Now so popular with teachers that they already have their own myths - “They were brought in for London teachers who were getting mugged for their laptops.” Oh really? - these simple USB flash-memory drives are so useful for carrying data, presentations, graphics, music and suchlike that many teachers have forgotten about floppy discs. TES Online tried out three: the Iomega Mini USB Drive (128Mb with Mini Lock software, pound;54 online): the Blah Blah from RM (128Mb, pound;43 online and EZDrive from Expansys (128Mb, pound;35.25 online).
While all were good value, and there are others on the market, bear in mind robustness, security and write protection. The Iomega and V-Drive (RM) were robust, with strong plastic clip-on caps, The EZDrive required more careful handling - the USB connection point had to be bent back into position on one occasion. The EZ-Drive and V-Drive both came with USB extension leads, extremely useful if your USB sockets are on the back of a PC, and both have “necklace” carriers, ideal for anyone moving around a school (the Iomega comes with keyring) The EZDrive and RM drives also have read-write switches for data security while the Iomega, actually the star of the three, does this in software which also allows for the introduction of a user password.
www.iomega-europe.comeuen shopshop_en.aspx www.rm.com
www.expansys.com
