Customer Reviews

Kingston Digital 16 GB USB 2.0 Hi-speed Datatraveler Flash Drive DT101G2/16GBZ, Black

5 star:		(523)
4 star:		(146)
3 star:		(42)
2 star:		(27)
1 star:		(56)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I bought this for my wife and grandson 5 months ago, I waited to actually give it a fair test period. It has not not given either of them an ounce of problem. It is very reliable and data transfer speed is quick. My wife had a PNY, and it was OK, but it does not compare to the Kingston.

The only drawback is the hole in the end, it is very tiny. I had to purchase a very thin key ring to put on it so they could attach a strap to it.

EXCELLENT product but you HAVE to format the device in order to transfer big files... just as Kingston Tech Support (and other kind buyers) explained:

"In order to copy large files more then 4GB it has to be converted into NTFS. FAT32 has a limitation of only 4GB. To format to NTFS, please follow these instructions. Warning: If you have data on the drive, you should save it elsewhere as this process will erase it all.

1. Go into My Computer and, right click on the drive and select format.
2. Under File System select NTFS and click on Start. If you do not have an option for NTFS, close the format box and go into Device Manager by right clicking on My Computer and selecting Properties.
3. Click on the Hardware tab and click on Device Manager button.
4. Expand Disk Drives and right click on the Kingston drive and select Properties.
5. Click on the Policies tab and click "Optimize for performance and OK.
6. Then go back into My Computer, right click on the drive and select format and make sure NTFS is selected for the file system. Select quick format and OK."

EXCELLENT product.

I recently got 2 of these flash drives to install operating system iso's on them, to make installing operating systems on other computers quick and easy. The first flash drive I used happily for basic file saving before I copied over the image of the operating system. Once I copied over the operating system and installed the operating system from the flash drive onto a different pc, I got error messages late into the install. So I ran the utility ChkFlsh on it and found some bad sectors. This makes the flash drive useless since you can't fix bad sectors on a removable flash drive. This was bound to happen, since I have seen similar problems before on previous flash drives that were used heavily over time (although I hadn't used this particular flash drive heavily).

Shrugging it off as a fluke. I cracked open the case for the other new flash drive. Copied over the operating system image and installed it on a pc. Again, errors popped up late into the install. Scanned it for bad sectors, which again showed up quickly. Now I am dissatisfied with Kingston for sending 2 flash drives with bad sectors on them. This never showed up in my earlier model flash drives (Kingston DataTraveler I - 4 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive DTI/4GB).

This product is useful if you don't intend on filling the stick up completely with large important data files. Smaller files will most likely never hit the bad sectors. For now I recommend the earlier Kingston models which I have scanned time and time again and rarely find bad sectors.

Edit: Just wanted to mention one other con. The swivel is a con. It causes the flash drive to be too thick to stick into tight USB spaces. This is fine if you have a USB port all by itself, but if you have multiple USB ports side-by-side, then it will block (or make an uncomfortably tight squeeze for) the neighboring USB device.

Great product. But a little bit thick I should say. Yet still small and portable.

I tested it at once I got it. And it turns out to be much faster than "10M/s read; 5M/s write" as listed in the product detail. Actually it's around 18M/s read and 10M/s write! I don't know if it's gonna slow down after being used for a while, but so far the speed is satisfying.

One thing you should pay attention however is the heat. It heats up significantly while working. So it's not a good idea to keep it plugged in for a long time. But I bet it won't burn if you do so.

Over all it's a great product, high speed and nice looking. Price is fair. It's Kingston, you know.

This is not the first Kingston flash drive that I have had. The one that I had before was 16 GB and also very nice with my mac. However, it does not have the feature that I like most on this flash drive... The protective cover that loops around the entire drive (a whole 360) ! I don't have to worry about losing the cap anymore. The key loop is small, but it is a good size for a string to hold it with. The price is great on amazon too, especially considering the free shipping.

My husband was looking for a new flash card. As I'm the shopper in the house, I searched online for the good, the bad and the ugly. :-)

I came across this product, and researched it for size, quality and value for money. It came out on top in every aspect.

Now that it's here, my husband has given it two thumbs up.

I love the cyan colour - won't get lost in the multitude of grey/black items in one's bag, and I absolutely love the 360 swivel cap. No lost cap EVER! My husband's other flash card has a loose cap, which he has misplaced many times, so this item is a relief for him in his bag.

I have bought a second one to give as a gift, and I'm also buying one for myself.

Definitely recommend this product.

**UPDATE on Feb.23.11: So far, this product is working perfectly. No issues at all.

This cyan Kingston Digital 4GB USB drive gets 5+ stars from me. The sturdy swivel cover can never get lost, and overall it's an attractive holder for your important data.

The cyan color is great -- easy to find in your bag and identify. I am most likely going to purchase more in different colors so I can keep track of my files without having to plug in every non-descript black USB drive (with the cover missing) that is in my bag to see which is the right one.

I am using this drive mostly for sporting a library of MP3s that I play in the car. Works great with my stereo. Computer-wise, have had no problems using it with both Mac OS and Windows. 4GB is the perfect capacity to hold a huge library of music as well as data files that need quick transport.

The green LED is also neat. It lights up in the circle (where the metal swivels around if you look at the photo)and makes it easy to know when the drive is ready to be disconnected from the computer.

A great buy!