Kingston DataTraveler I - 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive DTI/8GB

by Kingston

• 100% Tested for Reliability
• Free Technical Support
• Easy to Follow Installation Instructions
• Designed to Meet or Exceed Industry Standards for Performance and Reliability

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 0.4 x 2.6 inches ; 0.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0012X5766
• Item model number: DTI/8GB
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (228 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 20, 2008

Product Description

Now you can store, carry and transfer files quickly in an affordable, convenient device. The DataTraveler from Kingston helps budget-conscious users break storage barriers, allowing you to easily store and move files in a device no bigger than a pocketknife.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

163 of 171 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Kingston 8GB Data Traveler - Good USB Drive with Nice Capacity April 13, 2008

By Mark #1 HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Kingston 8GB DataTraveler USB flash drive - High Speed USB

In terms of meeting it's function, this Kingston Data Traveler seems very good so far, certainly as good as the other smaller capacity ones I own. And the 8 GB capacity on this guy makes it very useful for a lot of large file backups or USB storage and transfer. There are a few things to keep in mind but overall this is a solid product.

Pros:
+ Kingston brand is well deserved
+ Reliable performance
+ Nice capacity of 8 GB has you future proofed as smaller USB drives start to disappear
+ Durable body and NAND memory stands up to a lot of abuse
+ Compatible with old and new Mac and PC Operating Systems (XP, Vista, OS X)
+ Very light
+ Rear bar to connect a lanyard or keychain
+ USB 2.0 connection is backwards compatible for older computers
+ Very quickly mounts and stops
+ Less scum-ware and needless apps than some other drives
+ Easy to format and enable encryption to protect your data

Cons:
- Cap comes off easily and can be lost; inferior to retractable designs
- Lanyard or extender accessories not included
- Doesn't have the good looks of some drives like the Sandisk Cruzer Micro
- Still somewhat slow speed in copying large files, limited by USB transfer rate
- Same old body is larger than it has to be
- Keychain / lanyard attachment bar is too easily broken
- Pricing here doesn't change to reflect when this item goes on sale elsewhere

This is the same design that Kingston has used for these Data Traveler USB drives since the 1 GB I got quite a while ago....

Transfer speeds are comparable to other drives, but still slower than one would like. Load ups are fast and stops are only a little slower.

In order to enable encryption, there are a few ways but the best may be to use another tool to encrypt the drive after re-formatting it. This way you can test the drive as well as use the encryption you prefer.

The main real competition is from Sandisk, whose Cruzer Micro has a tab to retract the USB connector SanDisk 8 GB Cruzer Micro USB 2.0 Drive with U3 SDCZ6-8192-A11 (retail packaging). That way there's no risk of losing the cap, but there is more chance of getting dust in it. It is more expensive though.

Kingston produces some retractable ones as well.
Kingston DataTraveler 100 - USB flash drive - 8 GB - Hi-Speed USB - black
Kingston DT100/8GB Data Traveler 100 8 GB USB 2.0 Drive

Conclusion

This is a nice capacity in a small USB drive. Just watch the price and make sure you're getting it on par with prevailing prices

Enjoy! Read more ›

34 of 41 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Good value for space, but slow June 9, 2008

By Ewan Grantham

Amazon Verified Purchase

If your main need is to have something that can make 8 GB of files portable, then this is a pretty good value. If you are looking to use Vista's ReadyBoost function, this drive is too slow. If you are looking to run applications off the drive (like Portable Firefox or Disk Utilities), it is also incredibly slow - and you'll probably want to look for something that has faster rated reads and writes.

For my needs, this turns out not to have been the right drive. For you, well it depends on what you're using it for :-)

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Died after 3 months of use May 15, 2009

By angelaL

Amazon Verified Purchase

Bought mine at the end of February and it died today. Is it me ... are USB drives dying faster, or maybe the longevity is inversely proportional to the storage capacity? I bought this to replace a Sandisk Cruzer 4GB USB drive which failed in a little under a year. My old 1 GB drives are still functional but of course the small capacity limits their use.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Stopped working October 2, 2009

By Ben D.

I had it for 1 year and it stopped working. It was well taken care of and had no abuse.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Slow; Nearly Hidden LED Activity Light October 31, 2008

By Mr. Williams

Amazon Verified Purchase

I did a lot of searching and reading of customer reviews before buying the Kingston 8GB USB Data Traveller drive; my primary focus was on the price. Now that I've used it and compared the write speed to my older Corsair Flash Voyager 4GB drive, for which I needed a back-up, I'm very disappointed. Twice a week I move 8000+ files of around 285K in size to a USB drive for distribution to additional computers (I don't have and I don't want a home network at this point). The total space required is 2.34 GB. My Corsair 4GB drive takes about 12 minutes to complete the transfer. This newer, larger Kingston drive took 18 minutes--about 50% longer.

When I'm doing this operation or transferring the files to other systems it's helpful to see the LED light blinking while I'm working on a different computer, so I can know when the operations are complete. The Corsair Flash Voyagers I have (a 2GB and a 4GB) have excellent, bright LED activity lights that flash near the end of the drive so you can see the activity even if there's another USB drive located above. The Kingston's LED activity light by contrast is a very dim green one located close to the computer end of the drive, and I can't really see it in a brightly lit room. I've read many customer reviews of this drive and didn't see another one point this out.

So, I've just bought a device here which will serve only as a back-up in case the other one fails, but which I don't plan to use regularly at all. At this point I wish I'd picked up another Corsair for a few dollars more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Just fine for what it is and what it costs... May 7, 2009

By ziggy29

Amazon Verified Purchase

I've seen some disparaging comments about the speed of this series of devices relative to some other USB flash drives, and my experience bears that out somewhat in certain applications. (I have the 8 GB currently).

Someone needing top speed -- such as someone who wants to create (say) a bootable Linux drive to run from -- may be wise to pay more for a faster device. You do get what you pay for, and at this price point you're not going to have top-of-the-line performance. It's no different than paying $15,000 for a solid and reliable car and being unhappy that it doesn't have the performance of a $70,000 sports car.

But if you buy it only for occasional backups or to transfer files from one computer to another where a few extra seconds won't matter, it's perfectly suited for that task. So for the purposes I bought it for, AND understanding that price and performance are related, it's everything I needed it to be for my uses. If I wanted to boot Linux from it, I'd probably be a little disappointed and return it for a faster one.