Kingston DT100/8GB Data Traveler 100 8 GB USB 2.0 Drive

The Kingston 8GB stick is nice and small, gets cheaper every week, has a neat retractable USB plug, and has never given me even the hint of a glitch (unlike other sticks I've used). But... it's so SLOW. When you've got 8GB to fill, a slow transfer rate really grates - I've tried reformatting it from FAT32 to NTFS as some people recommend, and I'm currently reloading the files back on it - it's loaded 4GB in 2 hours 15 minutes, which works out at 0.5m/b per second - lower than USB 1.1 speed. I'm only ever going to use it as a backup archive - no way is it fit for everyday read-write use.

great product. Very simple and great for storing large files. I made three folders that store my documents,music, and pictures in this usb drive and it works great. Once pluged, it almost immediantly recognize it and is ready. My last usb drive in which I stored the same amount has errors and even with a capacity of 8 gb and I storing 2.35gb into it, it showed 3.47gb and has all these errors and had mess up my files. It was a PNY attache usb 8gb. Dont get that product for a usb drive, it messes your files if you put more that 500mb into one folder and corrupts the file. With this DataTraverler I am able to store large files without worry of corrupted files. Also the size is great being a 8gb. Also the tab on the side is great to pull up the usb instead of a cap on top. Simple design and simple to paste things in. Price is great and very cheap for a 8gb. I say get it. But its up to you. I see no flaws in it except of that the cover is platic. But does it really matter? Its not like its going to crack, its still pretty touch. I try bending it with my hands and it doesnt bend easily.Also I heard that kingston is a really good brand. If you need a 8gb usb drive for a cheap price that would last, this is the best drive around for that.

With all due respect, Gadgester deducted 2-stars for the wrong reason. Ready Boost will only recognize flash-drives up to 4GB, so you wouldn't buy this 8GB drive for Ready Boost anyway. Save your money and buy a 4GB if you plan on using it for Ready Boost. If you're looking for a flash-drive that is fast, reliable and has the ability to hold a lot of info, this is a great drive! Highly recommended....

I like Kingston products. They are general of high quality. This 8GB Data Traveler 100 is no exception. It provides solid performance and seems well built. Please note, though, that this drive is not compatible with Windows Vista's ReadyBoost feature -- it says so on the packaging. This means it does not meet the read/write speed requirements of ReadyBoost. But in everyday file copying, it seems pretty fast.

The drive comes formatted in FAT32. If you share this across different OSes -- including Windows 98 or earlier, Mac OS, Linux, etc. -- you might want to leave it at FAT32. If you use Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista exclusively, you may want to convert it to the NTFS format for better performance, as well as for the ability to store files bigger than 2GB. (FAT32 cannot store files bigger than 2GB.)

To convert the drive safely (without losing any existing information already stored on it), follow these steps:

1. Open My Computer and find the drive letter assigned to the USB drive. You'll find the drive with the generic volume name "KINGSTON".

2. Go to Start -> Run, then type "cmd" (without quotes) to open the DOS window.

3. At the DOS prompt, type "convert F: /fs:ntfs" (again, without quotes) -- here I assume your Kingston drive is the F drive -- to convert the flash drive safely, without losing any information. This should take less than a minute.

Note: NTFS does not make your drive faster per se, but provides better behind-the-scenes file management and its biggest benefit is allowing >2GB files.