Seeking a tiny, tiny flash drive.

June 3, 2007 7:59 PM

The search for tiny, tiny flash drives. Does anyone manufacture one with a mini-b plug or similar?

Remember the days when a USB plug seemed incredibly tiny?

I am looking for the very smallest (in dimensions) flash drive I can get. It seems ridiculous to me that the plug is now bigger than the memory, yet I can't find any mini plug units. So, what is the smallest flash drive, including plug, on the
market (and yes, I've seen the fold out ones).

Thanks!

posted by tomble to computers & internet (13 comments total)

The SONY Micro Vault Tiny flash drives are, well, tiny. I can't seem to find mine right now but they're probably about 1" long.
posted by Lucinda at 8:08 PM on June 3, 2007

If the folding ones are too big for you, I can't imagine what would suit your needs.
Although, if you aren't planning on using a traditional USB interface, you could use something like this usb device that plugs directly into usb pin headers on a motherboard or this bare industrial use "usb" device (datasheet).
posted by yeoz at 8:17 PM on June 3, 2007

I loved my SONY Micro Vault Tiny flash drive - it was 14.5x 2.7 x 30.0 mm Weight - Approximately 1.5 grams.

I say 'was' because I lost it a few days after I bought it. It was gorgeous, green, and just TOO small!
posted by weegreentoad at 8:19 PM on June 3, 2007

That has to be it. I was thinking of the similar HAL 9000 Memory Unit (formerly sold on Think Geek...where'd it go?)
posted by niles at 8:19 PM on June 3, 2007

The crux of the problem is that flash drives are supposed to be usable with anything with a usb port. Since mini-usb is not the default size, it would have to have an adapter to work on, well, all computers.

That said, I agree with Lucinda, the smallest I've seen isthe Sony Micro Vaults.
posted by octopie at 8:21 PM on June 3, 2007

PQI has been making flash drives similar to the Sony Micro Vaults for some time. A quick check at newegg indicates they might be a little bit less expensive too.
posted by ericales at 8:35 PM on June 3, 2007

I've been very pleased with my 1GB Kingmax drive. It's only 1 1/4" x 1/2" by 1/16", much smaller than the keys on my keychain.
posted by brism at 8:43 PM on June 3, 2007

I will second the Kingmax drive. It's very, very odd that "The World's Tiniest Drive" (and that's how they market them) are named - I kid you not - KingMax Super Sticks. King, Max and Super are not words most of us would associate with tiny. But, in fact, these little things are indeed incredibly small without being flimsy. Here's the 2GB version at Amazon.
posted by Gerard Sorme at 9:29 PM on June 3, 2007

Wow, that Kingmax looks great!

It's not so much that the folding ones are too big, it just seems odd that the plug is bigger than the storage part. With the mini USB connectors being more common, I'm surprised no flash drives exist with this. Having the pins built into the body of the drive is a perfect solution!
posted by tomble at 10:20 PM on June 3, 2007

Oh, and the sony ones look great as well, but do they have a keyring loop?
posted by tomble at 10:21 PM on June 3, 2007

Tombie > the sony ones come with a tiny sleeve (made of rubber? silicone? I dunno) into which the drive fits. The sleeve has a loop, and there's a clip on the loop for keychains.

I took the clip off, put it on one of those ball-chains (the kind that dog tags hang on) and wore it around my neck. The sleeve holds the drive very securely and I never worried about it falling out.

I don't know anyone who carried it on a keychain.

Now you're making me really wonder where mine went....I should probably go look for it.
posted by Lucinda at 4:53 AM on June 4, 2007

Just found mine (right where I left it, of course) and here's a picture of it in its sleeve, with a tape measure.

Now that I look at it, I remember that on the back of the sleeve is a place for a little clip, I guess so you could clip it to a notebook or something.
posted by Lucinda at 5:03 AM on June 4, 2007

The PQI series is called Intelligent Stick. You can either use them with their little adapter to plug into a USB port, or you can plug them in directly (if the port is older/kinda loose, you can apparently have trouble getting a good connection, but I've personally never had a problem). I had their 1GB, and I just upgraded to the 2 GB a couple of months ago. It lives in my wallet behind my license and it's so small that you can't tell it's there.

I think they use pennies as the comparison scale: about 2 pennies thick, less than 1 penny wide, and a little more than 2 pennies long. It's tiny.

I got it at cyberguys.com for about 20 bucks.
posted by yggdrasil at 12:00 PM on June 4, 2007