31 USB 3.0 Thumb Drives, Tested And Reviewed

By Manuel Masiero, Achim Roos
published

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.

USB 3.0 Thumb Drives With Special Functionality

Three of the thumb drives we're reviewing (the PQI Tiffy, Integral's Crypto Dual, and the LaCie RuggedKey) are in this category for very different reasons.

PQI's Tiffy is the slimmest drive in our round-up. With its height of 4.5 mm, it’s just as thick as a USB port. This makes it significantly smaller than the other products we benchmarked. The size difference is especially notable compared to the rugged drives on the previous page. It might not stand up to rough treatment like they can, but we're a lot more comfortable with the Tiffy in our key chain.

The Integral Crypto Dual, as well as the LaCie RuggedKey, encrypt data using 256-bit AES. They only allow access to that data once you've entered a password that's set through bundled software.

LaCie's RuggedKey employs a modified version of TrueCrypt. It also includes a simple data backup utility called LaCie Timeline, which unfortunately doesn’t feature disaster recovery.

Manuel Masiero
35 Comments Comment from the forums
  • rolli59
    It would have been nice to see price performance index as well but good article.
    Reply
  • 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.. :)
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • 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
    Reply
  • 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
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • a1sealc4
    Very interesting read I assumed most 3.0 usb drives were similar in speed.
    Reply
  • aznriptide859
    Why no Corsair Flash Survivor? :( I love mine, albeit the write times aren't the speediest.
    Reply
  • __-_-_-__
    finally a good article... -.- tkx
    Reply
  • RedJaron
    11204798 said:
    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.
    Reply