Verbatim has launched new USB drives to its Store 'n' Go series, including a new 8GB flash drive and a 12GB business-card sized drive. These along with its series of Store 'n' Go products were showcased at this year's CES. The latest 12GB USB drive features a 1" hard drive and is slightly longer than a regular USB flash drive, making it the highest capacity drive available using 1" hard drive technology. Like flash based USB drives, the 12GB USB drive plugs directly in the USB port without a cable and comes up as a mass storage device as with a flash based drive. The 12GB drive is compatible with Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, CE 3.0 and higher, Mac OS 9 and higher and Linux 2.40 and higher. It comes shipped with Mobile Launchpad for Windows.
Other products in the range include its Store 'n' Go Pro, Corporate Secure and U3 Smart Drive series; all with capacities of up to 4GB. The Pro drive features maximum read and write speeds of up to 14MB/sec (90x) and 24MB/sec (160x) respectively and 256-bit AES hardware based data encryption for strong encryption. The Corporate Secure series also features mandatory safeguards targeted at protecting highly confidential data such as financial and medical data, such as mandating a complex password and locking down the drive after 10 failed password entry attempts. An 8GB Corporate Secure version is in plans for early this quarter.
Finally, the U3 Smart USB flash drives feature the ability to carry PC settings and personal preferences in addition to files on the move, avoiding the need to always carry a laptop or have the software available on a client's PC. For example, the drive can carry e-mail, software and web bookmarks easily. A Windows Vista version is expected to launch during this quarter along with an 8GB drive version.
The 12GB USB drive will be available this month with a recommended retail price of $179. The other drives will be available retailing from $19.95.
