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March 17, 2008
Back Up Your Computer - Corsair 32 GB Flash Drive
I recently got a Corsair Flash Voyager with 32 GB (Gigabytes) of storage capacity. It was only a couple of years ago that a 1 GB flash drive was considered a large flash drive. 32 GB is big! To put this into perspective, it has as much storage as almost 7 recordable DVDs (6.8 to be exact) or over 45 CDs. I am somewhat of a document pack rat on my office computer, but all of my PowerPoint, Excel, Word, pictures and PDF documents, almost 13,000 files, only add up to a little less than 10 GB. And the Voyager is smaller than a pack of gum.
OK, I can have all of my documents on a flash drive that fits into my pocket. What happens if I lose it? Couldn't someone have access to my financial records and other sensitive information? No -- because Corsair includes TrueCrypt, a program that encrypts your files so that they can only be opened with a password. (Note: TrueCrypt is an 'open source' - free software program.)
How tough is the Voyager? I dropped it from the top of a five story building onto a concrete sidewalk, and the fall didn't faze it. Next, I ran over the flash drive with my car. Except for scuffing the rubberized case, the Voyager took it in stride. Corsair claims that the Voyager's MTBF -- Mean Time Between Failure -- is 1,000,000 hours, which is more than 100 years (I wonder how they get this number?).
So now I have a backup of all of my documents on a small secure flash drive. Any downsides? A couple:
- Writing your files to the flash drive is a little slow.
- The Voyager is a bit thicker than some other drives. When plugged into one of the front USB ports on my computer the Voyager blocked the neighboring ports.
The retail price is $249.95. For more information go to Corsair Voyager.
Do you back up your computer on a regular basis? Would it help you if you could have all of your documents with you?
Posted by Bob Gatton at March 17, 2008 8:56 AM
