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True to its fashion, Sony has gone its own merry way when designing its version of a USB storage device. Whereas most other manufacturers have religiously followed the design concept introduced by the Disgo device, looking similar to a stubby magic marker, Sony prefers a credit card on steroids approach as can be seen with its Micro Vault Pro offering. However on closer examination, perhaps Sony’s style sensitivity is not the defining factor for the shape of the Micro Vault Pro.

This USB 2.0 device, providing 2GB of storage (although the actual user capacity comes in at approximately 1.85GB), is, in fact, a portable 1-inch hard disk. The device, which is compatible with Windows Me and later, measures 50 x 73 x 13mm (W x H x D) when its swivel operated USB connector is retracted. Weighing approximately 55g, making it eminently portable without causing any unsightly bulge, the Micro Vault Pro is supplied with a protective plastic case.

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The brushed metallic casing with appropriate logos and a circular mirrored capacity badge certainly makes the device really stand out. As mentioned earlier, the USB connector operators on a swivel basis and can be easily extended using just the thumb as if flicking a cigarette lighter. An extension lead would have been appreciated to help when adjacent USB ports host bulky devices. I feel Sony has missed a trick here.

Once attached to a USB port, the Micro Vault Pro appears as an extra drive. You can then install Sony’s Auto Sync software that is supplied on the device. This will allow the synchronisation of data between the device and selected folders on the computer. Up to ten generations of file charges can be stored to avoid any problems that might arise from files being overwritten by mistake.

According to figures released by Sony, the Micro Vault Pro is capable of holding over 3,500 pictures of two mega-pixel size. Or you could opt to store approximately 50 minutes of DVD quality video at 1600 x 1200 picture resolution. I cannot argue with these figures.

Any power that this device needs will be drawn from the computer via the USB connectivity. When the device is involved in data transfer an orange light will flash with a steady beat. The light will switch to a green glow when in standby mode.

One aspect of the Micro Vault Pro that I found disappointed was data transfer rate. Sony was quoting a transfer rate of 10MB/s but my tests revealed a far lower figure. Copying 799MB of data made up of 210 MP3 files spread over 27 folders took exactly four minutes which equates to 3.33MB/s. As there was such a large discrepancy between my figures and those from Sony, I copied the same files onto Verbatim’s Store ‘n Go device. This took just 1 minute 50 seconds making Verbatim's product the clear winner with regard to data transfer rate.

However the Micro Vault Pro does come out a winner in another area. It is priced at £100 less than the same capacity Store ‘n Go Professional. At £159, this device makes an attractive proposition for anybody needing to transfer data between locations without the need for blinding speed and with the minimum of inconvenience.

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