PNY Attaché

With a sturdy, if unspectacular, build and decent write speeds, the 8GB PNY Attaché makes for a serviceable flash drive. However, its read speeds are merely average, and its stingy warranty leaves us wanting more.

Design

The PNY Attaché won’t win any design awards. The black and blue body isn’t particularly eye-catching, but the cursive Attaché logo does add a dash of visual flair. The hard plastic shell feels decidedly more durable than the Kingston DataTraveler Style; in fact, it feels nearly as strong as the OCZ Technology Rally2, which sports an aluminum body. Unlike many other flash drives, the PNY Attaché features a removable cap that’s just begging to be misplaced instead of the slide-out USB connectors found on the other drives. However, PNY bundles the USB thumb stick with a lanyard, so you can keep data close at hand.

Performance

While it’s compatible with Mac OS X, Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, users can expect mixed performance. The Attaché’s 17.7-MBps read speed finished just above the Kingston DataTraveler Style’s lowly 13.1 MBps, but its 10.0 MBps write speed proved to be just behind the  best-in-class SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus (10.4 MBps): it took 1 minute and 42 seconds to transfer a 1GB file vs. the SanDisk’s 1 minute and 38 seconds.

The impressive write speed, unfortunately, is offset by a couple of negatives: For one, the device lacks the backup and encryption software available on the SanDisk drive, and PNY offers a skimpy warranty: one year, as opposed to the five-year and lifetime warranties that come with other drives.

Verdict

Despite the affordable price, the PNY Attaché isn’t a flash drive that we can recommend over the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus or OCZ Technology Rally2 as those drives feature superior aesthetics, longer warranties, and more impressive read speeds. Unless you’re enamored of the PNY Attaché’s ability to write quickly, look elsewhere.