Product review: Nano flash drive, V7 Mini USB Flash Drive, 32GB

This V7 nano flash drive has 32 GB capacity. The nano drive is really small: 7/8"L x 1/2"W x 1/8"H. I am attaching a couple of photos which shows this flash drive next to a regular flash drive and in use with my MP3 speaker player for size reference.

The drive has a small loop at the top, so it can be attached to a key chain if a loop if needed. My favorite use for this flash drive is in the MP3 player you see in the photo, I used to use this player with a regular size memory stick and a tiny one is so much more convenient.

The 32G capacity allows you to store 5416 photos each one is 12 MegaPixels or 250 minutes of 13 Mpbps HD video. The memory stick has a 5 year limited warranty.

The maximum speed that USB 1.0 devices can achieve is 12 MB/s while 2.0 devices can theoretically achieve up to 40 times of that at 480Mbps (although real speed it typically somewhat less than this theoretical maximum).

I measured the performance of V7 nano flash drive with several utilities and its performance falls in the middle of other USB 2.0 memory sticks I have tested.

To test various memory cards I run the same set of tests so I can compare them to each in "apples to apples" comparison, this way if some unit does not perform well I notice it by comparing it to other devices I have tested. My test consist of copying a large set of mp3 files totalling 638916 Megabytes.

V7 SDHC write performance:
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✔ 1.642s (cpu) 1:55.52 (clock time)

For comparison I including numbers for copying the same set of files to SanDisk USB2 memory stick, Transcent microSDHC class 6 card, and to the hard drive of my computer.

✔ Transcent microSDHC : 1.482s (CPU time), 1:33.97 (clock time)
✔ SanDisk USB2: 1.358s (CPU time), 1:23.53 (clock time)
✔ Hard Drive: 0.573s (CPU time), 0:00.58 (clock time)

For read performance test I use Linux Disk Utility Benchmarks.

V7 SDHC Read-only performance:
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✔ Minimum read rate 18.0 MB/s
✔ Maximum read rate 31.3 MB/s
✔ Average read rate 27.0 MB/s
✔ Average access time 1.4 ms

There are a couple of small negatives I want to mention (not deal breakers just for completeness of the review).

1. This memory stick does not have a led indicator which shows that the memory stick is being accessed. If I am using multiple memory sticks I like to see the reassuring flashing of the stick I am writing to so I can be sure I am accessing the right stick.
2. The memory stick has a pretty tight fit, I use the grippy material used to open can lids to pull the memory stick out the USB slot of my hub.

I was supplied a sample for testing and an honest review, be it positive or negative. I really like this nano flash drive and would recommend it to others.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★★