As I have stated a number of times before, and will probably do so again, White is the current colour of choice for various computer peripheral device manufacturers and memory sticks come in a range of physical shapes and sizes.  Both these observations are backed up by the arrival of the latest USB disc from Memory Corp, a company which concentrates on the design and manufacture of digital storage and memory solutions.  It is nice when manufacturers support your observations like this.

Smaller than your average pack of chewing gum, measuring 58mm in length, and weighing 65 grams, this white device is available in a range of capacities from 256MB (the sample used for this review) up to 8GB.  As with other USB stick devices, the Memory Corp offering can be used to store and transport personal data from one location to another with the minimum of inconvenience. 

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Speeds of up to 25MB per second for reading and 19MB per second for writing are claimed for this device.  Impressive indeed but unfortunately I was unable to get close to these figures during my tests.  The best I was able to achieve was 6.2MB per second for reading and 4.24MB per second for writing when working with 212MB of data consisting of 40 files held in 3 folders using a USB 2.0 connection on a 1.5GHz system with 512MB of RAM.

Size, storage capacity and reasonable operation speed are not the only features of this Memory Corp device.  Each disc comes with software that allows you to use the device as a means of introducing yourself to others through a flash screen opening.  This flash screen appears whenever the device is inserted into a USB port. 

You have a choice of using this device as an ID card or displaying either a framed image or a postcard-style graphic along with your name and email address whenever the device is inserting into a USB port.  The ID card can show your name, company, telephone number, email address, web site and a JPEG photograph.  There is also an option to have an MP3 music track playing as background music.  This flash screen stays visible until it is closed down by the user and the device can then be used in its normal storage capacity.

In case you are worried about others altering your personal data and settings, you can password protect this element of the Memory Corp device.  Without the password, no alterations can be made.  There are a couple of slight drawbacks to this feature.  Once you have closed down the flash screen then is can only be made to re-appear by removing and then inserting the device into the USB slot.  You will also need to do this whenever you make any alterations to the data or the mode in which you want the device to operate.  Although fun to play with, this feature is only really suitable for business users.

The Memory Corp ID device is compatible with Windows ME/2000/XP and Mac OS 9.x or later.  The product is covered by a five-year warranty and costs £11.75 for the 256MB versions.  Other capacities cost £15.46 (512MB), £28.57 (1GB), £54.42 (2GB), and £108.86 (4GB).

http://www.memorycorp.com/digitalstorage/