Kingston Digital DataTraveler 101 Generation 2 - 16 GB Flash Drive DT101G2/16GBZET

by Kingston

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 2.2 x 0.4 x 0.7 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004TS1J1I
• Item model number: DT101G2/16GBZET
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (794 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #2 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > External Data Storage > USB Flash Drives
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 25, 2011

Product Description

Size: 16 GB | Product Packaging: Amazon Frustration-Free

Kingston's DataTraveler101 Generation 2 is a convenient storage companion that lets you take all of your data to your home, office, school and anywhere you travel. It comes with urDrive1, preloaded software that gives you a new and exciting way to look at your data. When you launch the software, the urDrive interface pops up like a desktop for your USB. It features drag-and-drop and double-click capabilities to help organize all your files, photos, videos, music and more. It's easy to use and even includes a built-in Photo Viewer and mp3 player, plus a 2GB online backup account to keep your important files secure online.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

452 of 462 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much faster than rated - at least for larger files, January 29, 2011

By 

NLee the Engineer (Nashua, NH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Kingston Digital 32 GB USB 2.0 Hi-speed Datatraveler Flash Drive DT101G2/32GBZ, Purple (Personal Computers)

This Kingston DataTraveler DT101 Gen2 32GB USB flash drive has a very nice compact design. It is about the same size as the SanDisk Cruzer Micro (with the USB port retracted). See the size comparison picture I uploaded to Customer Images section. What cannot be seen from the picture is that the Kingston drive is slightly thicker. That makes it impossible to insert two Kingston flash drives into two adjacent USB ports, whereas two Sandisk drives can be stacked one on top of another.

I benchmarked the Kingston DT101 G2 flash drive as soon as I received it. The initial result I got, using the free "Flash Memory Toolkit" program, was not very impressive. It shows that for smaller files of 1-5MB, the write speed is only 5.7 - 6.2MB/s (see the Customer Image section for screenshot). In contrast, the Transcend 16 GB JetFlash 500 was able to achieve higher speed of 6.8MB/s (for 1MB file) to 11.3MB/s (for 5MB file).

For transferring very large files, however, this Kingston drive really shines. I benchmarked its read/write speed using 1GB video files, and was able to achieve up to 11.4MB/s in write, and 20.2MB/s in read. This is over twice as fast as its rated speed, which claims just 5MB/s write and 10MB/s read. In contrast, the Transcend drive only achieved 7.5MB/s in write and 13.4MB/s in read, under the same test conditions.

In summary, the Kingston DT101 G2 flash drive may not be suitable for tasks which require frequent read/write of smaller files, such as using it for daily backup or as a 'ReadyBoost' device. But for transferring large chunk of data, such as storing temporary video files for playback on my WD TV Live Media Player, it performs the job really well. I consider this product a very good value, especially at its present low cost of just $1.60 per GB.


Some additional notes:
- The good thing about USB flash drive is that: the unit cost ($/GB) drops by half every year. So I can get this 32GB flash drive for about the same price I paid for a 2GB drive four years ago. The bad thing is that: no matter how large the drive capacity, I always manage to fill it up to the brim in seemingly no time.

- The capacity for this Kingston '32GB' flash drive, as reported by my computer, is 29.7GB. Note that this is actually normal, because 1GB to computer people means 2 to the power of 30, which is about 7.4% greater than 1 billion. So 29.7GB translates to approximately 32,000,000,000 bytes, which means '32GB' according to marketing people.

- This Kingston flash drive came pre-loaded with 'urDrive' software, similar to the infamous 'U3' software for previous generations of Sandisk flash drives. I have no intention to use urDrive, so I renamed the 'Autorun.inf' file (found on the root directory) to 'Autorun._inf'. That way, I don't have to be bothered by it ever again - but it is still available in case I changed my mind.

- The drive is pre-formated in FAT32 file system for maximum compatibility. That means its largest file size is limited to 4GB. If you need to transfer files larger than 4GB, you have to reformat this drive to NTFS. Be warned that doing so wipes out all existing files, including urDrive.

215 of 223 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good drive with a bad cover design, March 8, 2011

By 

CDR Shepard "...and this is my favorite store... (Columbia, MD, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kingston Digital 8 GB USB 2.0 Hi-speed Datatraveler Flash Drive DT101G2/8GBZ, Red (Personal Computers)

I have a collection of USB thumb drives and use them for a wide range of activities. I transport files, use them as a portable work environment, install portable apps, encrypt them with passwords, transport files from one network to another, use them to boot, ReadyBoost, and run an entire OS - things most consumers will never likely care about.

Because I use them so often, it's hard to get excited over a new USB drive unless it has something new or innovative about the design. I'm not excited about this drive. I had an immediate positive reaction to a USB drive with a similar design concept: a small footprint drive with a swinging metal shield. But where the PNY Micro Swivel Attache perfected the swivel design in a tiny 4GB drive, and the HP v115w Flash Drive did the same in a 16GB model, the Datatraveler made a larger, less elegant cover that can hardly be given that name.

It is a good drive, in that it's an excellent price and performs well. There is an activity light that flashes as the drive is being accessed. I don't use the Kingston app, but instead installed PortableApps on it, which works like a charm. But the cover is about useless, providing little if any protection if you were to place the drive in a briefcase, backpack, pocket or drawer. It's loose and swings freely, never staying in place and offering virtually no protection. If you plug this thing in, and hardly ever remove it, except to plug it right in to another computer, then this is probably not going to trouble you. If you wear your USB on a lanyard, it will also not be too much of an issue, since the lanyard will attach at the cap, and gravity will keep it in place.

The price is excellent, but if you need a more rugged drive that travels well, get one that has a better fitting cover design.

179 of 193 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reliable, inexpensive - for travel, backups, media storage, December 20, 2010

By 

A. Dent "Aragorn" (Minas Anor, GD) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kingston Digital 16 GB USB 2.0 Hi-speed Datatraveler Flash Drive DT101G2/16GBZ, Black (Personal Computers)

The best thing USB flash drives have going for them is their price, which has been in a free fall for several years and about to go below $1 per GB at the time I'm writing this review. In addition, if your goal is storing data independently of any specific piece of equipment - camera, reader, music player - their size/bulk is an advantage because it's so much easier to lose or break an SD card once it's out of its host.

Briefly, this is what it's worth knowing about this item:

- I can't see that I've had a big problem with losing caps but the 'capless' design is quite innovative and it does not hurt.
- It's fast enough to support video transfer but, of course, it does not come close to the theoretical 60MB/sec max I/O speed that the USB 2.0 specification allows.
- Installs itself and does not require any software to be recognized as a 'drive' on a Vista or XP computer. Can't speak for other operating systems.
- It formats and partitions as any 'spinning' drive.
- Can be used to store data, to attach to players (my car plays MP3s off an USB drive) or to move it between unconnected devices.
- Tolerable when used with apps that require some moderate I/O but I would not try to make it a swap drive.

When it comes to Kingston - and, over the years and as prices were falling and the capacity grew, I've bought their 2GB, 4GB, 8GB and now the 16GBs - they never let me down. I don't believe I've lost one bit of data so far and, affordable as they are, I can make multiple copy of the data I can't afford to lose and keep it stored at different locations.

Considering price and reliability, this is a well-deserved 5-star.

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