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| Date Reviewed: 11/15/2006 |
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 SimpleTech 1GB Bonzai Xpress USB 2.0 Flash Drive Strengths: Cheap, attractive, plug & play, USB1.1/2.0, 2 year warranty, website support, supports Win98SE and higher and Apple OS 8.6 and higher
Weaknesses: Slow access, loose cap (not attached) might be easy to lose, no cable, no lanyard, no write protection, no security software
Summary: 2006-12-16 12:54:43 Got this for $5 AR from buy.com. It looks and operates like most other USB drives in the sense that it is plug & play (requires drivers for win98) and allows the user to drag and drop files to/from it.
Regarding the slow access times users have been reporting, I did some tests and it seems that there are actually 2 problems: slow write and some sort of file management problem where it takes some time to create/delete a file on the drive. The file management problem is more noticeable when dealing with many small files as opposed to fewer large files, the slow write time is more noticeable when dealing with only a few larger files. I did several tests on this drive to try to characterize these problems (sorry about the formatting).
-wrote a folder containing 60 1KB files to the Simpletech drive (total file size approx. 50KB):
time to write / time to read / time to delete
7:20 / 0:01 / 4:15
-wrote the same files to an old non-branded (I believe this to be a Kingston) 128M drive I had:
time to write / time to read / time to delete
0:09 / 0:01 / 0:07
-wrote a single 360MB file to the Simpletech drive:
time to write / time to read / time to delete
4:18 / 0:27 / 0:16
-wrote a single 45MB file to the Simpletech drive (I did this so I could compare the write time to the Kingston drive):
time to write / time to read / time to delete
0:50 / 0:04 / 0:05
-wrote the same 45 MB file to an old Kingston 128M drive I had:
time to write / time to read / time to delete
0:10 / 0:03 / 0:05
So I am concluding that there is an overhead of something like 8s per file when writing files to the drive, an overhead of something like 4s per file to delete, and no overhead to read files from the drive. In addition, I am concluding that the write time is somewhere in the range of 5x slower than a competitor’s drive, read time seemed to be about the same as the competitor.
Slow access time aside, there are some additional differences which may matter to some users. It looks nice – a better design than most of the other drives out there. It has a blue led which glows when plugged in and flashes when the drive is being accessed. The Simpletech website has drivers and a users guide available for download.
On the negative side, I find the cap is difficult to remove – its hard to grasp because of the sleek design of the drive. Also, the cap is not attached and seems that it could be easy to lose. It comes with a keychain (string with a ring on it) instead of a lanyard. It has no write protection capability like some of the other drives have, and it has no security software like some of the other drives.
In my opinion, the slow access time is a showstopper and would keep me from buying it again. It would also keep me from recommending it to others. If you can find it for free or FAR and can stomach the slow access, it will function as a drive. But for anything more than a few dollars I would look elsewhere.
EDIT 12/16/06
I contacted Simpletech customer support regarding the slow performance of the drive (the number i son their website). They were aware of the problem, took my information, and offered to exchange the drive at no cost to me (they provided a return shipping label via email). In the spirit of giving credit where due, I was very happy with the return process and give Simpletech a thumbs up for this. The return process took about 2 weeks round trip, that included some dead time for weekends and the Thanksgiving holiday.
The new drive was noticeably faster, but still slower that my expectations and slower than the competition. I performed the same set of tests on the new drive with the following results:
-wrote a folder containing 60 1KB files to the Simpletech drive (total file size approx. 50KB):
time to write / time to read / time to delete
1:48 / 0:01 / 1:07
-wrote a single 360MB file to the Simpletech drive:
time to write / time to read / time to delete
2:47 / 0:30 / 0:08
I will mention that most others who received replacement drives have reported better performance than this, so I may have received a marginal replacement. Nonetheless, this is what I am seeing and I will stand by my previous comment about not recommending it unless you find it for a very attractive price.
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| Date Reviewed: 01/17/2007 |
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1 GB Pininfarina BonzaiXpress USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Strengths: None.
Weaknesses: Not reliable.
Summary: The slowness is shocking; however, even worse is the tendency to cross-link files. Numerous "Checkdisk" clean-ups, and one reformatting, all within one week, make this unit too unreliable to use. The "Safely Remove Hardware" tool always was used, but cross-links occur and recur.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/13/2006 |
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Very SLOW!
Strengths: Sleek appearance
Weaknesses: Very slow transfer speeds
Unresponsive technical support
Summary: This USB flash drive was my first purchase from Simpletech and is likely my last. The drive is advertised as having write speeds of up to 6mb/sec and read times of up to 8mb/sec. On a USB 2.0 port, the fastest write time I got was .5mb/sec. That's right...one-half mb per second, less than 10% of the advertised transfer rate. At Simpletech's advertised speeds, a 120 mb file should transfer in 20 seconds. Instead it takes over four minutes!
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| Date Reviewed: 11/12/2006 |
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 SimpleTech 1GB flash drive Strengths: 1 GB storage and reusable.
Weaknesses: Extremely slow and web support is horrible. USB2.0 is not working at all. IT is even slower then standard 1.0 In My Opinon.
