The Good: Decent capacity, Durable, Stylish for those who like pink, Good charity
The Bad: Will not fit all senses of style, No bells and whistles.
The Basics: The Tribeca Pinkdrive helps fight breast cancer while moving files easily between different devices with USB ports.
I've been feeling pretty bad since October. The reason for this is pretty obvious to me; I was invited to participate in the Breast Cancer Research Write-Off and when the deadline got close, I submitted a review not recommending a tea whose proceeds benefited breast cancer research. This has become even more of a nagging at the back of my brain because my wife recently started making baby blankets to help raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Foundation (check those out here!). So, when we were out on Black Friday and we saw the Tribeca Pinkdrive flash drive on sale, we decided to pick one up.
First off, it is worth noting that I did not need another flash drive and the sleek, pink stick-shaped flash drive of the Pinkdrive most assuredly did not fit my sense of decor. However, because Tribeca is donating a portion of the profits to breast cancer research, I felt picking up another flash drive for charity and review was a decent thing to do. And the Pinkdrive, despite not fitting my style (it goes quite well with many of my wife's lip glosses and nail polishes...) has quickly proven itself to be a reliable flash drive.
The Tribeca Pinkdrive is a USB flash drive which is one of the slimmer ones on the market. In fact, the Pinkdrive is barely wider than the USB port at the one end of it. Unlike most flash drives I have had experience with, the Pinkdrive was thicker - about 3/8" thick - and was made of a hard, glossy pink plastic. So, while in one dimension is seems like it is more compact than other flash drives, this is marginally bulkier in another, which is only a problem when one is squeezing multiple flash drives into a tight bank of ports. The Pinkdrive that I bought has a 1 gigabyte capacity and it comes with a hard pink plastic cap.
Flash drives like the Pinkdrive are essentially portable hard drives and this is in many ways a very average flash drive. The cap is a pink hard plastic block which snaps over the stainless steel male end of the USB port. This protects the metal end and the thinner chip-like leads inside it. The cap is easily removed by simply pulling on it and easily replaced by pushing it down until one hears it snap into place. Unlike other flash drives I have used, the cap is the only protection the Tribeca Pinkdrive offers; it is made of hard plastic on its sides which seems like it could be brittle if one attempted to crush it, but Tribeca seems to be banking on the idea that those going for this stylish drive will not be dragging it through the mud (literally or figuratively).
The Pinkdrive is simple to use: uncap the top to expose the male end of the USB connector and plug the Pinkdrive into the female end of a USB port on any computer device that has the female connecting end! It is that simple. The Tribeca Pinkdrive comes with no software, but any device that recognizes USB 2.0 will instantly accept and recognize the Pinkdrive. The beautiful thing about the Pinkdrive is that it truly is a universal flash drive; it may move files between Windows-based, Apple-based or unique platform (like Playstation 3) devices, so long as the device has a USB port!
The speed of file transfers varies based on the size of the files being moved and the already-used capacity of the Pinkdrive. My partner moves around more files than I do and she uses more complex files. I was very much on-edge about having a flash drive with a full gigabyte worth of capacity because that's a lot of information to lose if anything goes wrong. And yet, after almost two weeks of constant use, we've not lost a single byte of information! Information seems to be easily accessible on the drive with no problems recovering pictures, text files and programs we've tried moving from one computer to another.
While information is being transferred to or from the Pinkdrive, a tiny LED at the end of the flash drive lights up. The red light contrasts the pink of the Pinkdrive's shell and clearly indicates to users when it is in active use. When files are done being transferred, the light goes off and whatever software one is using may be accessed to properly eject the drive.
And while information on the Pinkdrive is secure, the casing is easy to scuff up. Because it is glossy, wear shows on it very easily (ours already has a few very shallow scratches on the glossy coating which are easily visible when the flash drive is held at an angle to a light source). But because the contents on it are safe, it is hard to kvetch about the casing. Then again, for those who are more style conscious, this may be a serious liability for the Pinkdrive.
But for those looking for a decent amount of capacity and a flash drive that looks good, the Pinkdrive fits the bill. Anyone who wants to give a stocking stuffer to those who are working to fight breast cancer will find the one gigabyte Pinkdrive is durable, affordable and charitable!
For other flash drives and computer products, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
ATP Breast Cancer Awareness Flash Drive
17" MacBook Pro
Acer Aspire 5532 Laptop computer
6/10
For other computer or electronic device reviews, please visit my index page on the subject!
© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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