With their roots running deep into the world of expendable media (floppies, writeable disks, tapes et al), you’d think Verbatim would have realized the customer’s extreme hatred of the “you’ve got to destroy me to open me” vacuum packaging. Still, while this isn’t anything a good pair of scissors won’t fix, it is something that kills the resale (and storage) value of the product for times to come. The only real upshot is that it ensures you won’t find half the goodies missing, and that your product stays secure throughout the shipping process. As well, the bundle of accessories in the back of the unit stays clumped together quite well too, with the driver CD providing a stable base, so they can all be pulled out at once. For those wondering, I actually did find my extension cable tucked away inside the padded pouch, along with the advertised lanyard.

Turning the parcel over, the back is absolutely jam packed with specifications and information, as well as a sneak peak at the accessory package, and the rear of the unit. Here, both the overly simple usage diagrams (pull out cord, plug in, drag and drop files, put cord back in), as well as some technical specifications can be found. The one thing it doesn’t warn you about, however, is that even though the rear of the unit has a set of ventilation holes in the pattern of a speaker grille, the drive still gets quite toasty, thanks to the fact that data is stored on a Micro Drive spinning at 4,200 RPM hidden within. This drive doesn’t seem to contribute much to the weight of the unit, and thanks to the design of the device, has fairly good compatibility with operating systems, as is outlined by the Technical Specifications Chart below.

To be truthful, the bulk of the things found within the packaging are more or less fluff. While some users might be inclined to carry the unit around their neck with the included lanyard, the weight of it may become frustrating along with the size, as it rubs against you during the day. Similarly, the padded carrier – which features a convenient stitched in belt loop – wouldn’t be such a comfortable thing to wear around your neck as the day carried on. On the plus side of things, though, the carrying case given with this product is simply a phenomenal addition in my opinion. It makes transporting the unit around – with its USB extension cable included – beautifully easy, while still affording some room for memory cards, keys, change, or perhaps even your phone, if you leave the extra cable out. But most of all, it gives the peace of mind that no matter where you go, the unit’s micro-drive will be spared from the damage of being jostled around, and to me, that’s worth more than anything else.

Of course, the most important matter with any key is just how easily it can be installed, and utilized within windows. Considering that this device comes pre-formatted with the FAT-32 file system, the end user should find no problems plugging it in – as I didn’t – it was simply plugged into a front USB 2.0 port on my work machine and bam, right there in windows sat the drive, ready to go. Unfortunately, I’m not sure of the ordeals which users on the Mac and Linux platforms will have to endure to get the OS to recognize and mount these drives, but for us Windows users, it’s icing on the cake. With the examination aside, it’s time to get to the performance of this little guy.