Buffalo's 16GB 5mm USB Thumbkey: It's really small
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted June 24th 2009 6:58PM
posted June 24th 2009 6:58PM
This isn't the first time Buffalo's blown our minds with its lilliputian tech. The WiFi dongle, you have to admit, was pretty sweet. What can we say about the 5mm Thumbkey drive? For starters, it's really small. And it has a 16GB capacity. And it''ll cost you about $136 when it goes on sale (any day now). Sure, that's a tad pricey for a device that lacks gears and rubies -- but did we mention how small this thing is?
[Via OhGizmo!]
[Via OhGizmo!]
how about this article?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/05/eagletecs-nanosac-microsd-card-reader-makes-mouse-balls-look-bi/
Right, i thought engadget had reported on that one before. I have this Eagletec unit and mine came with a SanDisk Class 2 8GB. 160HKD
Make me a WWAN/3G data card this size, that I can just leave plugged in all the time, and I'm in. Oh, and while you're at it, a pop out antenna would be nice..
Well, I guess you can just plug it in and leave it there.
That's what she said.
You lose a half inch or so and take on an extra $70? No thanks.
your name also sounds sexual
HOW THE HELL DO THEY FIT 16GB IN THIS??!?!?!?! 0_o
I already have a microSD drive just as small for much cheaper than this. I am NOT impressed.
that's not truly 5mm, not when you include the size of the usb connector. i'm thinking this device will be incredibly hard to pull out given its size and form.
aside, aren't american's supposed to be measuring their units in inches rather than in mm?
Peter: "That's what..."
Brian: "If you say 'That's what she said' one more time, I'm gonna pop you"
Too pricey, I'll stick to my 16gb SD card that fits flush in my netbook. What I really want to see is a wireless card in the 5mm profile. I'd pay 136 for that.
A SD card with USB connector, and it only costs 3 times as much, for the USB connector.
Of course if you use microSD as comparison it would be half the size again, but USB, that's great, right?
Talking of SD cards, I saw that DVD players (yeah they still make them but they play MP4 now too) now not only come with USB slots but also SD card slots, for like $40, seems everything and everybody can handle SD now.
So perhaps someone should make an minSD card with a nice metal casing and some jind of a ring to attach it to a keychain, as an alternative to the USB flashdisk.
Weird that I haven't seen that yet on engadget, you'd think some jap or korean or chinese gadgetmaker would have made that already.
At that size you can let it on your netbook permanently.
On my quest to buy a sub $20 FW800 to FW400 (no success) I saw a BT 2.0 adaptor that looks like that. It's pretty cool if you have a PC without BT hardware.
Beyond a certain point there is such a thing as too small. The Sandisk Cruzer is the smallest i'll ever need a thumb drive to be.
I guess you're missing the point. Many people use these as PERMANANT fixtures in their laptops... they don't want something sticking out that could easily be broken off.
I personally like the small/thin USB drives that are size of a 1/2 stick of gum... I have 4 of them in my wallet - one boots windows (UBCD4WIN), one boots linux (Puppy linux), one is my music drive so I can keep 8gb of music with me, and the last one is my data drive with encryption software. I've got some dealextreme "worlds smallest" adapters with microSD cards for some devices, and Crucial Gizmo!JR drives. I can tell you its pretty amazing to NOT have to keep CDs around to boot off of.
my hp laptop came with a mouse dongle with the same form factor. 16gb in there is amazing, but then again it not anymore revolutionary than a 16gb microSD card..
$136? It's still bigger than a $45 16gb microSD card.
What's the speed like? esp. compared to the similar microSDHC based one just like it?
If it's faster, it _MIGHT_ be worth it, using one of these as the user space storage on my netbook (leaving the internal 8GB SSD for OS and applications).
That's what she said. All of it.
Think this is small and new? Did you already forget about the Super Talent Pico C? Smaller than the USB connector on this thing, yet still plugs into USB slot.
Google it.
So small I lost mine in my backpack for a few months. Was excited recently when I found it again.
are these really fast or what is the diference between these and the super talent pico c 16bg for only $35 on newegg.com
This is stupid - DealExtreme has a microsd usb key (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6108) which as small as a finger nail and you can load up your SDHC on it. A 16B class 6 SDHC is 30$ and the usb key is 1$. Man, is this overpriced!!
in fact there is an even smaller one - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.25557
I was looking up item numbers on dealextreme so I could post exactly what you already said.... well done
wow, that is tiny!
it seems that the only size limiting factor now is the size of the connector, maybe they should start making microUSB dongles
My EagleTec 4GB Flash drive for $26 has something to say about being small
I guess the linked "world's smallest" link is different from what I have
this is what I have - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.21811
Same thing - different color - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.21803
I just ordered this slightly different model b/c it has a light - http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.6234
and also ordered this one because its made of metal and might hold up better sku.12130 (you'll have to manually put this in the URL b/c I can only put 3 links in a post)
In other words... i bought 4 different readers and all of my 4/8/16 gig microsd cards for less than ONE of the buffalo drives in the original post.
Of course all of this neglects the fact that Buffalo doesn't sell any USB flash drives in the US after Sandisk sued them for patent infringment, so the vast majority of the people commenting can't even get one.
It would fit on a CF-27 with the latch closed, Now this is a great thing for toughbook people like me. ..sad thing is you'd probably forget under the latch...