X-bit labs

A-DATA i-Drive USB 2.0 Disk + PC Camera Review

Category: Storage

by Andrey Kuznetcov

[ 10/04/2004 | 07:46 AM ]

A very interesting solution combining the features of a storage drive and a digital camera has just left our testlab. On the road a compact and easy to use solution like that may be irreplaceable. Read more about the highs a lows of it in our detailed article!

Table of contents:

• Closer Look at A-DATA i-Drive USB 2.0 Disk PC Camera 2 in 1 128MB
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Performance in FC-Test
  
• Performance in AIDA32
  
• Conclusion
  

There’s a real exuberance of various devices with the Universal Serial Bus interface in the market nowadays. You may have seen fans and flashlights and other exotic products, not directly pertinent to computers. Among this heap of colorful and nice-looking stuff there sometimes emerges a piece of hardware that’s more useful for a PC owner.

One of such devices is going to be the subject of this review.

Closer Look at A-DATA i-Drive USB 2.0 Disk PC Camera 2 in 1 128MB

In the long row of USB flash drives from A-DATA Technology, there is one that combines the capabilities of a standard flash memory storage medium and a miniature digital camera. What is the result of such a symbiosis? Putting two devices into one case led to a certain growth of its dimensions, although the appearance of this i-Drive is elegant enough thanks to the silvery plastic material of the case.

By the way, this rather big case may sometimes prevent you from plugging the drive directly into the computer’s USB port. The integrated camera allows organizing video-conferences on the Internet and recording video clips and single stills (not of a very high quality, though, as we found out soon).

The two aspects of the i-Disk cannot be active simultaneously – you choose the operational mode with the help of a slider switch on the left side of the case. Below the red eye of the digital camera there is a LED indicator that informs the user about the device’s status when it’s working as a flash drive.

You receive the following stuff as accessories to the i-Disk: a miniature compact-disc with a software pack, a carry cord, and a short USB cable in a metallic braiding. This cable is stiff and thus can serve as a prop for the camera, since there’s no regular support among the accessories. After inserting the drive into the large connector made of black plastic, the user can then position the digital camera in space as he/she likes. The only restriction is the length of the Magic cable (43 centimeters).

The software pack includes a digitized user manual on the flash drive, digital camera and CAMagic utility, and two utilities – CAMagic itself and USB Flash Disk Utility. Of course, you also receive the Windows 98 drivers for the camera and the drive.