USB Flash Drive Roundup - 10/2005
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 4, 2005 11:28 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Read Performance
Our read performance investigations start out with small 512-byte files, then scale up to 32KB, 256KB, 2MB and 64MB file sizes.
512-byte File Read Performance
At 512-bytes, the performance of all of these drives is in the sub-1MB/s range. The fact of the matter is that NAND flash based USB drives do not perform very well with small files:
Honestly, you don't see any real performance differences here until you drop into the bottom 4 or 5 drives.
32KB File Read Performance
At 32KB, we get into the size range of very small pictures, medium sized documents and a number of other types of files that are all potentially well suited for these drives. Note that the performance of these drives improves significantly over the 512-byte file size results from above. While we expressed performance in hundreds of kilobytes per second before, now we're talking about megabytes and tens of megabytes per second:
Once we get lower than the Flash Voyager on the list, that's when we see performance drop into the single digit MB/s transfer rates.
Our read performance investigations start out with small 512-byte files, then scale up to 32KB, 256KB, 2MB and 64MB file sizes.
512-byte File Read Performance
At 512-bytes, the performance of all of these drives is in the sub-1MB/s range. The fact of the matter is that NAND flash based USB drives do not perform very well with small files:
Honestly, you don't see any real performance differences here until you drop into the bottom 4 or 5 drives.
32KB File Read Performance
At 32KB, we get into the size range of very small pictures, medium sized documents and a number of other types of files that are all potentially well suited for these drives. Note that the performance of these drives improves significantly over the 512-byte file size results from above. While we expressed performance in hundreds of kilobytes per second before, now we're talking about megabytes and tens of megabytes per second:
Once we get lower than the Flash Voyager on the list, that's when we see performance drop into the single digit MB/s transfer rates.
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LightRider - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Page 22 Shikatronics ManhattanLightRider - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Of course I make an error in my post pointing out an error...phisrow - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
I'm glad to have some idea about real world performance specs, to the degree that the volatility of the market allows that, of these drives. Any chance that this, or future, reviews of this kind could test making the drives bootable. Some are easy, some are impossible, and some need some real voodoo to get them working. I'd love to know which is which these days.johnsonx - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Page 13:"although, neither is obviously full-proof."
yacoub - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
"From top to bottom, a AA battery, Kingston DataTraveler II drive, Kingston DataTraveler Elite."No, not even close.
Elite is on top, DT2 is next, AA battery next, and 9-volt battery on the bottom.
TheInvincibleMustard - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
C'mon, I soooo posted that before you!:p
-TIM
yacoub - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
What's with all the scratches on the Corsair Flash Voyager's USB connector?TheInvincibleMustard - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
I was actually wondering that, too ... what did you do to that poor thing to take the cover off???All in the name of science, eh?
TYPO: Pg 13 ... the caption for the "battery" picture doesn't correspond to the actual picture ... oh ... and just how OLD is that 9V Eveready? It looks like something out of the stonage in comparison to the other things in the picture ...
-TIM
SpaceRanger - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Stonage?? Sorry.. Couldn't help pointing out a typo in a "typo informative" post../em hides now.
TheInvincibleMustard - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
:pAnd that's all I hafta say about that.
-TIM