USB Flash Drive Roundup - 10/2005
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 4, 2005 11:28 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Lexar JumpDrive Lightning
Lexar's only entry in this roundup is their top of the line JumpDrive Lightning. The high end Lightning drive is only available in two sizes: 1GB and 2GB.
The only downside to Lexar's drive is that the flash controller that Lexar uses does not have a hardware encryption engine, thus there is a significant performance penalty for reading/writing to your secure partition. The table below displays read/write speed for various file sizes to a Secure as well as a Public partition on the Lexar drive.
As you can see, reads are noticeably slower to the secure partition, as are writes, especially at smaller file sizes. In many cases, the performance of reading/writing to the secure partition is far less than half of working with the public partition. It's a major downside to the security benefits that Lexar offers.
The Lexar drive is a bit more stylish than what Kingston has to offer, but the downside to that is, of course, that it shows fingerprints and smudges much like an iPod. Lexar includes a polishing cloth to remove the blemishes, which although it works very well, it is still a pain that you have to do it. The case of the JumpDrive Lightning adds significant weight to the unit, which is another expense that you pay in order to support the style of the drive.
If you purchase the drive from Lexar's online store, you can get a free engraving on the unit itself, which is a nice option that's offered.
Lexar's only entry in this roundup is their top of the line JumpDrive Lightning. The high end Lightning drive is only available in two sizes: 1GB and 2GB.
The only downside to Lexar's drive is that the flash controller that Lexar uses does not have a hardware encryption engine, thus there is a significant performance penalty for reading/writing to your secure partition. The table below displays read/write speed for various file sizes to a Secure as well as a Public partition on the Lexar drive.
| 0.5KB | 32KB | 256KB | 2048KB | 65536KB | ||||||
| Read | Write | Read | Write | Read | Write | Read | Write | Read | Write | |
| Secure | 984 | 4 | 14809 | 279 | 16990 | 1903 | 17033 | 4881 | 17476 | 8738 |
| Public | 1000 | 69 | 19099 | 3507 | 26176 | 11750 | 26624 | 14131 | 26214 | 15292 |
As you can see, reads are noticeably slower to the secure partition, as are writes, especially at smaller file sizes. In many cases, the performance of reading/writing to the secure partition is far less than half of working with the public partition. It's a major downside to the security benefits that Lexar offers.
The Lexar drive is a bit more stylish than what Kingston has to offer, but the downside to that is, of course, that it shows fingerprints and smudges much like an iPod. Lexar includes a polishing cloth to remove the blemishes, which although it works very well, it is still a pain that you have to do it. The case of the JumpDrive Lightning adds significant weight to the unit, which is another expense that you pay in order to support the style of the drive.
If you purchase the drive from Lexar's online store, you can get a free engraving on the unit itself, which is a nice option that's offered.
| Lexar JumpDrive Lightning | |
| Sizes Available | 512MB - 2GB |
| Lanyard Included | No |
| USB Extension Cable Included | No |
| Data Encryption | Yes (Windows only) |
| Password Protection | Yes (Windows Only) |
| Secure + Public Partitions Simultaneously Accessible | Yes |
| Flash Controller | ? |
| Flash Memory | ? |
| Warranty | Lifetime Limited |
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sxr7171 - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Time to get a Lexar JumpDrive lightning. This may not be important to a lot of people, but a USB drive IMHO needs to have a loop for a keyring. It is the most convenient way to carry the thing and always have it with you no matter what. I guess this applies more to people living in the city and not needing a car and the big bulky car keys/remote that come with that.TheInvincibleMustard - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Speaking of, is there some reason the Lexar isn't on the RTPE? I mean, it did just win an Editor's Choice and all, so you'd hope it would be one of the drives listed in the newly-announced Flash Storage section ... :(-TIM
Pete84 - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Bummer, OCZ's dual channel USB stick didn't get in.jkostans - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Someone didn't read the article......SpaceRanger - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Are USB drives able to be made Bootable?? I know that systems can recognize USB Floppy Drives, and boot from those, but I was wondering if you could take a USB Flash Drive and make it a bootable device.Phantronius - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
depending on the flash drive and the motherboard BIOS, yes you can do it.Phantronius - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
1st!!!I love my OEM made from some pretty lady in china USB 2.0 stick, its saved my ass so many times for my work, especially in data reterival and spyware removal.
Souka - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
I've had the Memina Rocket for a couple months now....before they even announced it (thanks to NewEgg)....write spead defintly kinda bite with small files especially, but usually I put drivers and stuff there once, then read mutliple times....so its a good match for me.PQI's I got over a year ago, and completely made everyone jealous.... for once, mem were bragging theirs is smaller than someone else's. :D
I still use a SanDisk Titanium.....only a 512mb module, but still works well.
Souka - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link
oopsss...typomeant to say...
PQI's I got over a year ago for my office, and completely made everyone jealous.... for once, men were bragging theirs was smaller!! :D