FujiFilm Unveils Tiny Drive

FujiFilm is helping revive Sneakernet with the release of its straightforwardly named USB Drive, the newest in a growing array of pocket-size, large-capacity storage devices that easily move among PCs.

This small flash RAM "drive" is available in sizes ranging from 32MB to 256MB, with a 512MB version expected out in the fall. The 32MB drive costs $50; the 64MB unit, $70; and the 128MB drive, $150. Fuji initially announced 8MB and 16MB versions, too, but isn't shipping them because apparently no one wants them.

The unit's physical size, not its capacity, will catch people's attention. Forget the proverbial pack of cards or cigarettes. Measuring less than 4 by 1 by 1 inches, the USB Drive more closely resembles a short, stubby marker or a fat electric thermometer with a nose that plugs directly into your computer's USB port. It weighs only 0.7 ounce and is powered by the USB port, so there's no need for a battery or AC adapter.

Designate No Drivers

Besides being small and light, it offers real plug and play--not the usual process (plug in, install the driver, identify driver conflicts that keep it from working, update the driver over the Internet, and finally hope it plays). That's because the FujiFilm Drive comes with a built-in processor that lets it work (in many cases) without drivers.

Driverless plug and play is especially important if you want to move data from one place to another. After all, you might be willing to install the driver on your own computer, but the owners of the other computers might object. And unlike Archos's MiniHD 20GB, the USB Drive works driver-free with USB 1.0 as well as 2.0.

But it won't work that way with everything. The drive still requires drivers for Windows 98 and Mac OS 8.6, which are the earliest versions of those operating systems that it supports. (And yes, you can use it to share data between PCs and Macs.)

You can even configure the USB Drive as a bootable device, like a floppy or CD drive. You would have to put an operating system on it, of course.