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The Crucial GIZMO!

Background

Crucial Technology is a leading provider of computer memory. They also sell other products such as USB Flash Drives. Crucial carries several versions or densities of the GIZMO!, 64MB (megabytes), 128MB, and 256MB. Any of which are much better than a 1.44MB floppy disk. The GIZMO! is also USB 2.0 compliant as well as backwards compatible with USB 1.1. For more information on USB Flash Drives, read one of our past articles: Is The Floppy Dead?

Cost

Crucial's price per bit of storage is very competitive. It's not the cheapest flash drive on the market. But as the saying goes … You get what you pay for. In this case, the few extra pennies you pay here are well worth it for the service Crucial provides.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Usability and Installation

If you are running Windows XP, installing and using the Crucial GIZMO! or any other USB Flash Drive couldn't be any easier. Just plug it in and it shows up as another drive. When you are done using it, just remove it from the USB port (it is recommended that you use the "Safely Remove Hardware" option in Windows XP as this helps prevent any data loss or data corruption if the drive is removed while data is being transferred). If you are running Windows ME/2000/XP or Mac OS8.6/9.1/9.2 or newer, the drive should show up fine. If you are running Windows 98/98SE you will need to download the necessary drivers available at Crucial's support site here. Because the GIZMO! was tested on Windows XP, we will rate accordingly for this category.

The Crucial GIZMO! also comes with Secure-D software installed on the drive. Secure-D allows you to password protect your files and keep them private. They only catch is you have to install Secure-D on all computers you will us the GIZMO! to be able to open and resave password protected files. But it installs very quickly so that isn't a big deal. As far as installation and usability, you can't get any better than the Crucial GIZMO!.

Installation Rating: 5 out of 5

Usability Rating: 5 out of 5

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