Customer Reviews

Verbatim 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive 97275 (Blue)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have had a verbatim (Red - 8gb) flash drive (http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Store-Flash-ReadyBoost-96317/dp/B0018DJIUG/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) for over 4yrs and have had no problems. I decided to buy a bigger flash drive so I bought the 16gb at $23.99 (FYI it actually has 14.9gb to use which I believe it is normal), which I have had for a couple days. I have two main slight disappointments. One being the flash drive doesn't blink when in use. This might be a flaw with my device. Also it is a lot slower than my Red verbatim flash drive. I haven't done it exact testing, but between two types of transfer:

Transfer 1: Several (~115 mb total) small files (~34kb) it took the blue flash drive almost 35 mins compare to my red one which took 5 mins. (This file transfer was an exacting process as well)

Transfer 2: Several movie files (700 mb about 2.1gb) it took the blues flash drive almost 20 mins compare to my red one which took 5 mins

When I purchased the flash drive I was expecting to use it as a transferring flash drive from computer to computer, but with the slower transfer rates I decided to use it as a back drive. Overall I'm content with the flash drive. It is a good buy for the amount of space gained.

I was needing a flash drive quick when I lost all my others, and found this on the listings. I had a 4 GB Red Verbatim flash drive before with good experiences with that. I bought this in the afternoon and thanks to Amazon Prime, had it a couple of days later. This drive is definitely durable since I'm a college student in technology classes, so this thing gets tossed around, plugged in and out at multiple various times during the day. It also always travels with me in my pocket, and no matter what has happened to my jeans, be they wet or dry, this thing stays kickin. One of the high points of this flash drive is the sliding mechanism. As you can see by the picture, the flash drive slides back into the casing when not being used. This allows it to stay compact while keeping the ending clean and clear. This mechanism is sturdy and you know it will stay open or closed. They didn't cheap out on the casing.
Overall, for the price and the storage it's a great buy that can't be beat.

There are still two reasons to buy this thumb drive over other choices. First, it's pretty cheap. They're more or less all the same on the inside, and they're all made in China, so there's not a lot differentiating the guts. Sometimes some cheap ones can be slow, doesn't seem to be the case here. Worked fine on a MacBook Pro and a Vista laptop.

Second, the loop at the end is big enough to hook into a keyring, which is exactly what I want it for. I have it clipped inside my backpack where it's always handy but not in danger of accidentally falling out.

Excellent product--fast and reliable. The color is a bonus to help distinguish it from my pile of black memory sticks.

New complaints:
I've been using this for a month. Last night, my computer had a popup screen that informed me I had to reformat the drive to use it. I clicked "quick format," and it failed. I tried again, this time using the other option, after 5 minutes my computer informed me the format failed.

I tried using a different computer, different options, nothing. I don't know why it died. I was very careful that I "safely remove"d it each and every time. Maybe I static shocked it, maybe it was Wednesday.

My overall experience with this flash drive is negative, I would recommend you look elsewhere for a flash drive.


Old review:
___________
The packaging advertised that it used less plastic - they sandwiched a thin layer between two layers of cardboard. I needed a pair of scissors to open it, wasn't thrilled about that.

Bought this for its large capacity. The 32 gigabyte it advertised is actually 29.8 gibibytes (For the same reason your 1TB hdd has only 931 GiB).
I was able to format it to a NTFS instead of the default FAT, which took about 30 seconds. I then transferred about 700 MB of pictures to it, which took a little more than 2 minutes. I was hoping this would transfer much faster, but I guess I have to pay more for that.

This flash drive does not feature a cap; after extending the USB connector I was pleased that it stayed out when I pushed it into my computer, I've had experiences where this was not the case.

Its fast, has a large capacity, easy to use, and unlike most other USB flash drives, theres no cap to lose! It fits nicely on your key ring and its retractable mechanism is great. Its also one of the less expensive flash drives on the market. The only thing I don't like, or wish that this flash drive had is a mechanism to lock the USB head in the protruding position so that you can stick it into the computer easily. I sometimes find myself having trouble making sure the USB drive is in the computer and didn't just retract back into its plastic case. Other than that little issue, this USB flash drive is best on the market and a great bang for your buck.

I needed a flash drive that I could carry on my keychain, had plenty of space and priced decently. I found that this particular one met all of my needs.

SPEED:
The transfer speed is fairly quick if you're dragging things off the drive onto your computer. But, it's unbelievably slow transferring files (esp. big files) from computer to the drive.

DURABILITY:
I've dropped my keys on numerous occasions with no problems to the flash drive. Still works. I love that you can hide the connector.

DOWNSIDE:
Slow, slow, slow and SLOW.
Doesn't come in black and transfer speed is slow (if I haven't made that clear).

EDIT: (11.30.11)
I initially gave this thumb drive 4 stars. I have since then took two off. This thumb drive is nice n' all, but it's ungodly slow. Transferring big files takes FOREVER. If you're looking for something with speed, look elsewhere. This thing is slower than sap.

Pros:

-It works (going for a half year so far)
-Its fast (comparable to other brands, this flash drive has not shown any major ware and tear as of yet)
-Its large (even formatted to fat32, you're left with 14.x gb's)
-Its durable (I've stepped on the casing more times than I can count and have not seen even a scratch)

Cons:

-Don't loose it (just because its cheap does not mean its replaceable)

OK, the reason I got this was that it was blue. I already have a stack of these in red, all password proteted, and I wanted one that was color-coded as my unprotected go-to.

The problem is, in Verbatim's protected mode, it won't allow large files. So you can't store a 5-Gb database backup, for example. But if you format the stick with NTSB, and don't include the protection zone file, you can store a full 15-16 Gb file to it with no problem. So anything you store to this is now unprotected, or you can WinZip it and put a password on it.

The one thing this one does not do that my others do is have a blinking LED indicating it's connected or it's transferring data. I don't THINK that's because it's been reformatted (because I used to do that with one of the red sticks and I don't recall having that issue). I don't know if that's by design or it's a defect.

But it's definitely nice knowing WHICH of the handful of sticks is now the "unprotected" one. Labels are nice, but obvious color coding is better.

I love that this fits on a key ring, and can be retracted into the casing. I password protect my files and use it for both work and personal use. When I travel, I don't have to take my computer if I can borrow one at my destination. I bought a second one of these to use as a short term backup.