timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I'm looking for a cheap and fast 16GB USB flash drive. Does anyone have experience with these? I would rather not mess around with MIRs if possible.
Fast 16GB USB Flash Drive
- Thread starter timwhit
- Start date
Fushigi
Storage Is My Life
Do you want fast reads, writes, or both? Most drives can read decently fast but are a good bit slower at writing.
ddrueding
Fixture
It isn't known for speed, and I haven't benchmarked them, but I'm fond of the OCZ Diesel. Just bought a pair of 16GB ones for on-the-road photo backup.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
Fast reads are more important than fast writes, but both are nice. I'm planning on using it for booting a Linux live cd. I would guess random reads are of utmost importance here.
I will also use it for transferring large files between computers, speed is less important here, I just don't want it to be a dog.
Stereodude
Not really a
Fast and cheap don't go together when it comes to USB flash drives. The fastest ones are the Buffalo quad channel SLC ones that aren't sold in the US, but the 16GB model is ~$300.
Unfortunately it seems that flash drive makers weren't able to convince most consumers that faster performance was worth paying for since nearly all of them have abandoned their high speed / more expensive products.
Unfortunately it seems that flash drive makers weren't able to convince most consumers that faster performance was worth paying for since nearly all of them have abandoned their high speed / more expensive products.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
Let me rephrase: What USB flash drive would you buy that combines decent speed and a decent price?
Stereodude
Not really a
Maybe the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX or Patriot Xporter XT Boost. :scratch:
Fushigi
Storage Is My Life
And Corsair has a Voyager GT that is in theory "designed for speed".
Stereodude
Not really a
They had discontinued all of their GT drives for a while, but I guess they came back for the 16GB size. Previous GT drives used SLC memory, but that one uses MLC memory, and the reviews are mixed.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
A good starting point would be to throw out any drives that don't support Readyboost.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
I ordered the Patriot Xporter XT Boost 16GB. If I actually send in the MIR, it will be pretty cheap.
ddrueding
Fixture
If someone can propose a decent performance test, I'll be happy to benchmark mine against it...
Stereodude
Not really a
ATTO of course!
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
How about something that involves random reads and writes.
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
You could put the Fedora 11 Live CD on there and see how long it takes to get to the desktop. If you have multiple drives it will be repeatable.
ddrueding
Fixture
Interesting results...
Stereodude
Not really a
Were those all on blank drives, or what?
ddrueding
Fixture
Yup, all blank except the Vertex (OS). My 16/32/64GB drives are out at the moment, but I'll try to test them when they get back.
Stereodude
Not really a
You ran the default 256MB Lenth / Queue depth of 4 / Direct I/O / Overlapped I/O test?
ddrueding
Fixture
Yup.
Stereodude
Not really a
My USB2.0 flash drives. None were blank, but I don't think it matters.
1GB Buffalo RUF2-S:
4GB Buffalo RUF2-S:
4GB Patriot Xporter XT:
512MB OCZ Rally2:
2GB Generic:
2GB Corsair Flash Voyager:
1GB Buffalo RUF2-S:
4GB Buffalo RUF2-S:
4GB Patriot Xporter XT:
512MB OCZ Rally2:
2GB Generic:
2GB Corsair Flash Voyager:
Stereodude
Not really a
A few more random data points
8GB Sandisk Extreme IV CF 45MB/sec in Kingston 19in1 (UDMA) USB2.0 reader:
8GB Sandisk Extreme III SD 20MB/sec in Kingston 19in1 (UDMA) USB2.0 reader:
4GB Lexar 133x SDHC in Kingston 19in1 (UDMA) USB2.0 reader:
FWIW, my Lexar SDHC reader is a little faster than the Kingston 19in1 for SDHC cards. No ATTO graphs though.
8GB Sandisk Extreme IV CF 45MB/sec in Kingston 19in1 (UDMA) USB2.0 reader:
8GB Sandisk Extreme III SD 20MB/sec in Kingston 19in1 (UDMA) USB2.0 reader:
4GB Lexar 133x SDHC in Kingston 19in1 (UDMA) USB2.0 reader:
FWIW, my Lexar SDHC reader is a little faster than the Kingston 19in1 for SDHC cards. No ATTO graphs though.
