W1zzard
01-22-2007, 08:43 AM
[page=Introduction & Packaging]
Introduction
The A-DATA My Flash PD7 USB Stick has been designed and tested specifically to support the Microsoft Windows Vista ReadyBoost feature which increases your PC performance without opening the computer case. As a matter of fact, A-DATA gave these sticks away at CES to show off their readiness and support for Vista ReadyBoost.
A-DATA offers the drive in sizes up to 8 GB.
From the manufacturer A-DATA (http://www.adata.com):
Support USB specification version 2.0.
Support power saving mode to reduce power consumption.
Support Windows ME, 2000 and XP without device driver.
Support Driver for Windows 98/98 SE.
Driverless solution for Linux Kernel version 2.4 or later version.
Driverless for Mac OS 9.X or above.
LED indicator when device is in use.
Hot Plug and Play.
No external power is required.
It also supports software application for Disk Security and Disk Partition.
Dimension：66*19*10mm(L*W*H)
Weight：15g (+-0.5)
Lifetime warranty
work with Windows Vista
Support Windows ReadyBoost Feature
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/package2.jpg)
The stick comes in a sealed blister pack. Uh oh, I really love blister packs, I always cut myself. On the back you have some product information in multiple languages.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/contents.jpg)
Inside the package you will find the USB stick and a USB extension cable which comes in very handy if you don't want to crawl under your desk every time you attach a USB stick. A driver CD is not included since any operating system since Windows 2000 natively supports USB storage devices. For Windows 9x the driver is available on the A-DATA website.
[page=A Closer Look]
A Closer Look
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/size_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/size.jpg)
The A-DATA My Flash PD7 has about the typical size of a normal USB stick.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick4.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick5.jpg)
Both the cap and the stick have an outer shell made from aluminum. Even though it is fairly thin, it helps make the unit more durable and also gives it a much nicer look.
[page=Performance]
Performance
We used the following devices for our comparison:
OCZ Rally 1GB
OCZ Mini Kart 1GB
Super Talent RBST 1GB
Corsair Flash Voyager 1GB
Sandisk Cruzer Titanium 512 MB
Sandisk Cruzer Micro 2 GB
A-Data Football Disk 512 MB
Thermaltake MUSE external HDD enclosure
Generic Stick USB 1.1 256 MB
We used HDTach in the following two benchmarks.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/graph1.gif
I was benchmarking this drive while chatting with someone in ICQ. I think my quote completely describes how this stick performs: "OMG, fastest drive ever!"
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/graph2.gif
Many high-speed USB drives offer nice transfer rates, yet have slow access times. Access time is the more important feature for ReadyBoost than maximum bandwidth. A-DATA's PD7 can also shine in this test, making it the fastest USB drive we ever tested.
To get a feeling how the speed with different sized files is, we used the ATTO disk benchmark.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/atto.gif
Like with all drives, performance gets better, the bigger the data chunks are. Also common to all USB sticks is that writes are slower than reads. Optimum file size is 64KB or bigger for maximum performance. In daily use you will almost never see files smaller than 64KB.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
Value & Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
A-DATA sells the My Flash PD7 1 GB for $22. Prices for other capacities are: $15 (512 MB), $22 (1 GB), $35 (2 GB), $65 (4 GB), $150 (8 GB).</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Fastest USB Drive we ever tested
Supports Vista ReadyBoost
Competitive price
Lightweight
Metal casing
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Simple design
Quite big
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.4</th>
<td>
Maybe some of you remember my review of the A-DATA Football disk USB stick. Before testing I thought "ah well, just another USB stick, but with football theme" and ended up giving the Editor's Choice award to the fastest drive that we tested at this time.<br />
Today a similar thing happened. I expected the stick to be designed to meet Vista ReadyBoost requirements but not more. To be honest, I didn't even think a USB still could exceed 30 MB/s actual transfer rate. Guess I was wrong again. The A-DATA My Flash PD7 is the fastest drive we ever tested, by far. Transfer rates are way beyond the competition, and so is access time.<br />
Other manufacturers charge you an arm and a leg for their high-speed USB drives. A-DATA ask a very fair price, that is just a few more extra bucks over a no name generic drive. With all sizes available up to 8 GB, this USB drive is the right choice for everybody. The only drawback is that the unit is fairly large and the design looks rather simple.
</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/editorschoice.gif</td></tr>
</table>
Introduction
The A-DATA My Flash PD7 USB Stick has been designed and tested specifically to support the Microsoft Windows Vista ReadyBoost feature which increases your PC performance without opening the computer case. As a matter of fact, A-DATA gave these sticks away at CES to show off their readiness and support for Vista ReadyBoost.
