14 DAY TRIAL // "Green" electronic products are extremely popular nowadays, since more and more people are becoming aware of the major environmental issues of our planet and actually try to do something about it. And that's exactly the case with the EarthDrive USB flash drive from ATP, a device that really screams "green," starting with its packaging and ending with the material it's built from.
ATP Inc. is a well-known manufacturer of all sorts of memory products, whether we're talking about Flash memory or DRAM. However, with the EarthDrive, it has managed to create a product that's entirely bio-recyclable, manufactured from a biodegradable polyester derived from renewable resources, and which still manages to carry out its external storage functions very well.
Moreover, the company seems to have taken this eco-friendly approach even further, since it's actually donating a hefty portion of the EarthDrive's sales towards the planting of new trees across the world, which is indeed a noteworthy decision, especially given the fact that relatively few technology firms prove their commitment to the environment in such a manner.
Design and aesthetics
Overall design features
Design-wise, the EarthDrive is somewhat different from the numerous devices of this type available on the market. First of all, it's extremely small (it measures just 35.7 mm x 23.3 mm x 10.31 mm), which means that you really won't have any problems carrying it around. However, since such a small size might make it prone to loss/misplacement, the device also sports a small hole in the upper side, which can be used for attaching the drive either to the lanyard provided in the package or even to something more solid, like a backpack, bag, etc.
As far as the color scheme is concerned, the EarthDrive is rather "classical," featuring an all-white front side, while the rest of its body is all-black (reflective, piano-black, to be more precise).
Despite being manufactured from biodegradable materials, the quality of the build is quite impressive. Thus, there's nothing "cheap" about it, and even if the case looks just like plastic, it's by no means the cheap plastic we encounter in so many other similar products on the market.
Button and sliding mechanism
In order to keep the size to a minimum, as well as render the device as shockproof, dustproof and waterproof as possible, the drive from ATP features a sliding mechanism, which means that users will have to push a button in order to "eject" the USB connector.
The button is placed right in the middle of the drive and is dented and "tall" enough, compared to the surface level of the drive to ensure the fact that users won't have any problems pushing it out. Plus, no springs are involved, so the sliding mechanism is not very likely to fail anytime soon.
Last, but certainly not least, I'll have to point out that the drive also sports a LED activity indicator, which turns to bright blue whenever data is being transferred. Eco-friendly and bio-recyclable
We couldn't really end our analysis of the design of this drive without talking a bit about one of its main features, namely the one related to the materials it has been built from. As the guys over at ATP inform us, following a very long research period, they've been able to design and build the device using the maximum amount of biodegradable materials (PLA). PLA, or Polylactic acid is a biodegradable polyester derived from renewable resources, such as corn.
Hardware performance
Speed tests and storage capacity
Since we're talking about a portable (external) storage device, speed as well as storage space are two of the main issues of interest as far as the hardware performance is concerned. For this reason, we've subjected the ATP EarthDrive USB flash drive to two different sets of tests, one using the HD Tune Pro 3.10 benchmark software and the other one using the CrystalDisk Mark 2.1 application.
The results (for detailed data, check the photos) of both tests point out pretty much the same things. Thus, the drive has a very good read speed (around 29.5 MB/s on average), but, unfortunately, the write speed is far lower, rated at around 12.3 MB/s. In other words, overall, we're talking about a mid-level flash drive, but quite close to "high-end" as far as the read speeds are concerned.
Now, for the storage. The drive from ATP is available in three different versions, providing 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB of storage space. The sample we've tested was a 4 GB model, which proved to be enough to carry a large number of files, music and videos.
A few words on ATP's SIP technology
Since we're on the subject of hardware, we can't help mentioning a few things about the SIP (System-In-Packaging) technology used by ATP within the EarthDrive. This technology makes sure that all of the exposed components and so called "points of failure" are well encapsulated, which leads to lower chances of damage when subjected to shocks, water or dust.
Real-life performance
Working with the ATP EarthDrive
There's not much to be said about the way in which one uses the EarthDrive. Just slide out the connector and insert it into a USB port. That's about it, nothing really complicated.
The only thing I'll have to point out is related to the speed. You've seen the figures recorded in the tests, but let's talk about how they translate in real life. Thus, you probably won't have any problems transferring small files or documents, but you'll notice the rather low write speed when writing larger files (large videos, ISO disk images, etc.) to the drive.
Partitioning and security software
Like any modern flash drive should, the ATP EarthDrive also comes pre-loaded with a partitioning and security software suite, dubbed USBDiskUtility. This application runs directly from the drive and allows users to create two partitions out of the available storage space. One of them is a public one (it can be accessed freely), while the second one is a secure one, for which users can set a specific password.
Using this partitioning / security application is quite easy, and probably the best feature the software has to provide is the very easy manner in which one can set the available storage space (by simply dragging a pointer on a bar).
Conclusions
The Good
Plus, its design makes it extremely portable and easy to carry around, which is quite important nowadays. It can also take quite a lot of "damage" (water, dust, shocks), so it can easily become an important "weapon" in any eco-conscious road warrior's arsenal.
The Bad
The ATP EarthDrive represents a very good example of the fact that even IT products can be "green," despite requiring serious investments and design effort from the manufacturers. This is an extremely important issue nowadays (it will probably be even more important in the future), so a product that addresses it in such an interesting manner is sure to enjoy quite a high level of popularity, despite providing mid-range data transfer speeds.
Sales package
Since the ATP EarthDrive is so "green," the same goes for its package. Thus, the drive is delivered in a brown cardboard box that is completely recyclable, and the same goes even for the paper on which the label is printed. Plus, since the User Manual is stored in PDF format right on the drive, there's no need to print some additional pages.
- ATP EarthDrive USB Flash Drive; - Software (Security, Partitioning, User's Manual); - Lanyard.
