Question 1

Is it compatible with USB 2?

Accepted Answer

I've had this in 2.0 and 3.0 USB slots and it works just fine either way.  USB 3.0 has been designed to be backwards-compatible, so that most, if not all, USB 3.0 devices will be fully functional in both ports.

Question 2

Are the two holes on the corner of the device sufficient to add a key ring circle?

Accepted Answer

The one I have there is a hole through the corner that could have a string ran through it. Rather or not they made all of them with this hole I don't know but seeing as it's in the photo looking that way it would seem a good chance they all would be like that.

The hole seems big enough for a decent size string, and I would think a string that size would be stronger then the plastic, but that is just my guess.

I keep my flash drives in a wallet designed for it that zips shut, it seems every time I tried using a flash drive on some kind of string, key chain or similar they always got lost.

Question 3

does the clear plastic cover come off prior to plugging into pc?

Accepted Answer

With enough force it might but it is not supposed to.  It just slides to either expose the connector or cover it.

Question 4

Do I need to update or get a new USB Card for my machine to read this drive the get the Full Benefit from this Drive???

Accepted Answer

No need to upgrade to use the drive but you will be limited to a data transfer rate of 480 Mbit/s.  The USB 3.0 specification for transfer rate is up to 5 Gbit/s (or 5,000 Mbit/s).  You might still see an improvement over your current USB 2.0 flash drives since most of the models fell short of what USB 2.0 was capable of.

Question 5

Is the light brown thing on the end (that says PNY on it) a sliding cap?  If so, how do I get it off. I have been completely unable to budge it.

Accepted Answer

The easiest way is to make a fist with your left hand, and firmly hold on to the grey/brown cap, letting the device stick out the right side of your fist. Then, use your right hand to smartly strike or push the lighter grey part into your left fist. This should move the cap and expose the USB port.

Question 6

This is embarrassing; I'm a Luddite. How do I insert this thing?  My other flash drive just slips into the slot. Am I supposed to be able to take this thing apart, or something?  I just want to insert the dmd thing into the laptop port.

Accepted Answer

All PNY thumb drives "operate" the same way (mechanically speaking).

Note that it is a two-color device!

Grasp the white end between the thumb and index finger of your right hand.

With your left hand, grasp the "black" end between the thumb and index finger.

PUSH the black end toward your right hand.  It slides, doesn't it?  From left-to-right.  That exposes the USB connector which can then be plugged into your computer's USB port in the usual fashion.

Note that this is a USB 3.0 device, but it will function in a USB 2.0 computer port -- it will NOT run as fast, however.

Question 7

What is the file system for this? NTFS or FAT12, 16, 32?

Accepted Answer

It is delivered in the FAT32 format.  My experience with flash drives is you can reformat it to NTFS or any other.  I'm using it with a Vizio Smart TV to access a cartoon and video library for my kids.  Works great that way since most TVs will work with a flash drive, but won't with a USB hard drive.

Question 8

Does this come with any password protection?

Accepted Answer

No it does not.  The Lexar Flash drive does come with a security program, but it's a pain to use.  Ideally everyone would like to PW protect a folder.  What the Lexar Software does is encrypt the entire folder contents.  I think they all pretty much work like that, but there may be programs around to that.

Question 9

Does this flash drive have any sort of password protection software?

PNY 128GB Turbo USB 3.0 Flash Drive Model P-FD128TBOP-GE

Accepted Answer

No, it's not included with this drive. There are USB flashdrives available which include the option to "lock" some or all of the flashdrive's contents with a password or fully encrypt the contents for even greater security (here at Newegg go to USB Flashdrives and scroll down left hand side of page and look for "Security" section to browse the models with password or encryption). Or, you can use a well-known free software called TrueCrypt. One other option that may be worth a try is the free software My Lockbox which creates a single folder which is password protected. You can put as much stuff as you want into that one folder. Search Google for TrueCrypt and My Lockbox.

Question 10

Sirs, Is this Flash Drive compatible with MAC Systems, Possibly iMac's. Also can it share between Windows systems and Apple System's. Or am I thinking of a different PNY Flash Drive ? Thank You Sirs.

Accepted Answer

After repartitioning it for Mac OSX using a Disk Utility (formatting it as GPT / Mac OS Extended Journaled), it worked fine.

Questions & Answers