Customer Reviews

Lexar PD-128-231 128 MB JumpDrive Portable USB Flash Drive

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

The Iomega drive used expensive media and many computer's didn't have one. The LS120 format never caught on. CD-R & CD-RW can be a pain when you're only recording small programs. Also, CD's are larger and normally require that you carry them around in their own protective case. These are some of the reason's why the Floppy Disk has hung around soooo long. So what's the product that may finally supplant the venerable Floppy Disk (Dell has already made floppies an option on many of their computers)? I think that you're looking at it.

I own this Lexar 128 JumpDrive and think it's performance/price ratio is awesome. Almost every modern computer has a USB input, so this solves the format/compatibility problem. The size is extremely small and durable, which makes product excellent for transporting. USB 1 is good for about 10MBPS, so you can fill up all 122.5MB of this drive in a couple minutes (yeah, it's not quite 128MB as you'd be lead to believe). Finally the software/drivers (5MB download if you have Win 98) work like a charm.

This is an excellent product solution and if you are looking for any negatives, these are the only items I would consider worth pointing out: drive is not quite 128MB, some larger EXE files are larger than 122.5MB and therefore will not fit on this drive, and finally, although unit is very compact, the dimensional width of the JumpDrive may suck up 2 USB ports in horizontal USB configurations (e.g. - your notebook).

I love this device. I use it to move files between work and home. I used to use CD-RW and this is so much better, faster, and more convenient to carry. I access it on W98, XP, and 2000 across dozens of PCs.

This Lexar product is shorter than many of the competiting products. That's good for me. Some of the PCs I access have limited clearance next to the USB port and this one fits in nicely.

The finish is very smooth and its nice that way. I was concerned the bright purple is not the most "professional" looking (which is true) but I also like it because it really sticks out visually against muted colors (grays and blues) at work. I can spot it easily wherever I've placed it. I wish it was available in other colors as options--bright green, yellow, orange, etc.

For the key "loop" position, there are two USB drive designs. This one has the loop on the drive, others have it on the cap. The cap on this product is just a squeeze fit, it doesn't "click" on so its good that it is not on the cap. However, I dislike dragging out my keys to access the drive so I don't even put it on my keychain--I don't want my keys dangling next to the PC. A competing design with the loop on the cap would be preferable to me if the cap was securely connected to the drive. The drawback of that type of design is that if it detaches and gets lost you are left only with the cap, not the drive. Still, right now I just keep the thing in my pocket most of the time. It's so small, I hardly notice it and its just fine that way.

On this drive, you can insert the cap perpendicularly into the slot on the end of the drive to help keep from losing the cap.

This product does not have any write protect switch, special password security, or anything fancy. I like its simplicity that way and its priced a bit less than others too. Its just a lovely simple device for moving files around and it works great. If you think you might be able to use such a thing, go ahead and get it.

I'm still waiting for my rebate.

I initially bought this to transfer files from computer to computer, but I ended up storing many of my favorite mp3s, digital pictures, and some documents and carrying this little thing around to have at my disposal whenever I needed them.
I love this thing's size, a little shorter than a stick of gum and about the width of a pen. I was able to keep in my pocket without an unsightly bulge.
A closed loop at its end makes it easy to attach to a key-ring.
A light light's up when the computer is writing or reading to/from it. Just remember to not remove it from the USB port while this light is on, and your information and files are secure.
I'm not a "techy" but from personal use, it seems that that the read/write time is fast enough. When it was full of 120MB of mp3s (you can't store more than that for some reason), it took about 2 minutes to transfer back to my desktop.
Since this is a re-writable "drive" you don't have to buy more than a couple. I think that the ones smaller than 128MB will not be of muc benefit in the longrun. 128 is good, but 256 is the best, and the prices are dropping.

