Lexar Media JD256-231 256 MB USB 2.0 JumpDrive

I've had this JumpDrive for three years and recently ran it through a cold water wash cycle. After seeing another reviewer's comment about the same mishap, I let it sit for a day, then tried it out. EVERYTHING WAS FINE. Amazing. I only wish the cap didn't come so off easily.

I have had a Lxar Jump Drive for only about 3 weeks and it has stopped working...totally....no warning, nothing.

My entire secure information is now lost, accounts, passwords, source code,everything.

Not reliable enough for me to ever purchase again. I can't afford to loss everything again.

Sorry. Once bitten....forget it. When it comes to data storage I only give a device one chance.

I purchased this USB drive a year ago in order to transfer data between my work PC and Macs at home. I had no idea that the drive would prove to be so unreliable.

It typically takes between 10-20 attempts at inserting/removing the drive until it is recognized (indicated by the LED on the drive flashing a couple times). I would think that it was my OS if it wasn't for the fact that I've encountered the same behavior on the following systems: Windows XP, Windows 2000, Mac OS X 10.3, and Mac OS X 10.4. All behaved the same way.

I bought this drive so that I could quickly transfer large files between computers; however, I didn't count on spending 10 minutes attempting to get the drive to be recognized. Unfortunately, at this point I'm just going to have to throw it away and look for a better product.

I own several USB 2.0/1.1 drives (including 3 of these) and this drive works 'ok' but it definitely isn't anything special:

The actual functionality of the drive is fine, that is to say that you can transfer files to and from it, and it plugs into a USB port for transferring files to and from most computers that support USB--but that is what it's supposed to do. The capacity of this unit is also now a bit dated; a mere 256MB, though was standard when I purchased mine.

The drive's physical characteristics are where it has the most problems. The design is, for lack of a better word, "bad". As Flash drives go, this unit isn't very small at all, in fact it is rather wide. Its abnormal shape can be intrusive when trying to use USB ports that are lined side-by-side, or in using USB ports that are next to the legacy keyboard and mouse ports on most motherboards. Subsequently, I've had many problems with the drive just not *fitting* into a port because it wants to occupy the space of the adjacent ports. The cap is also very poorly designed. It consists of a very thin plastic cover with a clip that slips off easily, inevitably leaving you with either a broken cover, or none at all.

I had a really bad experience with this jumpdrive. My original stick gave up on me in just 4 months. It just stopped working. The replacement died from a power surge within one week. Unfortunately, Lexar doesn't replace damaged jumpdrive so I have to by a new one. From my personal experience, I highly recommend against this flash drive. You may be more lucky, though.