Sony's Micro Vault Tiny now officially shipping in the US

Hey "fashion-forward consumers," yeah you. Sony's uh, "byte sized" Micro Vault Tiny USB drive is now shipping in the US. That's the official Sony poop although the Tiny, as Sony likes to call them, was spotted weeks ago giving some of you that 1.0 x 0.5-inch storage fix you obviously crave. About the thickness of a US quarter and weighing in at 1.5-grams, the drive ships in 5 capacity/color combinations: 256MB (orange), 512MB (violet), 1GB (blue), 2GB (green) on up to 4GB for the full-sized purple-nurple. Tiny comes preloaded with Virtual Expander built-in to automatically compress and decompress data albeit with a hit on access speed. All but the 4GB model are shipping now at an MSRP ranging from $30 to $200.

[waseem @ May 15th 2008 5:01PM]

Mike, the same responce with me, i bought this little thing about 3 months ago, worked realy well, all of a suden it started to play up and the computer did not recognise it anymore, so people be aware of it, also contacted sony and its been a week they aint replied, waste of time and money.

[Nate @ Jul 12th 2006 9:05AM]

These are so tiny and lovely. Beautiful colors. I love them, also Sony did it again! :)

[Maff Mace @ Jul 12th 2006 9:14AM]

did what again?

[Rusty @ Jul 12th 2006 9:16AM]

Nice, but they look too fragile. Plus, unless they come with some SECURE way to carry them on a keychain, I'd pass. I carry a Lexar Jump Drive with the rubber guard incorporated into a key fob. I like that design simply because with the others, when you take it off the rubber cap/guard, you have this nice missing HOLE to remind you that you left the darn thing in the computer. I can't remember how many times I've looked for my thumb drive only to find it still plugged into the computer LOL.

[PeteC @ Jul 12th 2006 9:20AM]

Well there guaranteed to have a constant market for these things. They're so small you're gonna lose them the shole bloody time and have to get a new one! I think I'll have a lame looking one on a string thanks! Also do they really think the public isn't going to understand the word mucro so they shoved tiny on the end too? What'll the next evolution be? The Micro Vault Tiny Nano?

[detroityianni @ Jul 12th 2006 9:25AM]

looks just like what i have on my key chain now.. that came with a secure laynard that attaches directly to the drive. $27 for a 1GB from the first store on this froogle link

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?hl=en&q=acp+mobile+key+drive&lmode=online&scoring=p

[NNTPgrip @ Jul 12th 2006 9:32AM]

Now all you need is a crystaline USB hub of sorts and you can have your real isolinear chips a al star trek.

(There'd be no re-arranging them inside a door threshold to unlock any door, however)

[deslock @ Jul 12th 2006 9:58AM]

The previous generation Sandisk Cruzer Micro is only marginally larger than these and has a lanyard and protective rubber cover. I picked up a 2GB version for $45 shipped on Ebay.

Also, the newer, slightly larger 512MB U3 model is $13 at Staples.

[Dave Goodman @ Jul 12th 2006 10:40AM]

Cool. Does it come with their rootkit pre-installed? ;)

[chenry @ Jul 12th 2006 11:14AM]

hm. if i could attach it to a key chain or something, that'd be handy. i have an old, bulky jump drive so i want something smaller (dimension-wise).

but key chain is a must; my old jumpdrive is huge, and i still manage to lose it once and a while. i can imagine easily losing these things all the time.

[Dracolytch @ Jul 12th 2006 11:53AM]

So, you could spend $30 on Sony's 256 Meg version, or $25 on a 1 gig PQI intelligent stick, which is even smaller.

Gee Sony, I'd like to spend more money for 1/4 the capacity and less convenience.... But I just can't bring myself to do it.

[kurt @ Jul 12th 2006 12:11PM]

Uh, am I the only one that has seen this in Target for months now?

[Manatee @ Jul 12th 2006 1:06PM]

I guess it's bigger than it looks in photos. From

Sony's website:

"The slim design is a convenient 1.2" x 5.0" a 6.1" in size..."

[Kyle @ Jul 12th 2006 2:46PM]

I have a 1gb Kingmax at about the same size, and it works great.

[Kyle @ Jul 12th 2006 2:48PM]

http://www.kingmaxdigi.com/product/superstick.htm

[James @ Jul 12th 2006 3:09PM]

I guess soon the counterfeit ones will be showing up on Ebay.

