Lexar JumpDrive Firefly 4 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive JDFF4GB-431

I got this as a gift from a friend who should know better, but I could easily have been suckered by the weasel words the marketing department plastered on the package.

The package says "Hi Speed" USB but I had 670 MB on a 1 GB Cruzer Mini that I wanted to transfer to the new Lexar JumpDrive FireFly. The upload to my laptop went smoothly - no more than 10 minutes. Then I took out the Cruzer and inserted the FireFly in the same USB port and copied the directory I had just uploaded to the FireFly via a simple "paste". It took over an hour (I don't know exactly how long since I had to leave before it finished).

When I got back, I decided to do a test copy of the data back to the Cruzer. The same data only took 10 minutes to download back to my 1 GB Cruzer.

It seems clear that "Hi Speed" for Lexar means USB 1.0 (about 12 Mbps) and not USB 2.0 (about 480 Mbps).

I'm sure the marketing department said "Why confuse the poor stupid...Read more

I really can't begin to describe how slow the transfer rate of the Lexar firefly is. The transfer rate makes it nearly unusable for anything but a few small files. It can take literally HOURS to transfer 500 MB if it is a bunch of small files you are transferring. It is a little bit faster with fewer larger files. However, I recommend looking for something else. I am very disappointed with my purchase.

I bought this for my critical financial files and some other absolutely necessary data. It lasted about six months if that. I formatted it and tried to get it back in shape. Nothing worked.

I'm going to go back to Kingston DataTraveler Elite 4gb. I have a Kingston that has outlived every other flash drive I've had and it's still going strong. Just not enough storage. They cost more. But you get more. Long run, you can spend lots of money on flash drives if you have to buy them every six months or a year. I'd rather spend more upfront and have something I can depend on.

I sure don't recommend this drive.