Kingston DataTraveler Workspace – A Windows to Go USB drive

What’s this? A USB3.0 flash drive? Hold on to your horse, this is more than a mere storage accessory. The Kingston DataTraveler Workspace is a bootable storage device designed to be used with Windows To Go, a feature of Windows 8 Enterprise which lets users create a portable version of the OS, that can be used directly from a USB drive. With BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) being encouraged and increasingly prevalent in many enterprise, it gives employees the freedom to work on the computing device of their choice or shift between various PC / laptop without having to worry about contents. Additionally, it is safe and secure to work from any workstation.

Design and build

A bit over-sized when compared to the current generation of flash drives but the Kingston DataTraveler Workspace looks very much the same in physical appearance. The bronze color with accentuated silver lining and the chunky plastic and metallic construction has a nondescript look and doesn’t warrant a second curious look. It’s rugged and sturdy and you could be pretty be safe about occasional falls. A cap secures the USB plug from being damaged or dirties and when in use it can also be fitted onto the rear, so you don’t have to worry about misplacing it. There is also a lanyard loop for the drive, letting you attach it to a lanyard or keychain. Measuring 0.65 by 0.9 by 2.9 inches (HWD), as I mentioned a bit over-sized it can obscure the adjacent USB port when in use. The one at our review desk had a 32GB capacity. The drive is a USB 3.0 interface that is backwards compatible with USB 2.0.

Features

So what differentiates DataTraveler Workspace from a regular flash drive? To begin with it is a portable and bootable operating system and when in use it reads as a fixed NTFS drive. In technical words, it is a compact solid-state drive (SSD) equipped with an integrated Sandforce SSD Controller and support for TRIM and S.M.A.R.T commands. To enhance the security, the drive has support for BitLocker encryption and Trusted Boot anti-amlware an boot protection software. The drives includes Windows To Go of the 64-bit version of Windows 8 Enterprise keeping in mind the corporate requirements. The drive can be run on any machine running Windows 7 or Windows 8. To run Windows To Go, ideally a machine should have a 1GHz or more processing power, a minimum 2GB of RAM and DirectX 9-capable graphics. Kingston states that the DataTraveler Workspace offers a sequential speeds of up to 250 MB/s for both read and write. It also mentions sustained random 4k read and write speeds 3,750 and 9,8oo IOPS respectively. A score of 22,250 using PCMARK Vantage HDD suite is also listed. Out of the 32GB capacity of DataTraveler Workspace, 17.5GB is available for storage. You can also have your own installation of other essential softwares that would fit into the space. For more, you can do with extra high-capacity flash drive or portable external hard disk. An interesting, mention worthy feature is if the DataTraveler Workspace gets accidentally removed, you get 60 seconds to replug it without disrupting your work or loosing any data. So by mistake if your hand graze the drive and it gets removed or your hyper-active kid pulls the drive out, no tensions.

In use

Using the Kingston DataTraveler Workspace is no rocket science but a simple plug and play. Of course, you need to know to initiate boot sequence on the machine you are working. Once on boot mode and selected,  the included Windows To Go copy is ready to use.  There is no additional setup required as the quick setup process takes care of  the process. The drive has a symbiotic relationship with the device you use. It uses the hardware power of the PC/laptop you are working except for the target hard drive of the machine. You would be making use of the core-processing power, RAM and graphics capabilities of the machine without letting the files in  the drive or the host machine to be accessed by each other. So you can be assured of securing your files or even risk of getting infected from the host PC. This is what would attract the Kingston DataTraveler Workspace as an ideal choice for BOYD corporate requirements.

Conclusion

Portable and straightforward with it’s simple plug and play usability, the Kingston DataTraveler Workspace is a great choice for BYOD which can convert any PC to a secured environment to work on the go, anywhere.]]>