Ah the ubiquitous flash drive, aka usb pen, what an invention. Before we had a chance to replace our floppy drives with SD card readers we already got a standard of sorts in the form of flash drives. And I guess it is because of the heritage that many examples used to have write-protect switches in the same way as floppy disks. Nowadays it is getting very difficult to find flash drives that have a write protect switch - plenty of them have security software and even fingerprint readers. My reason for wanting such a thing is primarily because I like to have virus-busting and data forensics tools on a flash pen for work purposes, and there's not much point in putting one of those into a malware infected computer if you can't write protect it to ensure the flash pen doesn't spread the infection.
So today I'm reviewing two flash drives from Imation that offer write protection, the Clip, and the Pivot.
The Imation Clip
At the top of the above picture is the Imation Clip, a flash drive that attaches to things via a carabiner clip. It is an interesting idea as potentially you can have it within easy reach at all times. The carabiner section is made of plastic but seems reasonably sturdy. The actual flash drive part is actually detachable, as you can see (the silver bit) in the picture below.
The write-protect switch is tiny unfortunately and requires a paperclip or tweezers to operate.
To remove the silver section for use you have to bend back the flexible rubber section, which is a bit awkward at first. The drive comes with sticky labels which fit onto the back of the rubber section, but as that is where it bends I'm not confident that they would stay stuck for long. On the flip side, the whole thing feels very well put together.
The Imation Pivot
At the bottom of that first picture is the Imation Pivot, a more conventional design that protects the USB connector by rotating 180 degrees when not in use. Here is what it looks like rotated out.
The black section of the Pivot is flexible plastic but feels sturdy enough that it won't be damaged if you bend it. The hinge works smoothly and the whole thing, as with the Clip is well put together.
You can see the write protect switch in the picture above, and if you're thinking it is another tiny one you are correct. However, instead of being slightly recessed like the one on the Clip, this one comes out very slightly from the casing. That means I can just about operate it using a fingernail, which is still not ideal but better than reaching for a bent paperclip.
Initial impressions
I'm only a couple of days into my testing of these flash drives, but so far I'm impressed by their build quality. The Clip cost me £12.99 and the Pivot was £19.99, both 4Gb. Value for money is a bit questionable but if you really want a write protect switch there are few alternatives. How they fare against my benchmark SD card reader remains to be seen. More on that in a bit...
So today I'm reviewing two flash drives from Imation that offer write protection, the Clip, and the Pivot.
The Imation Clip
At the top of the above picture is the Imation Clip, a flash drive that attaches to things via a carabiner clip. It is an interesting idea as potentially you can have it within easy reach at all times. The carabiner section is made of plastic but seems reasonably sturdy. The actual flash drive part is actually detachable, as you can see (the silver bit) in the picture below.
The write-protect switch is tiny unfortunately and requires a paperclip or tweezers to operate.
To remove the silver section for use you have to bend back the flexible rubber section, which is a bit awkward at first. The drive comes with sticky labels which fit onto the back of the rubber section, but as that is where it bends I'm not confident that they would stay stuck for long. On the flip side, the whole thing feels very well put together.
The Imation Pivot
At the bottom of that first picture is the Imation Pivot, a more conventional design that protects the USB connector by rotating 180 degrees when not in use. Here is what it looks like rotated out.
The black section of the Pivot is flexible plastic but feels sturdy enough that it won't be damaged if you bend it. The hinge works smoothly and the whole thing, as with the Clip is well put together.
You can see the write protect switch in the picture above, and if you're thinking it is another tiny one you are correct. However, instead of being slightly recessed like the one on the Clip, this one comes out very slightly from the casing. That means I can just about operate it using a fingernail, which is still not ideal but better than reaching for a bent paperclip.
Initial impressions
I'm only a couple of days into my testing of these flash drives, but so far I'm impressed by their build quality. The Clip cost me £12.99 and the Pivot was £19.99, both 4Gb. Value for money is a bit questionable but if you really want a write protect switch there are few alternatives. How they fare against my benchmark SD card reader remains to be seen. More on that in a bit...
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