Verbatim Store 'n' Go OTG USB Drive

Verbatim’s Store ‘n’ Go is a plastic dual-head drive that's compatible with computers and Android smartphones. Coloured in black, the lightweight drive features a USB 3.0 interface on one end and a Micro-USB interface on the other. These are joined to sliding mechanism.

The dual drive doesn’t come with a lid, or two for that matter. Rather, the body is long enough to shelter both USB connections if the slider is set in the middle position. Move the slider left or right and one of the connections pops out. Slide it back and the connection will retract. This means only one connection can be used at one time.

There are advantages and disadvantages to the design of the Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go. Not having a lid means you don’t have to worry about losing it, and there is an elegance to its simplicity. On the other hand, it fails to feel solid and robust. If you wiggle it about in the palm of your hand, you can feel the metal innards fidget inside the plastic enclosure.

Worst of all is the feeling you get when you plug the drive into a computer or smartphone. We cringed each time we mounted the drive because it felt clumsy. Despite our concerns, it connected each time without issue. Just make sure you keep the toggle slider in a fixed position.

Verbatim is offering the Store ‘n’ Go in 16GB and 32GB storage options. Like Imation’s 2-in-1 drive, the Verbatim offering claims to work with only a select range of Android smartphones and tablets that support the on-the-go (OTG) USB specification. A list of the supported devices can be found here.

We tried the Verbatim drive with Android Jelly Bean smartphones not specified on the list of compatible devices and it worked perfectly fine. These included the LG G Flex and the Lenovo S6000 Android tablet.

An Android file manager is the only software needed to manage the drive. For the Android smartphones and tablets that don’t come with a file manager, a number of comprehensive options are available as a free download from the Google Play store. We recommend OI File Manger and ES File Explorer.

Verbatim claims the 16GB Store 'N Go has a read speed of up to 60 megabytes per second (MBps) and a write speed of 10MBps, while the larger 32GB model can read at 80MBps and write at 25MBps. These transfer speeds were reached over the faster USB 3.0 standard.

USB 3.0 performances

We performed several tests involving the transfer of movies, music albums and photo albums between the Verbatim drive, different computers and Android devices.

The computer used was a Samsung Series 9, which features a USB 3.0 port and a fast solid state drive. Transferring photos, music and movies from the computer to the drive, we achieved an average speed of 61MBps. Our tests revealed transferring fewer files simultaneously improved the transfer speed.

A 1.95GB movie transferred from the computer to the drive at a rate of 78MBps (it took 25 sec), while 287MB worth of music was copied at 47MBps (6sec), and 683MB worth of photos was completed at a rate of 56MBps (12 sec).

The Verbatim OTG USB drive has a much slower write rate. Transferring the same 1.95GB movie from the USB drive to the notebook resulted in an average speed of 9.95MBps (it took 3min 16sec).

Android smartphones and tablets

Transfers from the Verbatim dual-head drive to a smartphone or tablet occurred at a slower rate. We transferred 11.5GB of data — comprised of movies, music and photos — from the drive to the LG G Flex at a rate of 30MBps. The total transfer time was 7min 4sec.

Transferring files from a mobile device to a USB stick generally takes more time, and this was shown in our tests. Our 1.95GB movie was copied from the LG G Flex to the Verbatim drive at an average speed of 8.6MBps (3min 46sec).

Final thought

The Verbatim Store ‘n’ Go is a great product for those looking to share their multimedia files across multiple Android devices, without having to connect to a computer via a USB cable, and you can also use it as an external storage device for your phone while you are on the go.

We are impressed by its ability to copy files from the drive to different computers, tablets and smartphones quickly, and its design is pretty schmick. We are only left wanting for a better

The Verbatim Store 'n' Go OTG USB Drive is priced at $24.95 for the 16GB drive and $39.95 for the 32GB drive. Verbatim representatives did reveal to Good Gear Guide a 64GB drive will be made available too.