Verdict: ot really big enough for Windows, but ideal for a Linux laptop

You'll probably be more familiar with Transcend because of its wide range of other memory products, such as standard RAM modules and MP3 players, but it also produces SSDs, such as this 8GB IDE model.

The IDE Flash Disk was originally designed for industrial applications, which is why it has such a small capacity. The other two models in the series are even smaller, weighing in at 2GB and 4GB. Given how fast PC applications grow, 8GB doesn't provide much headroom, although it's more than enough for many distributions of Linux.

As a 2.5in form factor drive with a 44-pin EIDE interface, the IDE Flash Disk should fit easily into most laptops, although you'll need to buy an adaptor (around £10) to use it in a desktop PC.

With no buffer memory, the IDE Flash Disk's flash memory is left to fend for itself and, as a result, it's incredibly slow at writing, providing an STR of 9.2MB/sec. To put that into perspective, the Seagate Momentus 7200.1, a 2.5in laptop hard drive, averaged 35.2MB/sec, while the Raptor X averaged 66.4MB/sec. However, in real-world applications, the IDE Flash Disk sped past the more expensive Apacer AFD II, as the latter is even slower at reading data; the IDE Flash Disk averaged 19.2MB/sec, compared with 11.6MB/sec for the Apacer. For example, the IDE Flash Disk took 43 seconds to load Far Cry while the Apacer took a geriatric 50 seconds. That said, both drives lagged significantly behind the Samsung Flash SSD, which completed the same test in 34 seconds, thanks to its far higher STR.

Due to its incredibly slow writing performance and limited capacity, the IDE Flash Disk isn't suited to running a general-purpose PC. However, it's much faster at reading data than the similarly priced Apacer AFD II, so it's worth considering if want to run Linux or another streamlined OS on your laptop.

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