Customer Reviews

Patriot Bolt 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive with 256-bit AES encryption, PSF64GBTUSB

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been running this USB drive on various Windows XP machines, some new (fast) and some old (slow).

What I like:

1) The Bolt application for locking, unlocking, and setting passwords is easy to use.

2) Drive speed is pretty good once it's unlocked.

What I don't like:
1) The first time you put the drive into a PC, you're likely to have to reboot Windows. This is an annoyance if you use the USB drive to swap files with friends or people at work.

2) The Bolt software takes about a minute to come up. I suspend my PC frequently, and waiting a minute to unlock is a pain.

3) After you unlock the drive, it pops up a confirmation message. You have to wait a couple of seconds before you click "OK" to close the popup.

4) The cap is not attached, so it's easy to lose.

What you have to get used to:

a) If you suspend the PC, the Bolt software doesn't always run automatically when you un-suspend. If you try to access the drive while it's locked, you get a cryptic Windows error message.

b) If you try to plug in an unencrypted USB drive at the same time as the Patriot drive, you will get a "plug in the drive or run as administrator" error message.

First of all, I'd like to mention that I bought this flash drive elsewhere because Amazon did not have it in stock yet. If they did have it in stock you can bet that I would have bought it from them.

Next, don't fret about the 1 star reviews it's coming from people who don't take the time to read the product description. To clarify things up I did see this on Amazon's Lightning Deal and there was no mention of it being for Mac usage (by that I mean the encryption software,however, you can still use this as a normal flash drive on Mac OS).

The built in encryption software is for Windows based operating systems and is easy to use. I plugged it in and it prompted to run the security program and it was just as easy to set up a password. The Patriot Bolt comes with a built in mechanism like most encrypted flash drives today that will reformat after 10 failed password attempts. I've tested this myself and it does exactly as described and it even lets you know after your 9th attempt that the last one will wipe it. You have the option to lock the drive if you're not using it. Don't worry about this though because it auto locks itself when you take it out.

I have the 8GB version and I get an average read speed of 27-29 Mb/s and an average write of 8-10 Mb/s which is great for me.

Pros
+Built in encryption software for Windows OS
+Fast average read speeds of 28Mb/s
+Average write speeds of 8-10 Mb/s depending on the size of the file
+Comes in an array of storage capacities depending on what you need
+Cheap price for a great product and what it has to offer
+++ Superior customer service above all

Cons
-The cap. Like all flash drives that uses a cap it will get loose after awhile.

I've had this issue before on all my flash drives with the cap getting loose. I've contacted Patriot's customer service before and explained to them the issue and they sent me 2 cap replacements free of charge for my Patriot Xporter XT 8 GB. Patriot has been in the memory business for awhile and they are one of the top brands out there with Corsair. Their customer service is truly magnificent above all others looking to satisfy customers. Take a look at the 1 star reviews that unfairly criticize this product. They are criticizing Patriot for not having Mac OS support because they bought this flash drive under false impressions thinking it works for Mac. That was the buyers fault not the manufacturer's or seller. You take a look at the details and it states that encryption is for Windows use only. But what amazes me even more is Patriot's Customer Service is taking it on themselves to reach out to these distraught buyers and offering help.

Kudos Patriot. Kudos

Bottom line: This flash drive is an awesome consumer alternative for encrypted drives compared to the more costly brands such as Ironkey and SanDisk Enterprise (thosecome loaded with a lot more features but are also 3-4x the price).

***Note for Mac Users***
I know how difficult it is to find things that will work for your Mac. I have a Macbook Pro myself and have trouble finding things but please do not take out your frustration on the credibility of the product. It's incredible and it works great and does what it does for WINDOWS at a great price. If you are in the market for an encrypted flash drive that will work on Mac then here are some alternatives for you.
1. Ironkeys - they are extremely costly and nice looking so I'm sure that's a plus for you Apple fan boys. But seriously the encryption software and the unlocker work for BOTH Mac and Windows. However, the extra features that come with the Ironkey such as an encrypted web browser and identifier and auto back up management only works for Windows. There is no Mac support other than the Password Unlocker and Encryption software. Ironkey is only for those whose files need that level of security. You're paying for the extra features (that only work on Windows) and looks.
2. Corsair Padlock - this is a little different because the encryption software also only works for Windows. However, if you're just looking for password protection then this has it. You have buttons on the flash drive and you are prompted to input the password before you're even allowed to use it.
3. Truecrypt is an encryption software that is free and will encrypt your files for you. It supports all operating systems like Windows, Mac, Linux so if that's all you need then you might want to use Truecrypt.

I also own a 16GB DISKGO SECURE GUARDIAN. Let me compare the two.

(1) The Bolt's software needs some improvements. When you unlock the Bolt drive, you can't have a second USB drive attached to your computer (However, you can attach other USB drives AFTER you've unlocked the Bolt). That's not the case for the Guardian. The Guardian won't have any conflicts with other USB drives.

(2) The Bolt shows up as two separate drives (one for the data and one for the Bolt software). I don't know about you, but I am annoyed by that. The Guardian has everything in one place and uses only one drive letter.

(3) The Guardian software allows you to store contact information, which is very helpful because someone who finds your lost drive can contact you using that information.

(4) By now you may want to ask me: if Guardian is so great, why did you buy a Bolt? The only reason: Guardian's exterior design is crap!! Absolutely crap! After two months of use, the cap felt apart and I had to glue it back, and the cap didn't fit well from the beginning. Then the rubber ring around the USB tip also fell off and exposed the electronics. I was worrying that one day the whole thing was gong to fall apart or short-circuited (because now the electronics are very much exposed). That's why I decided to buy a Bolt as a replacement. I will see how it fares vs. the Guardian in terms of performance. Will report back in three months.

