INTRODUCTION

   To most people there are only 2 things that really matter when out to get a brand new USB flash drive, price and performance (and both if possible). However there are quite a few people out there who place size above all else (that's mostly what matter for use with media players and car A/V systems) and so most USB flash drives currently in the market will simply not do. Kingston is well aware of the existence of this target group and so they just recently launched their latest DataTraveler Micro USB 2.0 Flash drive which as the name clearly states is one of the smallest USB flash drives in the market today.

   Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s independent memory leader. Founded in 1987 with a single product offering, Kingston® now offers more than 2,000 memory products that support nearly every device that uses memory, from computers, servers and printers to MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones. In 2009, the company's sales reached $4.1 billion. With global headquarters in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston employs more than 4,000 people worldwide. Regarded as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune magazine, Kingston’s tenets of respect, loyalty, flexibility and integrity create an exemplary corporate culture. Kingston believes that investing in its people is essential, and each employee is a vital part of Kingston’s success. Kingston serves an international network of distributors, resellers, retailers and OEM customers on six continents. The company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs.

   I always liked small USB flash drives and it's no surprise that i always carry one attached to my keychain. However although extremely convenient tiny USB flash drives were never really fast and that goes double now since there aren't really any USB 3.0 compatible ones currently available in the market (at least not to my knowledge) including the DataTraveler Micro 16GB. The bright side however is that 16GB is not a very large capacity to begin with and so even with USB 2.0 connectivity it shouldn't take very long to fill it with data (anything over 16GB would be overkill for such a small USB 2.0 flash drive). So although it's quite clear that the Kingston DT Micro 16GB is aimed towards people who put size above everything else still as always our job is to also check and see what kind of performance numbers one can expect and that's what we are about to do.