Advanced security protects all data with built-in, “always-on” AES 256-bit encryption, All files and directories remain private and secure USB 3.0 Offers transfer of HD video, music libraries, and other digital files up to 5 times faster than USB 2.0 specifications, Comes with Imation Lock password protection software for Windows systems. Turn off the write protected switch. Some brand of USB flash drive has a physical write protected. Security application program – Imation LOCK will be stored in this area as well as the “Secure” partition area. Partition 1 – Secure Area The secure area is password protected and can be accessed by typing in the correct password only. If NO password exists, you can view either of the 2 partitions, but no partition is secure. Imation Secure Drive Software Encrypted - USB flash drive - 32 GB overview and full product specs on CNET.

Nov 13, 2020 • Filed to: USB Recovery • Proven solutions

Part 1. How Can I Retrieve Data from an Imation USB flash drive?

My PC suddenly got frozen, so I rebooted it. I removed my 8GB Imation USB without unplugging. When I inserted it into my PC again, my computer recognized my USB drive but I got the message that I need to format the USB if I want to use it. Is there any solution to solve my problem? I do need to get my data back!

This USB formatting problem is one of the most common reasons that cause USB data loss issues. Other reasons could be deletion, virus infection, or even system error. Fortunately, programs are available on the Internet that can help you retrieve deleted and formatted files from USB flash drives, including your Imation USB. Recoverit Data Recovery for Windows or Wondershare Data Recovery for Mac is what you need, which makes it possible to retrieve a variety of file types from your Imation USB, including images, videos, audio files, document files, etc.

A trial version of Wondershare Imation USB Recovery is available now. This trial version helps you to learn how the program works and gives you the chance to scan your Imation USB flash drive before purchasing the registered version.

Download the trial version free now! Windows version of Wondershare Imation USB Recovery is now fully compatible with Windows 10.

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• Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, emails from any storage device effectively, safely and completely.
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• Supports to recover data for sudden deletion, formatting, hard drive corruption, virus attack, system crash under different situations.

Part 2. Process Imation USB data recovery in 3 Steps

Connect your Imation USB with your computer and run Recoverit on your desktop.

Step 1. Choose data lost scenario to Recover Data from Imation USB

Select the scenario you met to recover data. You can select the option of 'External Devices Recovery' to start USB lost file recovery.

Step 2. Scan Your Imation USB to Perform Imation USB Recovery

Select the drive location of your Imation USB and click 'Start' to begin scanning for lost data.

Note: If a quick scan can't find your files, go to scan again with 'All-Around Recovery'. All around recovery supports deeply searching for more files from Imation USB drive, which takes a longer time than the quick scan.

Step 3. Retrieve Data from Imation USB Selectively

Now Recoverit will list all found contents on your Imation USB in categories, just as you can see from the image below.

To check how many files you will be able to reclaim, you can check file names one by one; or for images, you have a chance to preview them too.

Then select files you need and click 'Recover' to save them back to your computer or other storage devices.

Tips:

1. This guide is based on the Windows version of Recoverit. If you are a Mac user, you can follow the similar operations to recover data from Imation USB with Mac version.
2. To avoid data being overwritten, we highly suggest you do not save the recoverable data to your Imation USB during the recovery.

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Know USB Drive

Model: Imation Atom Flash Drive
Manufacturer: Imation
Provided By: Imation
Imation is one of the most widely recognized and respected names in the storage industry. Originally known as 3M Data Storage, the company was formed in the early 1950s to develop storage media for IBM tape drives. As time went on, it expanded its product lineup to include audio and video tapes as well as floppy disks. In 1996, 3M spun off its data storage and imaging divisions to become Imation. More recently, Imation has made the shift from analog to digital and has established itself as one of the world's leading providers of recordable CD and DVD media.

While best known for its data tapes and recordable media, Imation offers a wide range of storage products including portable hard drives, solid state drives (SSDs) and USB flash drives. This spring, Imation announced its new Atom Flash Drive. Roughly the size of a paperclip, the drive is less than 1.5 inches long and weighs in at less than an ounce. The Atom also includes password protection and drive partitioning software and is enhanced for Windows Vista ReadyBoost. Best of all, it comes with a 5-year limited warranty.

Packaging and Contents:

The Atom Flash Drive comes packaged as shown above. While the plastic bubble gives you a great view of the drive, it can be a little hard to get open without the help of a sharp knife or razor. Once opened though, you have access to the contents. Along with the Atom, you get a small lanyard which can be used to attach the drive to your keychain or mobile phone.

Physical Features:

The Atom is the smallest among Imation's flash drives. Embedded with a SIP (System in Package) module, the drive measures just 32mm long, 12mm wide and 4.8mm thick. At this size, the Atom is hardly noticeable when placed in a pocket or on a keychain.

The body of the Atom is constructed of a durable, but lightweight, black plastic. The drive also has a strip of aluminum showing the Imation logo as well as the capacity of the drive. Surprisingly, the Atom's USB connector is also constructed of plastic. I was a bit concerned that without a cap, the plastic connector would become damaged. However, it has stood up pretty well to every day use.

Installation:

As with most USB flash drives, the Imation Atom was very easy to install. Those running Windows ME, 2000 or XP can simply plug them into any available USB port on their computer. If the computer is already turned on, plug and play will automatically detect the drives.

According to Imation, the Atom is also compatible with Windows 98 SE. Take note that you will need to install some drivers before the drive can be used with this OS. While not included with the Atom, they can be downloaded from Imation's website.

If installed correctly, the Atom should show up in the Device Manager. Under Windows XP, the drive is identified as an 'Imation Atom'.

