Imation USB 2.0 Micro Hard Drive 4GB Review

Padlock USB Drive
The Imation USB 2.0 Micro Hard Drive certainly has an interesting shape; it is modeled after a padlock with a flexible USB connector acting as a clasp. The cable locks firmly into position, and you can only release it by sliding the latch. A 4" USB cable is tethered to the 1.8 oz. mini drive, and is long enough to reach any crowded USB hub or the back of an iMac. Though, none of us would mind if Imation throws in a USB extension cable at any length.

Package Content
- Imation 4GB USB 2.0 Drive
- Install booklet

Imation Easy Attachment
Here comes the good part. You can attach the Micro 2.0 Hard Drive to literally everything, whether it be a pant loop or a strap of a notebook carrying case, without fear that the drive is dropped during transport. But the rather steep price of the Imation is a bummer. At $167.99, the 4GB model is more expensive than, say, the sub-$100 LaCie Carte Orange in terms of price per gigabyte. However, the Imation shielded by plated brass should have a much better chance of survival should they are both subject to unforgiving impact. The body - the size of 3 AA batteries - is also immune to any type of scratches if the Imation has to share the pocket with your car keys.

The Need for Speed
Imation's rated performance numbers are decent at 5MB/s read and 3MB/s write, but they failed to impress as other drives have well exceeded 10MB/s. Nonetheless, we were able to load up Portable OpenOffice and FireFox in reasonable time (most apps opened within 10 seconds). When the blue LED was flashing, we knew the USB 2.0 Micro Drive was either busy at retrieving the cache or looking for files. On Windows XP, writing 331.4MB of MP3s spanning across 30 folders took the Imation about a little over 2 minutes, while transferring the same data back to the computer was faster at 1 minute and 14 seconds. There was overhead along the way so either transfer never reached the maximum rated speeds. We did the same test again on the latest 1.83Ghz Intel iMac, which edged out the Celeron-powered Windows machine just marginally.

The bundled Imation Security Manager (ISM), now at version 2.0, is one of the very few cross-platform software that does both synchronization and 128-bit AES encryption. In the PC world, you will need Windows ME or better, while folks on the Mac side need to be running Jaguar or above. The ISM holds many promises for those who exchange files in different environment, but it isn't very well executed. For example, synchronized files cannot be opened from the Imation. You'll need to restore the file first. Additionally, the sync / encryption took about four times longer to complete than just copy & paste the files.

The Bottom Line
Overall, the Imation USB 2.0 Micro Drive really stands out in both design and durability. It certainly could use more speed given the price, and the Imation Security Manager software could use some improvement in usability. Regardless, for "physical" protection of your mobile data, the padlock-lookalike USB micro drive has our vote.

By Ian Chiu, Managing Editor