4GB Pivot Flash Drive USB 2.0

The Imation Pivot Flash Drive features enhanced durability and security to create the ideal solution for today's mobile business professional. With its innovative design and tough rubberized casing, this compact drive will protect important files and applications from damage while on the go. Easy-to-use, advanced security software with 256-bit AES encryption makes the drive the perfect protector for sensitive data. On-the-go business professionals can rely on the Imation Pivot Flash Drive as the rugged, safe solution for mobile data storage.

I have had several Imation drives of varying capacities and have been very pleased with all of them. This one is no exception.

To start with, I'm a Linux user and care not a whit for the software that came pre-installed on this stick.

This device has acted as my primary key fob now for a year or so. It has worked well and been very durable in the harsh environment of my pocket. The rubberized cover prevents most dust from getting to the USB plug itself, and the rest of the casing is sturdy.

Additionally the write protect switch allows me to feel safe sticking this thing into computers I don't consider terribly secure as I know that no software will be able to randomly install itself on it.

I haven't run any serious speed tests or anything like that, but it hasn't been so slow that I've really noticed.

My main complaint is a complaint that I have with all USB sticks, and that's that FAT32 is a horrible filesystem for these things. Its only virtue is that practically every computer in existence can read it. Otherwise it's slow, and requires complicated wear leveling software in the USB stick itself in order to avoid wearing out the stick in short order. It also is badly designed for removing the stick while data is still cached.

Stick manufacturers should stop implementing weird complex internal wear leveling algorithms designed to make FAT32 work well and instead band together and fund Open Source projects like LogFS (http://logfs.org/) and get them ported to Windows and OS X and stuff drivers for those OSes in a little FAT partition on the stick.

I specifically bought this item b/c it was advertised as a keychain USB drive. The plastic loop broke off after 2 days of the item being worn on my keychain. It turned out to be made of the cheapest plastic. Not recommended.

This flash drive is great because:

1. it is very easy to create password protected directories for sensitive files,

2. there is no cap to lose.

I already had been using an Imation 2 Gig flash drive for about six months when my wife asked me to help her find a 4 Gig one. I didn't hesitate to reccommend this one as mine has always worked flawlessly. This one's even better because of the design with the rubber case. Great product!