A-DATA offers the drive in sizes up to 8 GB.
From the manufacturer A-DATA (http://www.adata.com):
Support USB specification version 2.0.
Support power saving mode to reduce power consumption.
Support Windows ME, 2000 and XP without device driver.
Support Driver for Windows 98/98 SE.
Driverless solution for Linux Kernel version 2.4 or later version.
Driverless for Mac OS 9.X or above.
LED indicator when device is in use.
Hot Plug and Play.
No external power is required.
It also supports software application for Disk Security and Disk Partition.
Dimension：66*19*10mm(L*W*H)
Weight：15g (+-0.5)
Lifetime warranty
work with Windows Vista
Support Windows ReadyBoost Feature
Packaging
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/package1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/package1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/package2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/package2.jpg)
The stick comes in a sealed blister pack. Uh oh, I really love blister packs, I always cut myself. On the back you have some product information in multiple languages.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/contents_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/contents.jpg)
Inside the package you will find the USB stick and a USB extension cable which comes in very handy if you don't want to crawl under your desk every time you attach a USB stick. A driver CD is not included since any operating system since Windows 2000 natively supports USB storage devices. For Windows 9x the driver is available on the A-DATA website.
[page=A Closer Look]
A Closer Look
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/size_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/size.jpg)
The A-DATA My Flash PD7 has about the typical size of a normal USB stick.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick1_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick1.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick2_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick2.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick3_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick3.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick4_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick4.jpg) http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick5_small.jpg (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/stick5.jpg)
Both the cap and the stick have an outer shell made from aluminum. Even though it is fairly thin, it helps make the unit more durable and also gives it a much nicer look.
[page=Performance]
Performance
We used the following devices for our comparison:
OCZ Rally 1GB
OCZ Mini Kart 1GB
Super Talent RBST 1GB
Corsair Flash Voyager 1GB
Sandisk Cruzer Titanium 512 MB
Sandisk Cruzer Micro 2 GB
A-Data Football Disk 512 MB
Thermaltake MUSE external HDD enclosure
Generic Stick USB 1.1 256 MB
We used HDTach in the following two benchmarks.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/graph1.gif
I was benchmarking this drive while chatting with someone in ICQ. I think my quote completely describes how this stick performs: "OMG, fastest drive ever!"
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/graph2.gif
Many high-speed USB drives offer nice transfer rates, yet have slow access times. Access time is the more important feature for ReadyBoost than maximum bandwidth. A-DATA's PD7 can also shine in this test, making it the fastest USB drive we ever tested.
To get a feeling how the speed with different sized files is, we used the ATTO disk benchmark.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AData/MyFlash/images/atto.gif
Like with all drives, performance gets better, the bigger the data chunks are. Also common to all USB sticks is that writes are slower than reads. Optimum file size is 64KB or bigger for maximum performance. In daily use you will almost never see files smaller than 64KB.
[page=Value & Conclusion]
Value & Conclusion
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" id="result">
<tr><th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/dollar.gif</th>
<td>
A-DATA sells the My Flash PD7 1 GB for $22. Prices for other capacities are: $15 (512 MB), $22 (1 GB), $35 (2 GB), $65 (4 GB), $150 (8 GB).</td>
</tr><tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbup.gif</th>
<td>
Fastest USB Drive we ever tested
Supports Vista ReadyBoost
Competitive price
Lightweight
Metal casing
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/thumbdown.gif</th>
<td>
Simple design
Quite big
</td></tr>
<tr><th>9.4</th>
<td>
Maybe some of you remember my review of the A-DATA Football disk USB stick. Before testing I thought "ah well, just another USB stick, but with football theme" and ended up giving the Editor's Choice award to the fastest drive that we tested at this time.<br />
Today a similar thing happened. I expected the stick to be designed to meet Vista ReadyBoost requirements but not more. To be honest, I didn't even think a USB still could exceed 30 MB/s actual transfer rate. Guess I was wrong again. The A-DATA My Flash PD7 is the fastest drive we ever tested, by far. Transfer rates are way beyond the competition, and so is access time.<br />
Other manufacturers charge you an arm and a leg for their high-speed USB drives. A-DATA ask a very fair price, that is just a few more extra bucks over a no name generic drive. With all sizes available up to 8 GB, this USB drive is the right choice for everybody. The only drawback is that the unit is fairly large and the design looks rather simple.
</td></tr>
<tr><th></th><td>http://www.techpowerup.com/images/editorschoice.gif</td></tr>
</table>