An Extra Feature - Migo!

We won't be including Migo tests in this review, that's for a future article, but we will explain what it does. The following exerpt was taken from the DataTraveler mini's product webpage: Migo allows you to use your own Microsoft Outlook Express/Mozilla Thunderbird email contents, Microsoft Internet Explorer/Mozilla Firefox settings, favorites, cookies and history, plus your files, folders and icons. Take DataTraveler Mini Migo Edition anywhere you go your field office, home office, Internet caf, or school computer lab virtually anywhere you have access to a PC with the applications you use. When you return to your PC, Migo synchronizes your data to keep you current. As you work, the on-board Migo meter keeps track of available capacity and tells you how much space you need for selected files and settings. Migo works on Windows Vista, Windows XP SP1 and 2000 SP3 (and above) system and is designed to match the language of the guest operating system. Essentially, Migo is a piece of software that allows you to carry around with you configuration and data files for its supported applications, so that you can have access to them when using any publicly available computer. In our brief informal testing session with Migo, we found a few limitations. The programs that you wish to use your data with need to be installed on the guest computer. For example, if you have your Mozilla Thunderbird profile on the mini, and the guest computer does not have Thunderbird installed, you won't be able to access your profile. Some guest computers do not allow external executables to be run, which is necessary for Migo to function. Finally, Migo is only compatible with Windows 2003, Vista and XP. So if your computer and/or guest computer are using any other operating system, it will not work. Overall, in cases when Migo is compatible with the guest computer, we found it to be a useful tool. It assists in streamlining the file synchronization process, and as an added bonus allows you to use data from applications which are normally not able to easily function in this capacity in the first place. Coupling the Migo software with the large 4GB storage capacity of the DataTraveler mini makes a great package. We plan on examining Migo in detail, as well as similar competing software, in a future article on circuitREMIX in the future.

Conclusion

The DataTraveler mini is a small USB flash drive with a design feature we think everybody can appreciate, a built-in sliding cap which can't be lost or misplaced. Its small and well built, which suits the mini well for life on a keychain. Performance wise, while the mini wasn't marketed as a high speed drive, we found that it can hold its own in read speed. Write speeds leave something to be desired, but the measured write preformance wasn't pedestrian either. In any case, the marketing and price point of the drive didn't give me any preconcieved thoughts of a record breaking speed demon. Checking online retailers, the mini is competitively priced with other drives of the same specifications, but as an added bonus, Migo software comes on the drive. We felt that for those who can use it, the Migo software adds a lot of value and usability to the drive. Overall, we present Kingston's DataTraveler mini USB flash drive with an 8/10 evaluation.