Lexar Echo ZE 16GB USB drive
Wednesday, 08 September 2010
It’s specifically referred to as a ‘backup drive’ on the packaging and site, and I think capacity is won at the expense of speed, because it’s not super fast.
A 1.02GB file copied hard drive to hard drive over USB2 (1TB drive at 7200rpm to internal 500GB drive at 7200rpm) took one minute. Copying a 1.02GB file to the ZE was estimated, by the Finder to take 22 minutes. I timed it to 22 minutes 45 seconds – this is way more accurate than Finder estimates used to be – but not for long.
This was copied over a USB2 cable from a 1TB Seagate hard drive, but was estimated to take virtually the same time from the internal 500GB direct to the Lexar. Actually this took 15 minutes.
This rather suggests that Finder copy-time estimates are drawn from a preset database and not actual real conditions and drive specs. (I’ve always wondered about that.)
However – and this is well worth noting – with the Lexar plugged into a port on my MacBook Pro rather than into the hub, it was dramatically faster. The same file copied over in just 2 minutes 20 seconds!
On Drive Genius 3 benchtests, the external 1TB Seagate USB2 drive has a random write speed of around 14.5 Megabytes per second, compared to a standard 32 or so for an internal drive in a 2.4GHz MacBook Pro. The sustained read for the Lexar Echo was 15MB/s, compared to 44MB/s for the internal. Not too bad, really. But the sustained read time went up to 20MB/s when plugged directly into the MacBook Pro's USB port.
There are no drivers or apps on the Lexar site for this – it’s literally plug ’n’play with Mac OS 10.6x.
Conclusion — this is a dramatically capacious drive for something with such a tiny footprint. When it's plugged in and working, a blue light flickers – but when it's not plugged in, even with the cap on, it's a little thing that's easy to lose and the fact there's no lug you can attach a keychain to adds to its unobtrusiveness – you can even find yourself turning out your pocket trying to locate it.
What's great — large capacity in a tiny size – handy!
What's not — not super fast; so small it's easy to misplace
Needs — people with good eyesight!
9/10
What — Lexar Echo ZE 16GB USB drive, RRP $140
Contact — Lexar
Available from — NZ electronics retailers and some Apple resellers.
