Five USB 3.0 Flash Drives For Your Pocket

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Do you carry around large amounts of data? Do you need to transfer it between devices in a hurry? We're examining five new USB 3.0-based portable storage solutions that might fit your needs. This time around, the focus is on maximizing portability.

Test System Configuration

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Test System Configuration
CPU Intel Core i7-980X (3.33 GHz, 12 MB Shared L3 Cache)
Motherboard Gigabyte X58A-UD9 BIOS F3 (05/28/2010) Intel X58 Express, LGA 1366
RAM Kingston KHX16000D3ULT1K3/6GX (6 GB) DDR3-2000 at DDR3-1333 CAS 7-7-7-20
Graphics Diamond Radeon HD 5870 1 GB 850 MHz GPU, GDDR5-4800
OS Hard Drive Western Digital Velociraptor WD3000HLFS, 300 GB 10,000 RPM, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16 MB cache
USB 3.0 Adapter Integrated NEC D720200F1 PCIe 2.0 Two ports, onboard 5 Gb/s PCIe interface
Sound Integrated HD Audio
Network Integrated Gigabit Networking
Power Corsair CMPSU-850HX 850 W Modular ATX12V v2.2, EPS12V, 80-Plus Gold
Software
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64
Graphics AMD Catalyst 10.6
Chipset Intel INF 9.1.1.1020
Benchmarks
h2benchw 3.13 Sequential and Sustained Reads, Writes (KB/s) Interface Bandwidth (MB/s), Access Times (ms)
IOMeter 2006.07.27 Database, File Server, Web Server, Workstation Patterns (IOPS)
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
16 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hardcore_gamer
    nice review..thanks toms
    Reply
  • tony singh
    Another proof of ever growing nature of techonology..
    Reply
  • rohitbaran
    The heavy-duty gaming hardware used for today’s test is coincidental, as it was already set up on the bench for an upcoming graphics test. It includes Gigabyte’s high-flying X58A-UD9 motherboard.
    Which is the mystery card?
    Reply
  • rohitbaran
    BTW, I liked Super Talent Super crypt, despite being slower than OCZ and PQI, it is the size I would be comfortable carrying in my pocket.
    Reply
  • huron
    I know these technologies are more toward the "bleeding edge," but it's nice to know that manufacturers see it as enough of a market to start making products. Maybe USB 3.0 will make it mainstream relatively soon.
    Reply
  • Would you be able to use the 128GB as a boot drive for win7 and how would they fall in price/performance between sata ssd and a VelociRaptor?
    Reply
  • justsayin
    Where's the hint on the upcoming graphics test?
    Reply
  • liquidsnake718
    can you play a game like crysis or even warcraft 2 well straight out of this ssd with a no cd crack?
    Reply
  • irh_1974
    reclusiveorcWould you be able to use the 128GB as a boot drive for win7 and how would they fall in price/performance between sata ssd and a VelociRaptor?I have been saying this to people for years, that one day you will have your whole PC installation on a flash drive. Just plug into a PC, boot from the flash drive and everything is there.
    Reply
  • bCubed
    Too bad it will still be some time before usb 3.0 will become mainstream and even longer for extremely good drives to come out
    Reply