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VisionTek Xtreme 2 Go Drive


Date
: 11/1/04 – 12:35:29 AM

Author
:

Category
: Storage

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer
: VisionTek

Price
:$19.99-129.99

VisionTek is certainly not an uncommon name to hardware enthusiasts, gamers or builders. Most of us know them for their superb video cards. However, they also market High Performance Memory and USB flash disks, the latter of which I'll be looking at today.
For those who don't know, and would like to know more about VisionTek, they are a privately held subsidiary of a company by the name of Hartford Computer Group, Inc.. It is in Hartford's interest to turn VisionTek into the #1 provider of PC enhancement products. I suppose USB flash disks are a small step to this goal.

As I mentioned earlier, I'll be taking a look at VisionTek's Xtreme2 USB GO DRIVE. This piece of hardware ranges in specifications, for testing I have the 512 MB model. More on this later.

Page 2 : Packaging

It was a cloudy Friday afternoon when FedEx rang the door bell. After paying for various taxes and custom fees, I took hold of a small bulging cardboard box. After I cut it open, the foam peanuts literally spilled out of the box. I had to dig to find the VisionTek Xtreme2 USB 2.0 GO Drive. Although I made a small mess, at least I knew there would be no damage done by FedEx.

Finally, I now have a USB drive that doesn't also play music and record audio files. Small and compact; exactly what I was looking for.

As you can tell, I received what appears to be the retail packaging.

I cut open the packaging and poured out the contents.

It appears I have a fair number of things on hand.

One of the conveniences of a USB drive is it's small and lightweight design. I often see colleauges carrying a USB drive around their neck, this feature is made possible with the included necktie. It's simply loop a that you attach to the USB drive and then place around your neck.

Page 3 : Specification

Apart from the capacity of the USB Drive, they are all pretty much the same. VisionTek offers their Xtreme 2 Go Drive in 5 flavors: 1GB, 512MB, 256MB, 128MB and 64 MB at $129.99 – $30 USD Rebate, $79.99, $39.99, $24.99 and $19.99. The diverse price and capacity makes it easy for anyone to pick up one that suits their needs and fits their budget.

The following are various copies and pastes from VisionTek's website and manual:

Features at a Glance

Specifications

If you noticed, there are no specifications on the actual dimensions of the unit. I'm not 100% sure why, but it is small – smaller than the SanDisk Mini Cruzer I borrowed from a friend.

My trusty ruler gives me the following dimensions: 65mm long, 22mm wide and 8mm tall.

According to a piece of software in the Xtreme 2 Go Drive, files can be read up to 1 million times.

Page 4 : Installation

Got USB 2.0? If the answer to that is yes, then plug it in and go. Just don't ever unplug the USB drive when the LED is still flashing. This will result in corrupted data and possible damage to your drive.
Don't have USB 2.0? No big deal. If you don't have USB 2.0, you can still use the Xtreme 2 Go Drive, except it will run at USB 1.0 or 1.1 specifications.
Now that you've got it up and running, let's see what we can do with it.

As soon as I plugged the drive in, I went to Windows Explorer and took a look at what's available.

Move on to the next page, features, to see what all this stuff does.

Page 5 : Features

Flash Mail

This nifty programs brings new meaning to mobile convenience. With Flash Mail you are allowed to download and exchange emails as if you had your Outlook sitting with you all the time. Flash mail allows you to manage multiple accounts and conveniently send and receive emails.

Before you can send and receive email, you must verify the account settings. The program is very simple to use, and I'd show you more than one picture but it has personal information I cannot share. :p

I originally had a problem trying to get this piece of software to work. Whenever I set the password and reminder I was prompted with "I/O Error 19". If you get this, your USB Drive has write protect on. Slide the switch to unlock. Once I unlocked it, I was set to go.

PCLock

PC Lock is a piece of software offering security to your system, not the USB Drive. Once executed, it'll limit the use of the mouse and keyboard for an extendable period of time – from 1 to 24 Hrs.

There are two ways to activate PC Lock, and the first is by running the software and clicking "OK & PowerDown". This will shut down the system (I wish I would have saved my pictures before I clicked that button the first time). The other way of executing the software is by clicking "OK". In this state, if you remove the USB Drive, the system will lock itself until you insert the drive back in. If you lose the drive, then you must wait out the locking period.

Secret Zip

Secret Zip will add two additional folders onto your USB Drive – "secret" and "zip". Anything placed in the zip folder will be compressed and anything placed into the secret folder will be compressed and encrypted.

You will need to setup a password before using the folder.

You can choose 1 of 5 password hints and retain the password life for 0-99 minutes.

A file that has been placed in "secret":

A file that been placed in "zip":

U-Storage

U-Storage allows you to create both public and secure partitions.

Secure partitions require a password and a password hint. You had better get the password right the first time as there is no confirmation! You should also note that this will format the USB drive. It also requires you to unplug and reinsert the device.

You can manage passwords in U-Storage. If you decide to change it, it'll require confirmation.

If you create a Secure and Public partition, you will now have 2 drives listed in Windows Explorer. The first one is "U-Storage" and this is the secured drive. To move files into this drive, you must login to U-Secure.
The second is a generic "Removable Disk" which contains an empty "secret" and "zip" folder from "Secret Zip". This one is publicly accessible.

Now that I've gone through all the features, let's see how this drive performs.

Page 6 : Benchmarking

To examine performance of the VisionTek Xtreme 2 Go Drive, I will be utilizing Sisoft Sandra File System Benchmark, Sisoft Sandra Removable Storage Benchmark and HD Tach.

For the most part, users will buy USB drives based on three criteria: price, capacity, and USB 2.0 support (primarily for the larger capacity drives).

The tests were conducted on my Acer Travelmate 290 XVi laptop.

For comparison I used:

Sisoft Sandra File System Benchmark

Sisoft Sandra Removable Storage Benchmark

HD Tach

>From the benchmarks, you can tell that the VisionTek Xtreme 2 Go Drive outperforms the Ultra 4-in-1 USB Drive / MP3 Player by a large margin. This is due to the USB 2.0 compatibility of the VisionTek drive that the Ultra lacks. Looking at the performance difference between the VisionTek and SanDisk we see only marginal differences, but when reading files off the drive the difference becomes greater. When it comes to operations per second, it appears the SanDisk takes the cake.

Let's wrap things up.

Page 7 : Conclusion

Even though I've only had the drive for a very short period of time, I've found it to be of great use. This is especially true for when I'm too lazy to carry my latop around campus to work. I can just pop the files I need onto the USB Drive and work at a computer lab whenever I need to. Personally I would never buy the 512 MB model because for an additional 20 bucks (after rebate) I can get a 1.0 GB model. That's twice the size for only a fraction more of what you paid. =)
From a price to performance perspective, it is easy to see why floppy drives and disks will be a thing of the past. We're almost there too. At Newegg, a floppy drive and a box of ten floppies will set you back 17 dollars, and you only get 14.4MBs worth there. For an additional 3 bucks, VisionTek offers you a 64MB USB2.0 Xtreme 2 Go Drive. Do note that what you pay will reflect on the type and amount of software you receive with your drive. At a very affordable price, the VisionTek Xtreme 2 Go Drive comes packed with goodies but I highly recommend everyone get themselves a USB drive when they spot the right deal.

Advantages

Portable
USB 2.0 Support
Variety of sizes

Disadvantages

High capacity models are still relatively expensive

Many thanks to VisionTek for making this review possible.