Software:

The Atom comes with Imation's LOCK software. The software, as well as a manual explaining how to use it, are located on the drive. If you delete the software or the manual by accident, they can be downloaded from Imation's support website.

The Atom comes preconfigured for use with Imation's LOCK software. Looking at the screenshot below, you can see that while a password has not been set, a small secure partition has already been created.

Before setting the password, you'll probably want to configure the size of the secure and public areas. Simply move the slider bar back and forth to choose the desired size. Keep in mind that once you make a change, the drive will be formatted and all files will be erased.

Next, you will need to set a password. The password can be a maximum of sixteen characters. Any letters, numbers or symbols can be used. If you're likely to forget your password, you can also provide a hint.

When removed, the Atom's secure partition will automatically lock. When inserted again, you will only see the public area. To access your protected files again, you will need to run the LOCK software and login using your password. A copy of the program is automatically copied to the public area so you can run it from any Windows computer.

Imation's LOCK software offers one additional security feature to prevent people from guessing your password and accessing your data. If the password has been entered incorrectly six times, the program will automatically format the drive and delete all of the data in the secure partition.

While easy to use, Imation's LOCK software does have its low points. Most annoying was the fact that you could not access both the secure and public areas at the same time. Normally, this wasn't a problem. However, when transferring files from the secure to the public area, you have to temporarily copy them to the hard drive. I'd also like to see an option to make the Atom bootable as well as a way to reconfigure the partitions without having to totally reformat the drive. Hopefully Imation can incorporate these things into future versions of the software.

The test system used in this review was a Dell OptiPlex 755. The computer came equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2.66GHz CPU, 2GB of DDR2 800MHz memory, a Western Digital WD800JD 80GB SATA hard drive and an ATI Radeon HD 2400XT 256MB video card. For the operating system, I installed a fresh copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3.

To test the performance of the Imation Atom, I ran a series of benchmarks using HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0 and SiSoftware Sandra Professional Business XII.SP2c. To get a feel for the 'real world' performance, I also copied and pasted 500MB of random files and directories in Windows Explorer. For comparison, I've also included test results from Memorex's Mini TravelDrive.

HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0:

Using HD Tach, we can benchmark a drive's read, write and burst speeds as well as its seek times and CPU usage. Looking at the screenshot above, you can see that while the Atom was a little slower when writing, its read and burst speeds were faster than the TravelDrive's.

SiSoft Sandra File System Benchmark:

While I am not a big fan of SiSoftware Sandra's optical drive benchmarks, it is a great tool if you want to test a system's performance quickly and easily. One of Sandra's more useful tests is the File System benchmark. This benchmark gives each drive an overall score, or 'Drive Index,' based on the results of its read and write tests.

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The results here were similar to what we saw with HD Tach. While faster when reading, the Atom lagged well behind the TravelDrive when doing buffered and random writes.

Microsoft visio full mega. SiSoftware Sandra Removable Storage/Flash Devices Benchmark:

Designed with removable storage and flash devices in mind, this benchmark tests a drive's read, write and delete performance using six different file sizes (512 Bytes, 32kB, 256kB, 2MB, 64MB and 256MB). The results are then given in both operations per minute and the corresponding net transfer rate in kB/second. This benchmark also computes an 'Endurance Factor,' representing the wear and life expectancy of flash devices.

The Atom was again the faster of the two drives when reading. While its read speeds peaked at 19200 kB/s, the TravelDrive reached a maximum speed of only 16000 kB/s.

While there were a few cases where the Atom had a slight advantage, it lagged behind the TravelDrive when writing 64MB, 2MB and 32kB files. Interestingly enough, both drives reached the same speed when writing 256MB files.

As I mentioned above, Sandra also expresses performance in operations per minute. To keep things simple, I've limited the results to the combined index and the total number of read/write/delete operations for each file size.

The Atom yielded some mixed results in this test. While Imaton's new flash drive completed more operations with 512M, 256kB and 2MB files, its combined index wasn't as high as the TravelDrive's.

The Endurance Factor represents the wear and life expectancy of a flash device. According to SiSoft, this number is computed by 'dividing the average performance (normal condition, i.e. sequential write) to the lowest performance (high-stress condition, i.e. same block re-write).'

'Real World' Benchmark:

To test the 'real world' performance of Imation's new flash drive, I copied and pasted 500 MB worth of randomly generated files and directories. All of the files are between 10 bytes and 32MB in size and no more than four directories deep.

Imation Lock Software

The Atom yielded some surprising results in this test. While the synthetic benchmarks indicated that it was the slower of the two drives when writing, it came out on top, beating the TravelDrive by 17 seconds. The Atom wasn't as fast as the drive from Memorex when reading. However, the performance difference was very small.

Conclusion:

Over the last year or so, Imation has turned out a variety of USB flash drives with new features and ever increasing capacities. With the Atom, the company has introduced its smallest drive to date. By utilizing a system in package (SIP) module, Imation has given users the ability to store up to 8GB of data on a drive that isn't much larger than a paperclip. The Atom's small size didn't have much of an impact on performance either. While not as fast as some other flash drives when writing, it reached some respectable speeds in our read tests.

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My only real concern with the Atom is its exposed USB connector. To make the drive as small as possible, Imation decided not to use a sliding or swivel mechanism or include a cap. As a result, the connector could become dirty or damaged over time. Then again, if something does happen, the Atom is covered by a 5 year warranty.

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The Atom is available now in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities. Suggested retail prices range from $17.99 to $99.99 depending on the size. However, the drive can be picked up for considerably less through some of the vendors on Pricegrabber.

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