Product Number: OCZUSBATVT4G
Manufacturer Product Page: OCZ Technology | Products | Flash Media | OCZ ATV Turbo USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Price: Approx. $95
Warranty: Lifetime
Availability: Now


While they are not the most prestigious peripherals, many of us would be absolutely lost without our trusty flash drives. I remember paying over $100 for my first 128MB USB 1.0 flash drive just a few short years ago and since then there have been amazing advances in flash technology and the drives which house it. Now we are seeing drives of 32GB which access their data at lightning fast speeds and the size expansion doesn’t show any sign of slowing down.

Due to stiff competition in the USB flash drive arena, companies have been forced to think outside the box and they have come up with some very unique concepts. One of the new trends with flash drive manufactures is to release products which are billed as being able to withstand any type of abuse or are of extremely small stature. This review will be focusing on the former rather than the latter since we will be looking a little closer at OCZ’s beastly ATV Turbo 4GB drive.

OCZ is billing their new ATV Turbo as a rugged go-anywhere drive which can withstand almost any punishment while offering face-distorting speeds. The Turbo (26-30MB/s write speed) only comes in the 4GB capacity for now but the standard ATV (14-15MB/s write speed) comes in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities for a bit more variety. Thw ATV comes with a laundry list of features such as dual channel technology for higher speed, USB 2.0 compatibility, Windows Readyboost compatability and OCZ’s lifetime warranty. The price of nearly $100 without any included encryption software may seem a bit much for many consumers but this seems to be the going price for a high performance 4GB flash drive. If it can perform up to its “Turbo” namesake, it may well be worth the price of admission.