How to Copy Your Data on Up to 21 USB Flash Drives At The Same Time

USB flash drives are pretty much the most popular types of portable data storage devices around, and this is the reason why they are also used (on quite a large scale, I might add) as promotional items. However, copying the same files on a very large number of drives is extremely difficult when using a normal computer (which generally sports a maximum of 4 – 8 built-in USB ports),
and this is exactly the reason why the German company Altec Computersysteme launched the USB Stick CopyStation 21 Ultra, which can copy the same files on up to 21 different drives.

The system from Altec comes with pre-installed copying software (which works under Windows XP Professional), which, according to the company's statement, has the same "look" and "feel" as the software present in the other machines from Altec. Furthermore, the station is supplied with either an English or a German keyboard and operating system, a mouse and a DVD drive.

The CopyStation’s transfer rate is approx. 75 MB/sec, which makes it about 50 % faster than all other products on the market (at least according to the manufacturer's statement) For example, copying of 21 USB sticks with 512 MB each takes about 2.5 minutes (the speed is dependent on the drive's maker and model). Furthermore, in order to optimize data transfers, the USB Stick CopyStation 21 employs no less than three different copying methods, namely copying of entire data images, copying of short images and the so-called file copying method.

The USB Stick CopyStation 21 Ultra works with a wide variety of Flash drives, including here USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 compatible models. However, it does impose certain physical limits, since said portable storage solutions must be less than 11 mm in width and less than 42 mm in height, if all 21 USB slots are to be used. However, there are no restrictions concerning the lengths of the USB sticks used.

The USB Stick CopyStation 21 Ultra is available at various retailers for around 2695 US dollars, which makes is not that high a price, especially since the targeted market segment is represented by corporate customers.