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A few weeks back Kingston sent over one of their 32GB DataTravelers for a bit of an evaluation and, with the hustle and bustle of Computex, we have to concede that it never really got a fair shake.
Sitting here for a few minutes break in between SSD reviews, I just happened to pick it up and noticed for the first time that it is capable of 100MB/s read and 70MB/s write in USB 3.0.
Really? Have typical flash drives actually kicked up their heels this much? Lets check it out!
The Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 flash drive is available in 16, 32 and 64GB and is fully compatible in both USB 2 and USB 3 ports. Not only does it carry a solid 5 year warranty with Kingston, but also, this is accompanied by Kingstons 24/7 support. A quick check of NewEgg shows it priced at $53.99 (16GB), $78.49 (32GB) and $140.99 (64GB) although there is a MIR on right now that brings the 32GB drive to $69.99.
The true question of the day with this drive, however, has to be whether it will live up to its claims of 100MB/s read and 70MB/s write for USB 3 and parallel 30MB/s speeds at USB 2.0. We couldn’t resist throwing this on the machine and doing a few benchmarks which just may surprise you. Take a look at our Crystal results below; Usb 3 left and USB 2 right.
While the USB 2 scores dip just a bit, the USB 3 results are absolutely amazing at 125MB/s read and 83MB/s write. To give you an idea just how far we have advanced in the passed 3 years, these results are equal to that of the first Sandisk and Samsung SSDs released.
In contrast to the SSD which requires the all important low 4 k random transfers for operating system and application loading, the typical flash drive these days, especially in a 32GB capacity, will be storing larger files to include media where these high sequential transfer speeds are needed most. Ever wonder just how much 32GB will hold? Kingstons even got you covered there with a chart displaying typical storage:
All in all, the Kingston DataTraveler 32GB Ultimate 3.0 is a powerful USB flash drive and an excellent value for the buck.