Memina Pocket Rocket 2GB USB Drive Review

Pocket Rocket 2GB USB Drive Full Review

With portable USB storage prices dropping it's no wonder we see more and more people walking about with USB "fashion jewelry" as part of their daily accessories... OK, maybe just at the trade shows we attend, but you get the point. We've finally gotten to a place where:

• It's not about whether we can afford the portable storage - now it's how big and how fast do we want it?
• Portable USB or Flash Drive storage has become so useful and integrated into our daily lives that it's hard to think back to the days of not having the convenience.

With lower prices comes a market targeting better ergonomics, higher performance, and larger storage options. Memina stepped up to the plate with their Pocket Rocket series which is available in 512 MB, 1GB and 2GB sizes (and they are currently readying a 4GB model for release this year). Like most of these style of USB dives, the Pocket Rocket is small, weighing in at only 0.3 ounces. This makes it the same weight as my wedding band, and lighter than many mainstream competing drives. It can connect directly to any computer with a USB port, and while it is USB 1.1 compatible - if you're paying the premium for speed make sure you have USB 2.0. It comes with both a USB extension cable and a custom Dock-IT, which gives you a fixed place to quickly attach/detach any portable USB peripherals (not just the Pocket Rocket.

A Closer Look at What Is Included

First and foremost, the Rocket Dock-IT is a well-made USB extension device. The USB female port has plenty of room around the opening area to fit even the widest USB devices I have come across, including an SD Card reader and promotional Lexar Jump Drive we received via CES this year. This is important, because the Rocket Dock-IT could have been made to only fit the Pocket Rocket - instead, Memina realized that they should probably make it a bit more flexible and useful. I'm glad they did.

The other accessories that come in the kit include a key ring adapter (which I found to be very useful and also a much better way to quickly connect the drive to a lanyard), a thin lanyard, and a standard USB extension cable that can be used in lieu of the Rocket Dock-IT or allow you to locate it in the cubicle next to you - or perhaps on the ceiling... in any case it's quite useful.

There was no software included with the Pocket Rocket with Rocket Dock-IT (I just love saying the really fast to pretty much anyone I meet on the street). Memina does, however, provide "U-Storage" security software on their website which may be used to create a hidden and password-protected area on a Pocket Rocket or SuperFlash USB Flash Drive . It may also be used to make the PocketRocket into a boot disk. Here is where I'll let you in on a dirty little secret: I don't typically use these applications. To me, it makes about as much sense as having a piece of security software for your wallet. Just do a good job of hanging on to it, or keep really private stuff off of it. Still, if you want to use the drive as a boot device (and with 2GB you certainly can) it's a nice value-added.

What About the Speed?

For this review, our system was an Athlon 2500+ Barton system with 1GB RA M running Windows XP SP2. USB 2.0 was utilized for the Pocket Rocket drive with no other devices present on the channel.

Here is a test we ran using HD Tach RW Version 3.0.1.0 in which we compared the M emina Pocket Rocket 2GB against a Verbatim Store 'n' Go Pro 256 MB USB 2.0 Drive. There are much more scientific comparisons available online where the Testing PC is more clearly detailed and the system is devoid of all non-essential applications. Audioholics is more concerned with real-world scenarios and we therefore ran the tests on one of our primary PCs without doing much in terms of setting up a pristine environment. The results are honest, if not eye-opening:

As you can see, the Pocket Rocket performed comparably to a 256 MB Verbatim Store 'n' Go Pro USB 2.0 Drive and showed similar transfer times for real-world read/write times with one exception:

We transferred a complex system of files (2,634 files in 156 folders) from the USB drive to my local 7200RP M hard disc and back. The transfer from the Pocket Rocket took just 54 seconds (3.70 M B/s). You can contrast this with the transfer of a single 200 M B file which took only 16 seconds (12.5 M B/s). Uploading the complex system of files to the USB drive took 7 minutes and 8 seconds (0.47 M B/s) and uploading the single 200 M B file was completed in just 25 seconds (8.0 M B/s). As you can see, the Pocket Rocket has some trouble with our real-world complex file test in that it took about 3x as long to transfer the files as the other drive (we ran the test twice to be sure).

Manufacturer's Note
In looking at the competing 256 M B USB drive M emina noticed that there is an available space that's more than 5% lower than the listed capacity 256 M B. This seems to indicate that some extra space on the drive is taken by an allocation table that helps with transfers of multiple small files. One of the reasons that M emina's results are less than stellar is that they keep this table relatively small so as to provide more available capacity on the drive. However, our controller chip partner is working on some other optimizations to the code that will help speed things up in future revisions.

HD Tach 3.0 gauged the average read speed from the drive unit at 16.4 M B/sec transfer rate with an average write speed of 9.5 M B/sec. This was at least in the ballpark of real-world measurements considering both the files sizes and read/write methodologies are never exactly the same.

Final Notes

The device itself is extremely well constructed, with the outer shell resembling a metallic enclosure. The swing cap is the real show-stealer as it is one of the most "head-slapping" inventions I've seen for these devices. I am almost constantly paranoid about losing the caps of my USB drives - M emina takes that possibility out of the equation. The cap swings 360 degrees around the Pocket Rocket and pushes down to lock protectively over the USB connector. It is not a very tight fit, but seemed to stay in place until the unit was tugged downward to free up the cap to swing once again.

The read/write light on the drive is subtle, lighting red as appropriate. I found that these lights are really just security blankets to let you know that the drive is doing what it is supposed to be doing.

Conclusion

Thought the Pocket Rocket was considerably slower in our complex file tests than we anticipated, it has enough significant positive attributes to make it a stand-out choice amongst its peers. I will admit, I would not look forward to transferring 2GB of complex files - which would take about an hour according to our measurements - but I think I would look forward to having a stylish USB drive with integrated lid and lifetime warranty that seems to be a big step in the right direction.

About Memina
Memina manufactures the Pocket Rocket and SuperFlash families of high-speed, high-performance USB Flash drives. Pocket Rocket has an 18 MB/s Read and 15 MB/s Write speed, a gold USB connector, premium-grade Samsung SLC memory that lasts 10 times longer than standard drives, lifetime warranty and 30-day money-back guarantee. SuperFlash comes in several colors.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Network Features/Performance
Build Quality
Ergonomics & Usability
Ease of Setup/Programming/Integration
Performance
Value