|
#880 - OCZ ATV Turbo Flash Drive |
|
|
|
Written by Rodney Reynolds
|
|
Wednesday, 10 October 2007 |
|
Page 4 of 7
A Closer Look:
This product is currently only available in 4GB size (ATV Turbo 4GB - OCZUSBATVT4G ) and this is a little disappointing. An 8GB or 16GB model would have been nice to see. Who knows, here's hoping that they might expand the model line to include 8GB+ versions in the near future. There are a zillion flash drives on the market so what sets this one apart from all the rest?
One thing that this flash drive has going for it that others don't, is that it has dual channel memory. This dual channel technology is already employed in today's motherboard memory. Dual Channel memory simply results in better overall memory bandwidth which means faster performance than non-dual channel memory.
This flash drive also has ReadyBoost technology which is a disk caching technology that’s available on Windows Vista operating systems. It basically helps speed up computer systems with little system memory. For example, a desktop or laptop computer running Vista with with 512MB of system memory would see a big performance increase when using a ReadyBoost flash drive. However, systems with 1GB of system memory or more will not see much improvement at all. It’s really a great solution for those who have older systems and can’t upgrade the system memory but wish to run Vista.
This product is not your average flash drive though. This is an ATV Flash drive! What exactly does this mean? Well, OCZ named this product ATV Turbo, so this product should be tough. For those that don’t know what ATV stands for, it’s All-Terrain Vehicle, the kind that can take a lot of off-road abuse. OCZ stats “ATV Turbo flash drives feature durable and colorful rubber tread housing, which is a 100% weatherproof storage solution to keep digital files safe in any conditions, even fully submerged in water.”. Other sites have put this product in water, boiling water, freezer and more. Even after all that torturous abuse they reported it still worked. The thick rubber housing has a lot to do with its ability to survive these very harsh conditions. So you cleanly don’t have to worry about getting this particular flash drive wet or accidentally sending it trough the clothes washer.
 
This rubber housing has very bold OCZ branding over it on the front and back, even on the cap. Considering how rugged this product is I guess it’s called for! Speaking of the cap, they include a cap holder. This is a great feature because the cap can be secured on the cap holder so it doesn’t get lost.
 
This flash drive also has an LED that will light up when the drive is being accessed. I think they should have had a number of lights considering this is an ATV flash drive. You know, to go along with the off-road theme. Maybe an alarm that sounds like a horn when the drive is connected to the USB port. I’m just being ridiculous now.
|
All Video/Written Reviews 