Transfering files is so easy with this device, and I have had great results with it. I have had it for about 6 months and it has already payed for itself many times over in terms of saved time and saved resources (faster than burning a cd - and if you don't have a cd-rw around - you end up wasting a disk if all you want to do is transfer files once)

As far as the criticisms I have read her I just would say

A) I have had this thing attatched to my keychain scince the day I recieved it, and I have had no trouble with it. It bangs against the dashboard when I drive, it gets tossed around my backpack, and occasionally it will get yanked out of a computer by the key ring - and so far it has held up 100 percent. I don't think robustnes is an issue unless you plan on taking this thing on Safari.

B) Yes, it is a USB 1.1 device so it is slower, but it only holds about 128 megs, so at the most it will take two minutes to fill up, instead of about 30 seconds with a 2.0 device.

C) I use this device on a Mac OSX, a Dell running XP, and a Thinkpad running 98SE and it works perfectly on all of them. For SE I had to download a driver that was one of the easiest driver installs I have ever done in my life.

D) The one criticism I agree with is - the cap should be redesigned (or they need to just sell the device with a few extra caps - how much could a few plastic caps coast?). Depending on the temperature (in the heat the plastic cap expands substantially more than the metal USB port does) it can become extreemly loose, and more than once I have had it fall off as I pulled my keys from my pocket - so you do need to keep an eye on the cap. But, at one point I had thought I lost the cap and carried the device around without a cap for weeks and nothing bad happened.

Finally though as much as I rave, it is a flash device meant to be temporary storage as you transfer files, ar cary some mp3/pics with you. Don't use it as permenant storage, and don't use it as back up.

In terms of productivity gained vs. price paid though, this is by far the most effective device I have ever owned in my life.

...I too am being denied my...rebate because the company claims not to have received the original UPC code with my rebate submission. I did send this in (you can see that it was cut off the card) but I can't prove a negative. To make this worse, I had actually read and considered this reviewer's warning before purchasing the LexarMedia JumpDrive, so I was very careful to be sure I included the original UPC code. Is this happening to others, as well, I wonder? Otherwise, the product is wonderful and works totally as advertised but, for this reason alone, I could not recommend its purchase.

I bought this product about three months ago and it has worked well. My two complaints would be on how it is made. I attached it to my key-ring and the little plastic piece attaching the it to my keys broke. I have lost the cap as well. If you check the manufacturers website you will see they sell the caps in a group of five knowing many people will lose them. The plastic they use is not durable enough for someone keeping this in their pocket attached to keys with loose change smacking up against it. Perhaps if someone keeps it in a separate area such as a briefcase or bookbag it would last longer. I use mine all the time and like I said it works and for the price it is a good deal but you really need to take care of where you put it.

Floppies became outmoded when individual files started to exceed 1 MB in size. With digital cameras producing images that can require 2 MB or more, space and speed become even more important in portable storage devices. I have a Zip 250 and it's fine for archiving, but since I don't have a Zip drive on my PC at work, I had to resort to emailing my files between home and work.

The advent of reasonably priced USB "key chain" storage devices like this Lexar Jump Drive has changed all that. I paid ... for my Lexar 128MB Jump Drive and there was a rebate coupon, too (I'm hoping Lexar honors it, since some buyers have complained of difficulties in getting their rebate). The product is very small, nicely designed, and best of all, FAST. I can copy 20 2MB digital photos very quickly (much faster than copying them to a CD or a Zip disk).

The Jump Drive shows up as a hard drive almost immediately after you insert it into a USB slot. Be warned that its width precludes it from being directly next to another USB cable in a multi-port hub. I have to unplug my USB scanner when I want to use the Jump Drive, but I've ordered a USB extension from Amazon that should solve that problem and also make it easier to plug and unplug the Jump Drive. You treat it exactly as you would any other disk drive connected to your PC, except that it's a lot faster.

It is true as others have noted here that the actual storage space on the 128 MB Jump Drive is more like 120 MB, but so what? You're carrying the equivalent of over 100 floppies in your pocket, and it's so small that you have to be careful to not haul it out every time you reach for change.

Build quality seems good to me, though I agree with the reviewers who have said they wouldn't attach it to their key-ring (the plastic case doesn't seem quite THAT strong.

