A Closer Look

At first glance, the Xporter Magnum looks like a very solid flash drive. It is also very noticeable, not only for its larger than average size, but for its fiery metallic red paint job. The entire device is encased in either hard plastic or metal, which feels very durable. The front shows the model name and its capacity, while the back boasts a large Patriot Memory logo. The back end of the flash drive feels very secure when attached to a lanyard or a keyring. There is a “stealth” activity LED on the back end of the flash drive as seen above. It actually took me a while to notice it, because it is only visible from a very shallow angle, and is invisible from above.


Removing the cap can be a bit tricky, because it fits snugly to the flash drive. The caps stays on securely, but the design has the potential to lead to a loose-fitting cap after heavy use. Even if you do lose the cap, the flash drive still feels ready to withstand the daily bashings of your pocket contents, and the occasional drop to the floor. Unfortunately, with the cap attached to the back of the flash drive, the activity LED is completely covered.


The Xporter Magnum is not only much larger in capacity than your average flash drive, but is also slightly larger in physical size. I placed the Xporter Magnum on top of a CD, as well as next to another one of my flash drives to illustrate its size. While the Xporter Magnum is larger than my other drive, it is by no means "too big." In fact, it is extremely compact for its capacity, as it would take several common flash drives to add up to the Xporter Magnum’s capacity.