Faster than the wind: TOP 5 high-speed USB flash drives

SanDisk Ultra Flair 128 GB Price from 462 up to 1 595 ₴ →

Whether it 's an SSD or a USB flash drive, SanDisk's products are always praised by users for their speed and reliability. The SanDisk Ultra Fit is no exception to this rule, providing its owners with excellent communication speeds and a durable metal case that can survive more than one drop to the floor.

Both during synthetic tests and in real operation, the flash drive shows a high speed of reading and writing data: 145-150 Mb / s and 100-105 Mb / s, respectively(of course, when connected to a USB 3.0 port). These figures match the claimed values from the manufacturer. The speed can drop significantly when writing numerous small files (up to 1 MB each).

The flash drive comes in an elegant metal case with a hoop handle on one end for attaching to a keychain. With prolonged continuous use, the case tends to heat up, which, however, does not affect the performance of the device.

The drive comes pre-installed with a file password protection utility to keep your personal data private. And if the cost of a flash drive with 128 GB storage seems too high, you can always look at less capacious versions — 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB, which also have a very affordable price tag.

Silicon Power Marvel M70 64 GB

Silicon Power is one of the world's leading manufacturers of memory media. Its Marvel M70 model index is the flagship of its line of portable USB drives.

The storage medium is enclosed in a stylish curved case, the upper part of which is made of plastic, and the lower part is covered with zinc coating. The flash drive is not afraid of falling, and its connector is protected from dirt and breakage by the presence of a retractable mechanism in the design. The slider for leaving the plug is located on the top edge. An LED indicator also lurks in the corner of this recess — without knowing this location, it is quite difficult to detect it.

In the course of testing the capabilities of the drive using specialized utilities (CrystalDiskMark, USB Flash Benchmark, etc.), its speed characteristics even exceeded the values from the manufacturer. When sequentially reading large files, the speed rose to 250 Mb / s, and when reading — up to 80 Mb / s. With an array of small files, the flash drive handles somewhat worse. In fact, benchmark data is confirmed by real high-speed performance.

The Taiwanese brand provides a limited lifetime warranty on its offspring. And a nice bonus from it is the ability to download a number of useful utilities : SP Widget (for data backup), Recuva File Recovery (for recovering deleted or damaged files) and SP Recovery Tool Utility (for restoring the drive).

Reference. Lifetime warranty may not apply in some regions. For example, SanDisk products in Germany and Canada offer a 30-year warranty instead of a lifetime warranty. It should also be understood that the lifetime warranty is not in vain the prefix "limited" — it is provided for the entire life of the product while it is produced by the manufacturer (occasionally extended for another period).

Transcend JetDrive Go 300 64 GB

A nice aluminium case of a USB drive from the Taiwanese company Transcend hides two interface ports at once for connecting a USB flash drive to third-party devices: at one end there is a USB 3.1 connector, and at the other — Lighthing.

The Lighthing port allows the Transcend JetDrive Go 300 to be used as an external drive for Apple portables. The interaction of a flash drive with a Cupertino smartphone or tablet occurs through the JetDrive Go proprietary utility, which is available for download in the AppStore. The application has a number of minor bugs (for example, it only works in portrait orientation), but at the same time it is easy to learn and manage. Users note the stable playback of video and audio files directly from the drive's memory, as well as the easy creation of data backups.

The speed characteristics of the flash drive fully correspond to the claimed values: when connected via the USB 3.1 interface, data is read at 120-130 Mb / s, and written at 60-65 Mb / s. The Lighthing port limits the communication speed to 20 Mb/s. These figures allow you to write and read large files in seconds. When writing many small files, the speed traditionally drops, which is typical of the entire family of USB drives.

The model is available in versions from 32 GB to 128 GB in black or white body colour. It is practically devoid of shortcomings. These can only be attributed to caps that are not attached to the case, which makes them easy to lose. Their absence will not affect the performance of the flash drive — it will still be able to work quickly and act as a removable storage medium for the iPhone and iPad, a priori deprived of the possibility of expanding the memory.

SanDisk Extreme PRO 128 GB

The USB drive with the PRO prefix from the American company SanDisk is available only in the 128 GB version. In terms of speed indicators of data exchange, the flash drive occupies the leading lines in most all kinds of ratings (in particular, the first place among 128 GB drives according to the resource usbflashspeed.com).

Reading data from the drive occurs at a speed of 220-230 Mb / s, and writing — 200-210 Mb / s. These figures are slightly behind the claimed values (260 and 240 Mb / s, respectively), but still look very impressive. It's no joke, it takes only 20 seconds to record a 4 GB movie.

The body of the flash drive is made of aluminium alloy. In length, it is almost identical to the size of a bank card, which makes it somewhat inconvenient if you need to connect it to the connector on the back of the PC system unit. The USB plug is hidden in the case using a mechanical slider with a soft and easy move. In the extended position, it is automatically fixed.

Out of the box, the drive comes with a preinstalled SanDisk Secure Acces data encryption utility. With its help, you can set passwords for the necessary files. In addition, a card with a serial number included in the package provides access to the extended version of the RescuePro Deluxe data recovery software.

The manufacturer guarantees the operation of the device for at least 5 years, which is confirmed by the corresponding warranty. All these years, the flash drive will delight its owner with amazing performance. The main thing is only that its speed characteristics are supported by reading and writing devices.

Kingston DataTraveler 2000 64 GB

In terms of speed performance, the drive from Kingston is slightly behind its older brother in the face of the Kingston DataTraveler Predator. But in terms of confidentiality of stored information, a flash drive has practically no equal.

On one side of the aluminium body of the device, there are 10 number keys and a large button with a key icon. Their purpose lies in protecting access to data through a PIN code. The factory password consists of 8 digits ("11223344"), but it can be replaced with any other combination (at least 7 characters). Moreover, a simple password (like “1234567”) cannot be set, and you will need to enter it quickly — in 30 seconds. After 10 attempts to enter the wrong PIN code, all data from the drive is automatically deleted and its state is reset to factory settings. An additional link in the protection of information is 256-bit AES encryption using the XTS block cipher mode.

Reading and writing files occurs at a speed of 135-140 Mb / s and 40-50 Mb / s, respectively, which is even higher than the claimed values. Such indicators can be obtained by connecting the device via USB 3.1. In conjunction with USB 2.0, the data exchange rate is limited to 30 Mb / s.

In addition to ensuring complete data privacy, the drive is also IP57 protected from dust and water ingress. However for this it is necessary not to forget to use a protective cap along the entire length of the case. Of course, the price tag on the Kingston DataTraveler 2000 "bites" a little, but given the all-round security of the drive, it fully justifies itself.