For the last few years, typically around Christmas time, I’ve treated myself to a new USB flash drive. Doubling the capacity each time, I started off with a 2GB stick then moved to 4, 8, 16 and then 32 last year. However, although the 32GB is a really useful capacity and I went for a branded memory stick (SanDisk), I hadn’t been paying attention to performance and its slow write speed has always bugged me. It all concerned a head a few nights ago when I had to take a copy of a virtual device off my laptop. The 23GB file took two hours to write to the the thumb drive! Time for Christmas to come early this year.
Enter the Kingston Traveler HyperX 64GB, the first USB 3.0 device I own and one that my Retina MacBook can really take advantage of. This is no common USB thumb drive. Its 8-channel architecture means its performance is more akin to an SSD than a regular USB stick.
Kingston quotes performance figures of 225MB/s read and 135MB/s write and we achieved 243MB/s read and 110MB/s write using the BlackMagic Disk speed test. So what does that imply in the real world? Well the file that took two hours to write to my previous generation piece of junk flash drive took less than three minutes to copy to the HyperX!
To re-iterate, there are 3 things at work here. The ridiculously poor (perhaps even faulty?) performance of my old flash drive. The substantial speed benefits of USB 3 over USB 2 and the uber fast tech in the drive itself. If you haven’t upgraded your USB flash drive in a while it maybe time to treat yourself too. The 64GB Kingston Traveler HyperX is currently £70 and there are 128GB and 256GB versions available too.
Kingston technology 64GB USB 3.0 DTHX Flash Drive Features
USB 3.0 Backwards Compatible – with USB 2.0
Blazingly fast speed – USB 3.0:
Five-year warranty
Featuring a high-speed 8-channel architecture that offers USB 3.0 data transfer speed, DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 is the ideal service for expanding a notebook’s storage and for rapidly storing, transferring and backing up any digital lifestyle.
Users will save time associated with opening and transferring large files and applications between devices. They will also experience less wait time, even when working with data-heavy content.
Available from Amazon
136 Reviews
HyperX HXS3/64GB HyperX savage 64 GB USB 3.1/3.0 Flash Drive, Black and Red
Speed1 USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) : 64GB: 350MB/s read, 180MB/s write
Dimensions:76.3mm x 23.48mm x 12.17mm8
Operating temperature:0°C to 60°C
purchase on Amazon
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Last update on 2021-10-04 / affiliate links / images from Amazon product advertising API