Customer Reviews

Sony Micro Vault 128 MB USB Removable Storage Media

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, first off the device is handy to have. The package states you don't need to install drivers and different people have reported different results. I've had no problems plugging into Windows XP (Home and Pro) or Windows 2000. Windows 98 was a little mixed, second edition seemed to do okay but earlier versions didn't seem to want to play without a little additional help. Depending on your technical skills (or lack of) this might be a problem. If you run Windows 95 or NT, forget it. Linux fans running more recent distros won't have any problems.

After all of that, I must add a word of caution. If you do not undock your USB drive properly, you run the risk of toasting it. Something gets modified and you forever run the risk of having any version of Windows detect it as a security device. Don't ask me how to fix it because I haven't been able to and Sony had no idea what to do. I had bought a 256 Micro Vault and had this happen after a couple months (but in that instance it was undocked properly and it still died). I bought a 128 meg Micro Vault to see if I could "force" the same thing to happen.

Long story short - YUP. So there seems to be a problem if the unit is not removed properly - meaning you have to click on the little icon on your system tray and tell it to "stop" the device. Basically this lets your computer know the USB drive is going to be unplugged. You might get away with not doing it, but the Micro Vault seems prone to some sort of internal damage and after that happens, you won't be able to use it on any computer as a USB storage device. All you will get are prompts asking for drivers for your new USB "security device." At this point, there is no known fix and you will be regulated to trying to get your money back. My recommendation is get a USB drive - they are so darn handy to have ... but avoid the Sony brand until they fix whatever is going wrong with their various Micro Vault models.

For those of you who want to know, it is 100% compatible with Linux. It gets assigned to one of the SCSI hard-disk devices.

Works great with Microsoft XP! As the other reviewer testified, there are no divers to install. I have a Compaq Presario laptop, and the Sony MicroVault is truly plug n' play on it. My computer recognizes it immediately as "Drive E".
I have so far used it to store pictures, word, excel & powerpoint documents, etc., and have transferred them to other laptops that have XP as their operating system, as well as my computer at work which runs on Windows NT. It's tiny, doesn't weigh a thing, and makes my zip drive near obsolete.

I was very impressed with this little item. On Windows 2000 and XP, you don't need to install any software or drivers to use it, and using it is as simple as just inserting it into your USB port and, Voila!, you have a small, portable disk drive. Really invaluable for transporting files between work and home without the expense and mess of having zip drives on each system or carting around a bulky storage device. Even better for transporting files between Windows and Macintosh computers. No new software to learn as once inserted it just shows up on your system as another disk drive.

Finally, kudos to Sony for coming up with an attractive package. It's small enough to fit into my pocket and is darn cute! As another plus, the body is color coded to indicate what capacity the model has.

The Sony Micro Vault 128 is not recognized by Windows. Even on a fully patched OS including the current BIOS. The Micro Vault
locks up the machine when there is another USB device present.

The worst part is that Sony's Customer Support line was incapable of solving the problem and requires that the end-user
obtain a refund from the merchant. I spent in excess of 2 hours with Sony representatives with the end result being "You must use the root hub ports on the back of the Systems Unit". For a USB device, this is impracticle. In addition, the Sony Help Line did not even know how to support the product. I was transferred 5 times or had to re-dial another support group.

Sony products are not of the same quality they were a few years ago!

I plugged it into the USB port of my RedHat Linux machine, ran the hardware browser to find the device, created a mount directory called /mnt/vault, entered the mount command: mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/vault and it was immediately available for reading and writing just like another hard disk. Very fast read and write times. Great for moving files between work and home. Recommended. I understand it works with Windows too.

The large print on the front of the box says, "No driver software needed".
The fine print in the instructions states, "Installing the device driver".
There are 8 steps to installing the device driver and steps 3 through 7 must be repeated three times. If you don't have a CD drive that can accommodate a small (nonstandard) CD you must download the driver from Sony.
Granted, this hassle is probably Microsoft's making and not Sony's. The installation is straight forward and once the installation is complete, the MicroVault is a great product right down to the sci-fi glow of the green activation LED - BUT -a device driver is required for Windows 98/98SE.

I've had mine for about a year. No real comments on that, other than that they should ship it with a string to attach the detachable cap to the main unit. I'm surprised I haven't lost the cap yet.

My big point, however, is that I accidentally put mine through the wash last week. It survived just fine. For that, I give it 5 stars.

This has been a wonderful device for my work needs.I am an academic physician and do numerous presentations for medical students, Residents, and national research meetings. I have numerous graphic intensive powerpoint presentations, journal articals, webpages,etc. on this device and I still have only used a minimal amount of the storage. Now I don't have to worry about how big my files are or whether they will fit on a floppy or a CD. It takes a couple of minutes to get started initially, but then it becomes plug and play, a portable harddrive in my pocket.

Two weeks after getting my Sony vault, I accidently put the thing through an entire clothes wash cycle (no bleach). Finding it soggy at the bottom of the drum, I figured it was totally trashed. I stuck it into my laptop's usb and WOW it still worked. A few days later the glue gave out, but I put a little epoxy on it and it is fine. I hot swap it between Windows XP, 98Se and W2K without any problems. No complaints, I would buy another.