Summary: 2007-05-01 23:16:15 I would not buy from simpletech again. The worst web support ever, no 24/7 and does not respond emails. Have been trying to contact support all weekend and no respond at all. I guess this drive is not defect since other reviews have the same problem. But anyway, going to complain about this slow speed transfer is insane. they LIED about the the usb 2.0 speed totally. Finally RMA the drive and recieved a new one after 10 days. This one is much better and faster. They prob had bad productions. The files in the drive sometimes go invisible so I kinda worry if i should put important info in there sometimes.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/08/2006 |
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Just like substitute of a CD-RW
Strengths: reusable, relatively low price
Weaknesses: extremely low writing speed
Summary: 2006-12-11 16:43:02 I bought it @ buy.com for $30 - $10 (google check out) - $15 (Mail-in rebate)= $5
I'm wondering that it really support USB 2.0. The writing speed is at least 10 times lower than reading speed. Really slow.
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| Date Reviewed: 07/11/2007 |
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SimpleTech is a Nightmare
Strengths: Cheap.
Weaknesses: Everything about this is a weakness: speed, reliability, constant corruption of files.
Summary: I bought two of these; one locked me out of the important data in it, I had to spend $250 at a data recovery center, because every computer I used said it (the flash drive) was not formatted. Second one corrupted every file I copied to it, so that I could burn a CD on another computer of the files I'd had on my primary laptop. It took hours to copy files that other flash drives, like Kingston and Intuit, only took minutes. Stay away from this awful product.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/20/2006 |
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BONSAI EXPRESS
Strengths: LOW PRICE NICE DESIGN
Weaknesses: LOW LOW LOW SPEED
Summary: I BOUGHT THIS IN BUY.COM WAS GOOD PRICE 10 DISCOUNT FORM GOOGLE PLUS REBATE BUT THE USB IS HORRIBLE IS VERY LOW BUT WHEN MENTIONED LOW I THINK IS I PAY THE PRICE REGULAR WAS THE WORSE SHOPPING I MAKE IF YOU BUY THIS BUY ONLY WITH A GOOD REBATE OR PROMOTION
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| Date Reviewed: 02/08/2007 |
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Strengths: Super price, works well and nice look
Weaknesses: none
Summary: The Ferrari of the USB flash drives. Ultra fast data transfer speeds with this portable plug and play hi-speed USB 2.0 for a super price and a designer look. A MUST BUY.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/04/2007 |
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Two different ones failed--wiped out all data
Strengths: cheap
Weaknesses: slow, but worse--they LOSE ALL THE DATA!
Summary: 2007-11-06 08:42:04 slow--but worse---I bought two---one for a friend and one for me. My friends died a couple of months ago and all the data was lost. I assumed it was just a rare bad one---two days ago, my Simple Tech flash drive DIED---and took all my data with it. I have taken good care of this drive. I know that these devices can fail, but this brand failed me twice. I have other brands which are still going after much more rugged use.If you don't want to lose hundreds of hours of work, STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE. (And watch out for reviews that read as if they were written by the advertising department of the company!)
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| Date Reviewed: 02/13/2007 |
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Strengths: stylish
Weaknesses: no build-in key chain
Summary: I got this drive at cheap price. I am pretty happy with it. The transfer speed is not slow compared to other flash drives, maybe this is because I do not tranfer many large files. I would buy one if they are on sale again.
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| Date Reviewed: 12/23/2006 |
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 SimpleTech 1GB Flash Drive Strengths: Working 1GB USB Drive
Weaknesses: large physical, slow
Summary: I got this flash drive few weeks back and working. I purchased this product based on price and rebate. Now you get better one for lesser price. Little bit slower than other drives I have.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/29/2006 |
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1 GB Pininfarina BonzaiXpress USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Strengths: Works.
Weaknesses: Strap is a bit useless.
Summary: 2006-12-08 20:49:13 (As a non-tech person,) I didn't find the speed to be as slow as some of the previous reviews stated. (Maybe I got lucky?) I don't use this flash drive on a regular basis, but it holds my files that I don't want to keep on my computer.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/28/2006 |
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Slow Data Transfer with Small Files
Strengths: Pretty design.
Weaknesses: Slow
Summary: As others have probably complained, this drive is very slow when transferring a whole bunch of small files.
I really like the 1GB size and couldn't beat the price. The drive will be fine for occasional storage, but I wouldn't want to use it for everyday file transfers. I'll use one of my other drives for that.
I was really disappointed because I have a 4GB Bonxai Xpress and I really like it. I guess this may have just been a fluke, but I'm not going to hassle with an RMA.
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| Date Reviewed: 11/26/2006 |
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SimpleTech 1GB Flash Drive
Strengths: Cap fits tightly.
Weaknesses: Large physical size, slow write speed.
Summary: 2006-12-12 10:20:19 I bought this product from Buy.com using Google Checkout with a $15 rebate so the final price was $6.20 - I guess I got what I paid for. While the product claims to be USB 2.0, in my tests with a different USB 2.0 256 MB jump drive the recently purchased 1 GB jump drive was far, far slower. While the price tag would seem to recommend this jump drive, in my experience the slow transfer speeds and hefty physical size rule this product out as a "good buy."
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| Date Reviewed: 11/25/2006 |
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1GB Pininfarina BonzaiXpress USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Strengths: Small, stylish, cheap
Weaknesses: Cap is hard to remove, VERY slow data transfer, poor carry strap
Summary: This item was purchased based on a rebate. It's a simple flash drive, but it certainly doesn't deliver in terms of data transfer speed. In simple testing, it was six to eight times slower than a competitor's flash drive during file transfer. That's reason alone to avoid this product.
The unit is easy to look at, but hard to open due to the shape of the cap and hefty snap action on the lid. My thumb slips off too easily so I have to pinch hard to make it work. Poor design.
The carry strap is purely an after thought, but seems strong enough to last for awhile.
This item will carry 1GB of data around, but you won't enjoy using it very much. Not recommended, unless you get a screaming deal on the price.
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