I’m always on the lookout for bargain gear, especially after Christmas. I spotted the OCZ Technology Roadster 1 GB for $10 CDN and grabbed a couple, since USB flash drives are always handy. When the package arrived I was blown away by the size of the unit: 3.5 cm long and 2 cm wide.

Inside the black plastic case is the actual drive; everything is contained in the space of the USB connector. Unfolded it connects to an available USB port; it doesn’t lock into the open position, so you may find yourself flip flopping it around to get it plugged in.

No software is packaged with the drive, but that’s not a huge loss with the Portable Apps website and software bundle. What is included is a keychain strap and a 45 cm USB extension cable. The drive is formatted as FAT32.

Performance is not what you’d expect from a USB 2.0 flash drive.   I benchmarked all my removable storage and found on average USB 2.0 transfer speeds are 10 MB/s: the Roadster is 0.7 MB/s.  I tested two different units in case there was a problem but received the same result.  See the benchmark below.

It’s an amazingly small piece of vital IT equipment, if you can live with the slow performance.