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Imation Clip Flash Drive Review |
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Written by Don Lee
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Monday, 05 June 2006 |
 Imation Clip Flash Drive is a small and rugged portable storage device
that provides a wonderful solution when you need to transfer files
without the hassle. The Clip Flash drive is a two-piece device. One
piece is a snap hook and the other is the storage case that contains
the Flash drive. The device comes in capacities of 256MB, 512MB, 1GB
and 2GB.
The snap hook allows for the drive to be clipped on easily to your item. The storage case contains USB drive. The rubber storage case is flexible, which helps to remove the drive from it. The removal can be done by pulling down on the end of the storage case, which will expose the end of the drive. Just pull the drive straight out of the case.
Once removed, just plug the drive into an available USB port on your computer system. When I plugged the device into my Mac running OS X 10.4.6, the drive appeared on the desktop and was ready for action. I dragged a few files to the drive and they copied over with no problems. Then I connected it to my Windows 2000 computer and the system immediately recognized the drive with no problems. You can find it under My Computer as an external hard drive.
For Windows, Imation offers additional protection of your data with their USB Flash Disk Format software. Now don’t worry if you reformat your drive and you delete this file because Imation offers it on their website. The software allows you to set the partition size of the Clip Flash Drive, set password access to the drive or configuration (quick or complete format and boot type for Windows 98 SE users).
I reformatted the drive and set the password to see how this works. The next time I plugged the drive into the computer the drive would prompt me to enter the password. After entering the correct password, the drive would then display the contents of the drive. Now you are probably wondering how this password protection would affect how the data appears on the Mac.
I unplugged it from my Windows PC and plugged it back into my Mac. Unfortunately, the results are not good as I could not access the data now being protected. On the Mac, all that appeared was a “LOCK.EXE” file, which I could not run. So if you want to have complete access to your data regardless of the platform you will be using, it will be best not to password protect that data.
Overall, the Imation Clip Flash Drive is an inexpensive solution to those moments where you need to store and transfer files but you just don’t have the time for a hassle. The Clip Flash Drive can be quickly removed from the storage case and plugged directly into your system’s USB port. There is no driver install necessary for it to work on either the Macintosh or Windows platform (with the exception of Windows 98 SE).
The Imation Clip Flash Drive’s password protection is disappointing in that there is nothing available for the Mac. Windows users will find it to be useful in protecting their data though. The Imation Clip Flash Drive still provides a good, inexpensive storage solution, which earns it a 4.6 stars out of 5 recommendation. You can also pick up the Imation Clip Flash Drive or learn more about it at the Imation website.
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