31 USB 3.0 Thumb Drives, Tested And Reviewed

[Guest]

It's hard to believe that the fastest USB 3.0-rated thumb drives can outperform the hard drive in your desktop PC. On the other hand, the slowest models shouldn't even be allowed USB 3.0 branding. We test 31 different drives to determine the quickest.

31 USB 3.0 Thumb Drives, Tested And Reviewed : Read more

 

[rolli59]

It would have been nice to see price performance index as well but good article.

 

[psikick]

It's not a surprise the Sandisk wins because this USB drive is actually a small SSD.. It uses the same controller used in Sandisk's ReadyCache SSD drives... the great thing about it is it is priced reasonably considering..

 

[Madn3ss795]

Been using this usb3.0 *SSD from Sandisk for half a year and I haven't got disappointed.Great device for the price. The only drawback I found is that its enclosure gets quite hot after 15mins of heavy use ( benchmarking ) because heat might reduce a SSD' durability.

 

[razor512]

The sandisk extreme works well.

I currently have the 16GB version (was $20 when I got it)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/razor512/8272978749/
does 200MB/s read and 57.3MB/s write

not as good as the the 64GB version but it is still really good

Read speed: http://i.imgur.com/TdcufSg.png

Write speed: http://i.imgur.com/jQVkBCa.png

 

[daveys93]

I have the 32 GB version of the SanDisk Extreme and it is a great thumb drive. The 16 GB version is a bit slow and the 64 GB is a bit expensive for some, the 32 GB is a good middle ground. Here are the benchmarks I used when trying to decide which USB3.0 drive to get:

http://www.whoratesit.com/SanDisk-Extreme-USB-30-32GB/Rating/1466

There is a toggle on that site that allows you to view the benchmark results for all three sizes.

Here is the full whoratesit.com article as a complement to the Toms article: http://www.whoratesit.com/Best-Flash-Drive/Comparison/1#rank1

 

[WyomingKnott]

In my case the limiting factor is the controller / port. I've got three USB 3.0 controllers: On my notebook at work, built into the motherboard at home, and a PCI-E one. The PCI-E one is twice the speed of the lowest one in 4k random writes.

If I were home I'd post the controller and the thumb drive model, but I'm not there so don't ask.

 

[a1sealc4]

Very interesting read I assumed most 3.0 usb drives were similar in speed.

 

[aznriptide859]

Why no Corsair Flash Survivor? I love mine, albeit the write times aren't the speediest.

 

[__-_-_-__]

finally a good article... -.- tkx

 

[RedJaron]

In my case the limiting factor is the controller / port. I've got three USB 3.0 controllers: On my notebook at work, built into the motherboard at home, and a PCI-E one. The PCI-E one is twice the speed of the lowest one in 4k random writes.

If I were home I'd post the controller and the thumb drive model, but I'm not there so don't ask.

Too true, don't forget the controller speed. The Etron controller in my old-ish Z68 board ensures my USB 3.0 devices rarely go above 25 MBps even though I can get double that performance on my newer work computer.

 

[pjmelect]

I wonder what the speed of these devices is when used with a USB 2.0 port. Do they max out at around 30MB/s or are they slower than this on a USB2 port?

 

[Blazer1985]

Thanks to tom's charts I was able to buy the Sandisk Extreme 64gb and I love it. I think that usb sticks should have a rating, like sd / cf cards btw.
No other site offers such thorough tech analisys. Thanks Tom.

 

[spooky2th]

Looks like USB 3.0 drives are not all created the same.

 

[SirGCal]

Newegg has a ton of reviews on that particular drive failing very rapidly which offers up some concern... They all said it was fast as heck until it went belly up. Then poof. Some warrantied it on their 3rd... Wounder if the manufacturer fixed the issue yet.. ???

 

[Madn3ss795]

I wonder what the speed of these devices is when used with a USB 2.0 port. Do they max out at around 30MB/s or are they slower than this on a USB2 port?

Maxed read speed ( 30-33mb/s ) but sequential write speed got capped at around 27mb/s only. Tested myself.

 

[saymi]

I bought 3 sandisk extrermes about a year ago and using them for different purposes. I installed Linux into one of them and it works flawlessly. Others are for storage and application usage. I did not considered buying an alternative. I have not had any compatibility issue with any hardware yet.

 

[marraco]

Nice. Now hack it, install windows and run benchmarks against common HD benchmarks

 

[andy5174]

I had been waiting for this for ages!

 

[BWMerlin]

A really nice article, is there any chance of one about SD cards?

 

[ronin2009]

no mention of the "Lexar JumpDrive Triton" ??! one of the fastest usb 3.0 keys out there

 

[ETech Maggy]

here's the list of top 6 flash drives ,with the transfer speed of 70 Mb (Y)

http://www.etechmag.com/2012/11/30/top-6-fastest-usb-30-flash-drives-20122013.html

 

[dbaps2]

While this drive is fast. it's very poor on compatibility. I've had errors on Mac OSX Extended format (last block can't be written to), sometimes problems on NTFS. Sandisk did replace both of my thumb drives, but had the same problem. Hopefully they have fixed this problem. Perhaps the most current Sandisk Extreme thumb drives are better. Check out the Sandisk forum and you will see I'm not alone in my complaints.

 

[dbaps2]

While this drive is fast. it's very poor on compatibility. I've had errors on Mac OSX Extended format (last block can't be written to), sometimes problems on NTFS. Sandisk did replace both of my thumb drives, but had the same problem. Hopefully they have fixed this problem. Perhaps the most current Sandisk Extreme thumb drives are better. Check out the Sandisk forum and you will see I'm not alone in my complaints.

 

[spooky2th]

This might be the fastest USB in the world. The SuperTalent, USB3.0 Dram Disk.

http://www.thessdreview.com/hardware/supertalent-usb-3-0-express-dram-disk-review/