[Laptop Freak @ Jul 12th 2006 5:47PM]

I think it’s too small. Yes, it looks cool, but I would hate to loose this little toy with all my important compressed data on it. Still love my 1GB JumpDrive with a rubber cap.

[KB @ Jul 17th 2006 7:40AM]

Could you keep it in your wallet?

[wajansen @ Oct 3rd 2007 9:04AM]

I could not get it to compress my 5.6G of music on the 4Gigger

[Zombeezy @ Jul 18th 2006 3:46PM]

This is also available as the OCZ Mini-Kart. I've had the 2GB version from Newegg ($39.25 after rebate, plus $4.99 shipping).

OCZ is well-known for their fast memory DDR pc memory. Check out the "How easy does it break" section of this review http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/OCZ/MiniKart

"After all this abuse the Mini Kart still works fine of course."

It also looks like the $49.99 1GB HAL 9000 Memory Unit from ThinkGeek at http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/drives/806d/

I have enjoyed my OCZ Mini-Kart for several weeks now. The only problems I have with this is

1) that it is does not come in 4GB yet,

2) not available in different colors to differentiate different content, and

3) that it does not fit in the USB slots in the front of Dells, which often are USB 1.0 anyway. I use a two $2 extender cables I leave plugged in at work and at home. The OCZ Mini-Kart does have a ring to put through a small hole, and using the ring, I transfer the Mini-Kart between my keychain and ID secruity lanyard without any problem all the time.

~Z

[Zombeezy @ Jul 24th 2006 3:03PM]

Oh, also, yes, you could keep it in your wallet. It's about the thickness of three credit cards squeezed together. But, I don't like the idea of sitting on it in my wallet all the time.

[FroggyEyEs @ Nov 19th 2006 12:50AM]

the iDisk tiny drives of pretec were the first smallest ones and the same chipset!

[Jen @ Dec 17th 2006 11:53PM]

Mine went thru the washer AND Dryer and STILL WORKS!!!

[Jordan Ross @ Mar 2nd 2007 2:24PM]

On Jul 24th 2006 At 3:03PM
Zombeezy said:

"Oh, also, yes, you could keep it in your wallet. It's about the thickness of three credit cards squeezed together. But, I don't like the idea of sitting on it in my wallet all the time."

You SIT on your wallet?!?! Are you an animal?! A gentleman never puts ANYTHING in his back pocket. Next you'll be telling us you wear white socks.

It will keep just fine in a wallet. And the 4GB size allows you to load an entire OS onto it. That's the REAL revolution with this product. Think two words: VIRTUAL MACHINE. Boot it any off of any computers USB port and - Voila! - you have a self contained PC the size of, not your thumb, but your thumbNAIL.

[Christopher Watson @ Aug 6th 2007 9:33AM]

Well, it was bound to happen, I guess. My Micro Vault Tiny just went through the wash. Maybe it's because it stayed in it's protective rubberized sleeve, but it came through the wash (and the dry) none the worse for wear. Still works just fine! Thanks Sony for making such a small and hardy 4GB USB drive that can take such moisture and heat and not give up the ghost.

[ML1986 @ Aug 9th 2007 3:05PM]

Hey, isn't the Micro Vault Tiny basically just like the Intelligent Stick?

Speaking of which, you should not buy the intelligent stick. I've had a bad experience with it that you may find very helpful: It's extremely fragile. One day my 64 MB I-stick was on the floor, and I didn't know about it until it was too late. My office chair's casters tore it to pieces. Because of that, I decided on getting a 256 MB Sony Micro Vault Classic, which was like two years ago. The silver trim makes the drive so noticeable that it has yet to go unseen on the floor.

[vicki @ Oct 15th 2007 4:05AM]

Lols, I've just recently purchased a purple (512) Micro Vault and I must say I'm quite content with it. It looks so vulnerable that I won't let anyone else touch it, but it does the job just fine.
It's such a dainty little thing, don't you agree folks?

[mike @ Oct 30th 2007 11:10PM]

I purchased one this past summer. A green 2 GB version. This was a great thing for me an I stored n the wallet, But one day a small piece if it chipped, but it srill worked well. Then one day the computer did not recognize it anymore. It has died. I tried to get in touch with sony, but to date there has been no response to my emails. The chat technicians just played dumb and was of no use. I will look into the other types.

[StreetHigh181 @ Aug 25th 2008 7:00PM]

http://consumerist.com/

Email them, they will contact Sony. Worked for me before.