Trek's second generation storage devices are easier to install and come with security features. We take two different Thumbdrive storage devices for a quick thumb wrestle.
Really Smart
Trek's initial Thumbdrive offering was quite revolutionary for its time. Forget proprietary standards, complicated card readers and media; the Thumbdrive offered a simple USB based storage solution in a variety of sizes. The only drawback with the original Thumbdrive was that it required drivers for every software platform, which meant carrying a driver floppy around with you wherever you might need the drive.
The Thumbdrive Smart is Trek's answer to the driver question. The Thumbdrive Smart has also had a minor visual redesign; it's a touch longer than the original Thumbdrive and the covering cap integrates a small clip suitable for shirt pockets, if anyone was foolhardy enough to wear a Thumbdrive in that fashion.
The Thumbdrive Smart does away with the need for drivers, at least on any system later than Windows 98, for which drivers are supplied on CD. On any Windows system later than Windows 98, installation is as simple as finding a free USB port. Mac users aren't left out of the storage goodness either; the Thumbdrive Smart will work on any system using anything later than OS 8.6. OS 8.6 users will need to make sure that USB Mass Storage Support is installed.
We tested the Thumbdrive Smart on systems running Windows XP Home, Professional and Windows 2000, and got the same result every time; all but instantaneous performance. As the Thumbdrive Smart still uses USB1.1 connectivity, we weren't expecting miracles in terms of file transfer speeds. Transferring over an 18MB test video file took two minutes and fifteen seconds, but a surprising 37 seconds to transfer back on our test system. A group of 50 smaller files totalling 2MB exhibited similar performance; one minute to transfer on, but a speedy fifteen seconds to transfer off. Checking the Thumbdrive's specifications reveals the total story; it rates itself as capable of 700Kb/sec upstream but only 350Kb/sec downstream.
Security matters
The one real problem with any portable storage device is that they're easily lost or stolen, and if you happen to be travelling with a copy of your company's financial reports, or the blueprint for that world shattering scooter you spent the last ten years developing, then the possibility of data loss or theft would be a prime concern. There's precious little that can be done to eliminate loss - part of the Thumbdrive's appeal is the small form factor - but your data can be somewhat protected with the rather specialized Thumbdrive Secure. Visually the Thumbdrive Secure looks more like the older Thumbdrive; for some reason the clip on the cap has been omitted.
The security features on the Thumbdrive Secure are based around an alphanumeric password. By default the password is fifteen zeroes; we wonder how many Thumbdrive Secure owners will perform an act of WEP-like stupidity and simply leave this in place. Regardless, the need for a secure PIN means that the Thumbdrive Secure relies on a driver CD for every system you need to install it on. Installation is a matter of choosing either the Windows 2000 or Windows 98 drivers and letting the system do the rest. On our test system, running Windows XP Professional, the Windows 2000 drivers worked without a problem.
Every time you insert the Thumbdrive Secure on a system, a dialog pops up demanding the security code. This is also the only time you can change the code; there's no facility to do this on an installed Thumbdrive short of removing it from the USB port and inserting it afresh.
PIN security's not a bad step, although there are possibilities for social engineering playing a role in hacking these devices. Trek's next promised product is a biometric Thumbdrive utilizing fingerprint recognition. An early release of this product was pulled earlier this year after manufacturing worries. If the newer biometric Thumbdrive also uses a PIN - the classic double punch of something you are and something you know - it would provide a formidable security barrier.
Since the release of the initial Thumbdrive, however, the portable USB storage market has seen a number of new competitors. Sony has its Micro Vault product, and Creative's recently announced MuVo MP3 player also acts as a USB storage device at a price point below that of the 128MB Thumbdrive SMART. The Thumbdrive Secure, on the other hand, has no competition that we're aware of, although the need to secure data means it will appeal to a much smaller market segment.
Thumbdrive pricing varies according to the storage size required, with the secure version of the same size usually costing AU$10-$20 more. The units we tested were the 128MB Thumbdrive Smart (AU$385) and the 32MB Thumbdrive Secure (AU$139.95).
Thumbdrive Smart/Thumbdrive Secure
Company: Trek
Price: Thumbdrive Smart 128MB AU$385, Thumbdrive Secure 32MB AU$139.95
Distributor: Oz Entrepreneur
Phone: (02) 9360 3465
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