and philosophy. In the real world we use the word loosely within implicit or explicit contexts which give the seemingly redundant expression 'very unique' a meaning which is different from other degrees of uniqueness.
People who fall into this trap often also argue that
* Black is not a color (it is not a hue, but it is a color)
* Zero is not a number (it is not a counting number, but it is a number)
* A logical statement must either be true, false, or a paradox (it depends on what you mean by 'logical', 'statement', 'true', etc.)
So yes, something can be 'very unique', or only 'slightly unique'.
Bosons are symmetric with respect to exchange. Fermions are not.
How long does MRAM last compared to standard flash memories? Is it suitable for, say, a swap file, or will it die after a couple hundred thousand writes?
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
--Aristotle
I have a USB drive that is actually a 1-inch hard drive, NOT flash. Because magnetic is cheaper than flash, I managed to get a 1.5 GB drive for $170, a price range unheard of for flash.
Make me a friend and I'll mod you up
Personally, I think they should all be renamed to the following:
You can, but it's not as simple unless you already have the partitions as part of a LVM group. You'd have the same issue in Win98: there's no "room" to add a RAID identifier on the disk what with the small partition table and filesystems right after it. You need to scoot the filesystems down to make room for a RAID identifier area. Windows handles that tricky step in 2000 and above if you are booting NTFS (NOT FAT32) off a basic disc, converting it to dynamic on the fly.
Linux can't do that with the standard tools, you need to apply them intelligently.
First, you need to boot off a floppy (or go into single user mode and remount everything R/O). Essentially you have to make a copy of your current disk to the other one (how doesn't matter, although partitioning and recursive copy is usually faster than block by block, but either is fine). You need to mark it as a RAID member first, though. Then you edit your raid config file like you would normally. BUT! Mark the first disk as dirty in the config file. Now, unmount all the filesystems from the old disk, and turn on the array. The second, "clean" HD which is slightly modified for mirroring, gets mirrored back automagically to the first disk. When it's done, you can reboot, and you're running full mirrored mode.
The tools don't actually destroy the data. What they _don't_ do is attempt to move and resize your mounted filesystems from underneath you (!!!).
OSX may have provisions in the filesystem and/or partition table areas to mark a partition as being part of a RAID mirror without needing to do more complex stuff, so a online RAID-1 mirror is possible.
You can do this now in Linux if you start off with LVM, but taking older, simpler partitioned disks and filesystems is harder to bootstrap.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
I've used a Lexar jumpdrive 128MB and now have a USB2.0 Lexar jumpdrive pro. I see these all the time for reasonable prices usually after rebate from Staples or such. I've never had problems with either.
It would be interesting to see reliability factored into the final rating. I had a cigar drive before that (can't remember who made it) and it was cheap plastic, broke (but still works). The Lexar plastics seem to be a little better but probably shouldn't stay jammed into someones jeans. The new one has a rubber cap and seems pretty solid.
-Phil
Shoot questions, first ask later...
You can, but it's not as simple unless you already have the partitions as part of a LVM group. You'd have the same issue in Win98: there's no "room" to add a RAID identifier on the disk what with the small partition table and filesystems right after it. You need to scoot the filesystems down to make room for a RAID identifier area. Windows handles that tricky step in 2000 and above if you are booting NTFS (NOT FAT32) off a basic disc, converting it to dynamic on the fly.
Linux can't do that with the standard tools, you need to apply them intelligently.
First, you need to boot off a floppy (or go into single user mode and remount everything R/O). Essentially you have to make a copy of your current disk to the other one (how doesn't matter, although partitioning and recursive copy is usually faster than block by block, but either is fine). You need to mark it as a RAID member first, though. Then you edit your raid config file like you would normally. BUT! Mark the first disk as dirty in the config file. Now, unmount all the filesystems from the old disk, and turn on the array. The second, "clean" HD which is slightly modified for mirroring, gets mirrored back automagically to the first disk. When it's done, you can reboot, and you're running full mirrored mode.
I'll trust you on that horrid procedure (it sounds good, though*), but you're still a far cry away from mere seconds for the other examples. Plus, it takes even more time to dig up the raid tools, etc, (I know when I set up mine on MDK 9.2 I had to dig around for them), google for the proper format for the raidtab and so on and so forth.
You can create the mirror with one drive "missing".
Basically, you set things up so that Linux can boot from a raid device, copy everything to the second drive, reboot off the raid, add the first drive to the array, and watch the blinkenlights as the mirror is constructed.
There's a small how-to on this here.
The official Swiss Army Knife company has come out with a USB flash drive enabled Knife. If I didnt already own a SanDisk this would be the one I'd get. They seem to be decently priced for Victorinox at $70 for 64 megs. http://www.victorinox.com/newsite/en/news/news_swi ssmemory.htm
-val1s
Can anyone recommend a USB flash drive that is able to auto-run a program, just like a CD?
If it's treated the same as a drive, you could just create an autorun.inf file in the root of the drive.
D -Icon.ico
see: http://www.ashzfall.com/products/autorun/ or you can create them by hand very easily
ie.
[AutoRun]
open=CD-Start.exe
icon=C
<end/>
Firewire technology (FW400 & FW8000) is much superior to USB2 in my opinion yet there is a dearth of FW peripherals i.e FW flash drives, FW multi-flash readers, digital cameras (photographic) with FW interface, etc. Is it just cost?
Apparently some extra software settings are needed
I have located one drive that supports this, but I'd like some choice.
I prefer my SimpleTech Bonzai (not the Xpress). Why? Future expandibility. As SD cards grown in capacity, I can upgrade as need be. I don't have to worry about out growing a fixed capacity flash drive. The drawback is that the SD card is more expensive.
Do not use this drive on Linux or FreeBSD.
Perhaps I just had bad lucking trying to get it to work.
I did have it recongized under FreeBSD5.2.1 but I had many problems with that distribution and will wait untill 5.3 to try again.
http://saveie6.com/
I have wanted to use one of these devices to keep private information. It appears that many of the flash drives have Windows encryption programs. Is there encryption for these drives that works on all major operating systems (meaning Windows and true or work-alike UNIX, such as OS X, Linux, FreeBSD)?