I use CF cards in USB adapters, but the cards are faster than the USB. I can't wait for USB 3.0. I bought a Sandisk Cruzer type of USB drive a week ago or so. Reads were around 25 and writes around 12. Not bad, not great, but OK for $20 in the store.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
27MB/sec is basically the real world throughput limit for USB2.0. If you can get anything over 25MB/sec you're basically set.
Stereodude
Not really a
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
And a real HD for good measure...
500GB WD Passport:
The fact that the image is not loading right now is all the indication of quality I need to see for a WD Passport.
I have a 250GB WD Passport shell with a 500GB drive in it. Does that count?
Now I have $500 worth (3x640GB) of Seagate FreedAgent Go drives ripped up to pull the drives for a notebook and two PSDs. Is that better? At least one of the PSDs has an eSATA port in addition to USB, but my personal notebook cannot use eSATA.
I have 6TB of notebook drives. Crazy.
Now I have $500 worth (3x640GB) of Seagate FreedAgent Go drives ripped up to pull the drives for a notebook and two PSDs. Is that better? At least one of the PSDs has an eSATA port in addition to USB, but my personal notebook cannot use eSATA.
I have 6TB of notebook drives. Crazy.
ddrueding
Fixture
I have 1.5TB of SSDs....that is pretty crazy, too
ddrueding
Fixture
Speaking of bottlenecks...
time
Storage? I am Storage!
You probably can't get them, and I couldn't be bothered posting the graph, but Verbatim flash drives are remarkably good value. Not sure about international relativities, but 16GB costs about US$50 here.
I just measured 29MB/s reads and 15MB/s writes.
According to some fairly recent tests I saw, Super Talent is another fast but cheap brand. Most flash drives - regardless of price - suck at write performance, so it's handy to know the handful of ones that don't.
I just measured 29MB/s reads and 15MB/s writes.
According to some fairly recent tests I saw, Super Talent is another fast but cheap brand. Most flash drives - regardless of price - suck at write performance, so it's handy to know the handful of ones that don't.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Now that's interesting. Verbatim flash drives are available here (India), but no performance numbers are given on any vendor's website, and neither are they given on Verbatim's website. I was leery of buying this brand because so little is known about them.
The following are available:
Store'n'Go Mini Traveller 4GB Model 48002
Store'n'Go Mini Traveller 8GB Model 48003
Would you know how they perform? Thanks!
The following are available:
Store'n'Go Mini Traveller 4GB Model 48002
Store'n'Go Mini Traveller 8GB Model 48003
Would you know how they perform? Thanks!
time
Storage? I am Storage!
The drive I measured was in fact a 4GB version. I did find some specs somewhere that suggested that all sizes have the same performance, which is unusual. They're all ReadyBoost compatible, by the way.
Without seeing someone else's tests first, I wouldn't have considered Verbatim because I thought they were cheap stuff sold in discount stores. Whereas most expensive brands are actually poor performers. Just goes to show, you can't judge a book by its cover.
Without seeing someone else's tests first, I wouldn't have considered Verbatim because I thought they were cheap stuff sold in discount stores. Whereas most expensive brands are actually poor performers. Just goes to show, you can't judge a book by its cover.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Thanks time. Would you have the model # of the 4GB you tested?
time
Storage? I am Storage!
Sorry about the delay, Mubs. The drive itself doesn't have the model number on it, so I waited until I had a chance to go back to the store.
The 4GB is 47332 and the 8GB 47333. Both also have the code 0802-58, if that means anything.
The 4GB is 47332 and the 8GB 47333. Both also have the code 0802-58, if that means anything.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Thanks Time. The models numbers are different, so I don't know if what I get here will be duds. I read a news item the other day that USB-3 controllers will start to become available last quarter this year / first quarter next year, and that devices will also be available in the same time frame. Maybe it's worth waiting for USB-3 flash drives? I can always buy a USB-3 controller and stick it into my system.