[l008com]

I'm thinking about getting one of those USB Key Chain drives to speed up transfer of files quicker than setting up a network or booting into firewire disk mode. But I'm wondering what they format out to? How much actual usable disk space do you get on a 128 MB device? Or a 256?

[::maroma::]

And are there good ones and bad ones (the brands I mean)? I'm also interested in getting one of these. I know nothing about them, other than having one would be very convenient.

[SSharon]

I have 2 32mb drives and they each give me 30.76mb of writable space. They aren't very fast but they are cross platform and work fine. Unfortunately I don't know who makes them since they are from a medical convention and are only lableled with the name of a drug company. They are grey in color, come with a blue necklace and it says 3e2112e06105 on the side. Good luck with that info.

[Mr Heliums]

Originally posted by l008com:
I'm thinking about getting one of those USB Key Chain drives to speed up transfer of files quicker than setting up a network or booting into firewire disk mode. But I'm wondering what they format out to? How much actual usable disk space do you get on a 128 MB device? Or a 256?

I have an Iomega 256 Mini Drive. Even in its USB 1.1 incarnation, it's fast enough to play a QuickTime file from.
But don't buy now: wait for the new USB 2 version, which should be out this month.

[l008com]

Originally posted by Mr Heliums:
I have an Iomega 256 Mini Drive. Even in its USB 1.1 incarnation, it's fast enough to play a QuickTime file from.
But don't buy now: wait for the new USB 2 version, which should be out this month.

How much usable space do you get on your freshly formatted 256 MB drive?

[Mr Heliums]

Originally posted by l008com:
How much usable space do you get on your freshly formatted 256 MB drive?

I have too much important information on there to find out

The Iomega also comes with a couple of built in applications that I haven't removed.

But I'd guess you'd comfortably get near the 250Mb mark

[DrBoar]

121 MB on a 128 MB drive is what I get. The drives comes in FAT32 format to be PC compatible then they are allmost as slow as a floppy when used on a Mac! When reformated to Mac format it is way faster. It feels slightly faster than the ZIP 100 Iomega disks I used before. My ZIP disks are retired now

[Cellery]

I have a 256MB USB 2.0 SanDisk Cruzer Mini, and fresh out of the box it has 249MB available. Pretty cheap too, I picked it up for $49 at Best Buy a couple of weeks ago.

[blackbird_1.0]

is usb 2.0 compatible w/ usb 1.1?

[Mr Heliums]

Originally posted by blackbird_1.0:
is usb 2.0 compatible w/ usb 1.1?

Yes.

[///Milien]

I have the Lexar Media 512MB JumpDrive, which is compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1. The actual usable disk space is 488.4MB available. It's a great portable drive in a sense, especially when I need to transfer files from Mac to PC or other Macs.

[passmaster16]

I have a 64mb disk on key (http://www.diskonkey.com). Nice form factor and fits on the keyring. I've actually used it a good bit. Nice when you need to transfer files between computers without a network.

[::maroma::]

Originally posted by DrBoar:
121 MB on a 128 MB drive is what I get. The drives comes in FAT32 format to be PC compatible then they are allmost as slow as a floppy when used on a Mac! When reformated to Mac format it is way faster. It feels slightly faster than the ZIP 100 Iomega disks I used before. My ZIP disks are retired now

When formatted for Mac, does it negate the PC compatibility? And if so, is there any other format besides FAT32 that would work cross-platform?

[///Milien]

Originally posted by ::maroma:::
When formatted for Mac, does it negate the PC compatibility? And if so, is there any other format besides FAT32 that would work cross-platform?

When formatted in Mac, it does negate PC compatibility. I haven't found another format for cross-platform. Would love to know though.