Introduction

I would like to thank PQI for the review sample.

Established in 1997 by Jance Lu, Power Quotient International Co., Ltd. (PQI) is one of the largest memory module manufacturers in the world. Memory module production was the main focus during the early stages of the company but after years of experience, cutting edge R&D technology and professional knowledge, PQI quickly expanded with multiple lines of world class products and officially registered and listed on R.O.C. Over-The-Counter Securities Exchange in 2002. PQI`s channel of sales network extends overseas through its subsidiary companies with offices in USA, The Netherlands, Japan, Hong Kong and Mainland China. With a total of over 900 employees, professional fields covering DRAM Modules, Flash Cards, DiskOnModuleTM and Multi-Media products, PQI is now ranked a top ten DRAM and Flash leading manufacturer in the world.

From the manufacturer:

• Mobile USB flash drive, USB 1.1/2.0 compatible
• Hot swappable, USB Plug and Play compatible
• LED access indicator with three modes: busy, waiting, and off
• Store data, music, pictures, and videos

Packaging

Using a nice colorful packaging, PQI's Traveling Disk i221 is well displayed. On the back of the package is a list of features that was listed just above, and the list comes in eight different languages for a global market. The Traveling Disk i221 series comes in capacities ranging from 512 MB all the way up to 16 GB.

A Closer Look

In the package, there's the drive, a wrist strap and a quick user's guide that comes in eight different languages. One thing that would have been nice to have instead of the wrist strap would have been a lanyard.


We received the 1 GB version of the Traveling Disk series. With the end cap removed you can see PQI's custom USB end with a fancy design to it. It doesn't have a the usual metal exterior casing that most USB plugs have, but it just has a plastic toe with the contact end on top. This is the same one they use on the Intelligent Drive i810 we recently reviewed.


The drive has a very simple but attractive design to it. It tapers from back to front, a lime green side to contrast the white front and back of the drive. The end cap is on quite tight and would be fairly hard to loose. The actual casing is made of a tough plastic that would be quite hard to break.


The Traveling Disk i221's size is of average size, if not a little larger when it comes to the width of the unit. There is an LED read out on the top of the drive which has three states: Idle/waiting, busy, and off.