I confess to being paranoid about two things tech.
The first is losing data and the second is having my data fall into the hands of someone else.

So when offered the opportunity to trial the Freecom 120GB USB Memory card, which offered password protection, I was pleased to say “thank you”.

Feel free to take 3 credit cards, one Starbucks card, one gym membership card and a travel card out of your purse and stack them atop of each other. There is the size of your Freecom 120GB USB Memory device – coated in rubber. Cool. Very useful if using it as a memory extension for your laptop / netbook whilst on the go. It’s not going to slide anywhere and is certainly small enough to carry around without noticing its addition whatsoever.

The next thing I noticed was the 3 sided instructions – amazingly simple. Unfortunately a little too simple as they miss out a key step and if you’re not very confident, especially when playing with a device that password protects data, it can be quite unnerving. However I tend to be a bit bolshy so I tapped away on various possible files until the one that lead me back in line with the instructions tallied. They do however need to address this. Please note, it is fully compatible with both Mac and PC  - although I only trialled it on a PC. It may be that the instructions are perfect for Mac set-up.
What was reassuring in the process however was that on linking the device to my PC via a the USB cable supplied, was the small blue light that suddenly came on, on the device. The device is ‘bus’ powered, basically meaning it runs from the device you plug it in to, rather than needing yet another cable or a separate power source. Thoughtful.

Thereafter things went from ok to very good. The interface for transferring files from PC to device and creating a security pass was wonderfully simple. The file transfer time was certainly of a reasonable speed and when, the next night PI tried to access the data on the USB memory, the most she could do was add more data, without actually seeing what I had already stored on it. Smug grin from me!

Despite being described as “wallet sized” the device is too deep to realistically stick in either a wallet or a purse but I find myself liking it.

I very much think it has its place for securely carrying around precious photographs, databases and the like and should it get stolen, the most a standard hacker could do is wipe the memory by undertaking a factory reset. Furthermore 120GB is more than enough memory space for Jane Bloggs – and an excellent additional memory for your netbook, if needed! If you’re a full-on memory geek then there’s a 160GB version available.

So, with instructions that need a small re-vamp, a lack of a carrying case of any description but with a fabulous size both in its literal size and memory capacity and an efficient password encryption system, I checked out the price...
120Gb has a RRP £84.99 and the 160GB version comes in at £99.99 RRP...

I think if security, back-up and size matters to you, I would recommend this device whole- heartedly.

See www.freecom.com for more details. Also available online from Amazon