Three More External USB 3.0 Drives Benchmarked

Transcend StoreJet 25M3 (2.5”, 500 GB)

Transcend’s unit is a 2.5” portable drive that comes in a rugged, shockproof shell. The StoreJet 25M3 also has a one-touch button to trigger a backup process, so we would expect this product to be fast, robust, and versatile.

The exterior is solid--totally different than the brushed metal offering from PQI. A multicolor LED tells you the connection type (USB 2.0/3.0, power, data transfer) Inside, the drive is mounted in a vibration-dampening suspension to further improve anti-shock capabilities.

Transcend’s StoreJet 25M3 looks sportier, is more colorful, and uses a micro-USB connector instead of the type A connector we found on the PQI drive. Transcend smartly uses the most widespread cable type, making it easily replaceable.

The StoreJet 25M3 doesn’t reach the same throughput performance as the PQI H566 due to its slightly slower hard drive. Maximum sequential throughput of almost 89 MB/s is still decent, though. The minimum transfer rate of 43.5 MB/s is on par with the PQI drive and faster than what we’ve seen from A-Data and Buffalo. The Transcend device is also equivalent to the PQI drive when it comes to parallel read and write operations. There is a three-year warranty for this drive, while PQI doesn’t make any warranty statement.