(5) just did a simple test of write speed (based on large file transfer). The Bolt reported 8MB/s and the Guardian only 5MB/s. However, as the Guardian I have is one year old, it is possible that newly shipped Guardian may have comparable write speeds. Write speeds range between 5-15 MB/s.

Other similar (hardware encryption, 16GB or 8GB) products on the market:
SanDisk Cruzer Enterprise FIPS Edition 8GB USB Flash Drive SDCZ46-008G-A75 $220
Ironkey Personal S200 16 GB $250 (S200, using SLC RAM, is faster than D200)
IronKey Personal D200 16 GB $162
Lexar JumpDrive Secure II Plus 16 GB $46
Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy Edition 16 GB $149
Kingston Digital 8GB USB 2.0 Hi-speed Datatraveler Blackbox $250
Kingston DataTraveler 5000 Ultra-Secure Waterproof USB Drive DT5000/16GB (Black) $163
BlockMaster SafeStick 16G Encrypted USB Flash Drive $265
Verbatim Store 'n' Go Corporate Secure 8 GB $240

The drive reads and writes fast and the password program is easy to use. My only problem with the device is that it does not stay locked sometimes. I set up the password right after I got it and added some files to it and it was locked the first couple of times I used it but after a day or two of not using it I plugged it back in and it was like I never set up a password. It has happened several times even though I have reset the password each time it lost it. Not sure what the problem is with it but that needs to be fixed because it is not a secure device because of this.

Having recently "burned out" a 64GB OCZ Rally2 USB flash drive, I was in immediate need of a replacement. I performed my typical Internet-wide research looking for the fastest 64GB USB flash drives available. Second only to OCZ was the Patriot series of flash drives. Since I immediately format my USB flash drives and create a TrueCrypt volume, I figured I'd give Patriot's AES256 hardware-encrypted drive a try.

The form factor of the flash drive is excellent. It's a short little thing and not very wide or thick. I've had problems with Patriot flash drives being too fat, making it hard to plug in additional USB devices in adjacent ports. The orange casing holds a red LED (odd combo) that isn't very obnoxious or bright. When plugging in the drive, it portrays itself as a CD-ROM drive until you run the Bolt.exe software contained on the virtual CD-ROM drive. Once the flash drive is unlocked, your Windows (only) system sees a second, removable drive. To "dismount" the encrypted removable drive, simply run Bolt.exe again.

The biggest concern ended up having was random access speed. Copying large files to/from the device was reasonable, but when running portable applications from [...], the access speed for lots of little read/write operations was quite a bit slower than the OCZ Rally2 drive. If it weren't for USB SuperCharger (see review here: [...]) I may have given up on using the drive for it's intended purpose.

One final point worth mentioning is that this drive uses Windows-only trickery. It cannot (AFAICT) be used on a Mac or Linux. Even though we're a Windows-only shop -- XP, Vista and Win7 all worked -- I can foresee complications sharing data using this drive at the next technical conference. One had better own a couple cheapie Sandisk 4-8GB USB flash drives for sneaker-net data transfers.

Overall, I'm happy with the drive. As mentioned earlier, if it weren't for the USB SuperCharger software, I probably would've had to return it, but now I'm very happy with my purchase.

I really like this device. It works as advertised. It's fast though not as fast as the xporter series with file writes that are half as slow. This probably due to the encryption processing. It's much much faster when compared to my other flash drives using True Crypt software. One thing that I noticed is that once you unlock the device on a computer, it will stay unlocked on that computer, i.e. you can remove and re-insert w/o password, until you lock it. This is a feature that has both pros and cons.

It is what it is, a hardware encrypted flash drive. Note that I gave it five stars though I had to work through some issues. First, the manual says to disconnect all other USB devices from your computer when you first install it. No problem with my laptop, but my desktop has uncountable USB devices connected.

Second, using it Windows Explorer locked up repeatedly. So I was about to trash this thing when the same thing happened on another hardware encrypted device, a Black Armor USB hard drive. That's a Seagate product and Bolt is from Patriot. After lots of tests and trials, I was able to repeat the problem...clicking on any directory in Windows Explorer that had a "Thumbs.db" file in either that directory or any subdirectory within that directory caused Windows Explorer to lock up. That was only a Windows Explorer problem, other software didn't cause it and using other software to remove the "Thumbs.db" file made the problem go away. I have no idea why there is a problem, but concluded it's easy to work around and I'll give Patriot as well as Seagate the benefit of the doubt since it only seems to be a Windows Explorer problem.

Setting up and using the Patriot Bolt is easy and transfer speeds seem to be equivalent to unencrypted files.

Transfer speed seems very good.

Software works fine on Windows XP and Windows 7 32-bit.

Software (BOLT.EXE) is inexplicably unreliable on Windows 7 Home Ultimate 64-bit.

With no other USB device attached to the system:

* Sometimes BOLT.EXE will be invoked and work fine.

* Sometimes a "you must run this as a privileged user" dialog will pop up.
Then BOLT.EXE can be run, and will work fine.

* Sometimes upon insertion the drive light never stop blinking.
BOLT.EXE WILL NOT RUN.
It is quite frustrating.
One time it worked but only after 3 reboots!?

The only way so far I have been able to ensure the drive will work correctly
is by rebooting with the drive in the USB port.

Quite frustrating.

This drive is priced well and is just what I need. I carry my personal info (medical and passcodes/words) with me especially when out of town. I don't really understand how the security works but I like the idea if I lose this thing someone trying to crack the password will just erase and reformat the drive. I guess at least they will be able to use it then!

using this for my xbox 360 slim kinect game storage
just let the xbox format it and done.
now I can take my game info anywhere