Sandisk’s Titanium flash drives are its premium brand. The new versions have shrunk to under 6cm and capacity is boosted to 2GB (4GB soon). The metal casing is tough and can withstand almost a tonne of compression. Usefully, the plug can be withdrawn into the body. Speed is good: we clocked its write speed at an impressive 8.5MB/s and its read speed at an excellent 16.7MB/s in our tests.

It also comes with Sandisk’s U3 software launcher. Sandisk bundles Avast! Antivirus to scan whichever PC you plug into, Skype so you can make VoIP calls wherever you go, and CruzerSync - for backing up, Outlook synchronisation and Desktop-settings transferral. You can easily install additional free apps like portable versions of ThunderBird email and OpenOffice along with premium apps like Digital File Shredder Pro and Anonymizer (anonymous surfing).

All this means you can safely work on any PC anywhere. At $99 the great speed and great features are great value. If you’re buying a USB key, buy this.