I'm delighted with my Jump Drive and I'll be watching as the prices drop to get a 256 MB model. I'm totally satisfied with the Jump Drive, which has already saved me a lot of time and effort. Great product!

This flash drive works just fine. After all, it is not rocket science, so either it works or it doesn't.

A note about filesystems. When I got this flash drive directly from Amazon in January 2004 it was formatted out-of-the-box in the "FAT" filesystem (this according to Windows XP). It was not FAT32 because after I reformatted the drive in Windows Explorer Windows XP said the drive was now "FAT32". The original FAT (FAT16) filesystem may explain why long filenames could not be saved for a previous reviewer. Regardless, the original FAT filesystem (FAT16) is a decade old and should not be used. To use FAT32, right-click the drive and choose format, then follow the instructions. (Note: All existing data on the drive will be erased.) To use the newer NTFS (New Technology File System), go to the command line (Start | Run | cmd <Enter>) and type

convert e: /fs:ntfs <Enter>

substituting the drive letter.

To summarize, the flash drive came with the original FAT filesystem, which no one should be using nowadays. Either reformat it to FAT32 or convert it to NTFS. Under FAT32 or NTFS, there is no reason whatsoever the drive cannot store long filenames, and anyone at Lexar who said otherwise doesn't know what he was talking about.

Overall this product is terrific. It is very convenient to use, and I have consistently used it to transfer files between computers at work, at home and laptop.

If you are using a USB hub: The first time that you use the jump drive, you'll probably need to plug it in directly to the USB port on the machine. After doing this once it functions via the hub just fine.

The only draw back that I have found thus far is that the unit is a little bit too wide. As a result when you plug in the jump drive into a 4-port USB hub, any adjacent port(s) will no longer be physically accessible.

However by using the last port on a 4-port hub, you can still use 2 of the other ports. In almost all cases this is sufficient.

This is a fantastic piece of technology and I really like it.

If you think about it, there really are only 4 ways to exchange technology between computers (for the average person).

You could use a floppy drive -but they are not standard anymore on next generation computers, and they only hold 1 megabyte of infomation -hardly enough to handle more than a picture or two.

Or, you could use a Zip drive. But here's the problem. You now have 100, 250, and 750 megabyte drives, and though you can read any of the older zip disks with a newer drive, you CANNOT WRITE ON THEM (and the reading process is REALLY slow). I made this mistake, and I am stuck with a 750 Megabyte drive that no one else has, so I can't do much more than backup my own data.

Or, you can burn information to a CD-rom and move it that way. Yes, you can do this, IF you have a burner and a blank cd on the computer you need data from, but that very likely may not be an answer either for casual transfers.

Amd finally, what I had been using most of the time, email. You can realistically email up to 3-5 MB of pictures or files. Pretty easy to use, and everyone has it, but not a solution for photos or large files.

This is where the jumpdrive comes in -and I think it is the perfect replacement. It is the size of your little finger and (this version) holds 128 MB! Best of all, the price is VERY reasonable at the moment.

Here's how it works. You pull of the cap and plug the drive directly into your comuter's USB port. (You don't need any software or drivers to preload -you just plug it in to any computer.) When it is plugged in the computer automatically recognizes it as a new drive right on your desktop. I.e. Go to your "My Computer" section and it now shows up as "Lexar Media (H:)" You then treat it like you would any other drive -you can save files to it, or you can just drag and drop files to it.

Here's another cool thing about the Lexar version of this drive. There is a little green light on the memory stick that lights up and blinks when it is first plugging in, and also when it is loading data. This will prevent you from removing the stick before the data is loaded -which is usually something that happens very quick!

I am very happy with this portable drive. It is something that is effortless to use, and is small enough that it can basically hang on your keychain so you have it wherever you need it. (In fact, there is actually a hook on the top of the drive so you can clip or hook it to whatever you want.)

Finally, it is something that I can feel confident that even non-techies will be able to use with ease -in other words, this is what mom and dad get for Christmas!