USB Flash Drive Roundup - 10/2005
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 4, 2005 11:28 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Write Performance
For the write performance tests, we used the exact same file sizes, but instead of reading them from the drives, they are written to the drives.
Every time you write to a NAND flash block, you must first erase that block, thus it should be no surprise that NAND flash memory writes a lot slower than it reads, so don't expect to see the same performance levels that we saw with the read tests.
512-byte File Write Performance
In our read tests, we found that all of these drives read small files very slowly. Well, they also happen to write small files even slower:
The performance advantage of these three drives is nothing short of incredible, but let's see if it is a fluke...
32KB File Write Performance
Just as seen with the read performance tests, the larger the file size, the higher the performance. With 32KB files being written, we are now able to classify performance in MB/s; although, even the fastest drive here posts a speed of less than 5MB/s.
What is truly interesting here is that, with the exception of the Kingston Elite, SanDisk Cruzer Titanium and Lexar Lightning, the drives with the fastest read rates are the ones with the slowest write rates. Note that the Memina Rocket falls to the very bottom of this list while Corsair's Flash Voyager, which had mediocre read performance, floats much closer to the top.
OCZ's 512MB Rally is also a bit of an exception to the rule, as it had very high read speeds, and manages a greater than 1MB/s write speed in this test.
For the write performance tests, we used the exact same file sizes, but instead of reading them from the drives, they are written to the drives.
Every time you write to a NAND flash block, you must first erase that block, thus it should be no surprise that NAND flash memory writes a lot slower than it reads, so don't expect to see the same performance levels that we saw with the read tests.
512-byte File Write Performance
In our read tests, we found that all of these drives read small files very slowly. Well, they also happen to write small files even slower:
The performance advantage of these three drives is nothing short of incredible, but let's see if it is a fluke...
32KB File Write Performance
Just as seen with the read performance tests, the larger the file size, the higher the performance. With 32KB files being written, we are now able to classify performance in MB/s; although, even the fastest drive here posts a speed of less than 5MB/s.
What is truly interesting here is that, with the exception of the Kingston Elite, SanDisk Cruzer Titanium and Lexar Lightning, the drives with the fastest read rates are the ones with the slowest write rates. Note that the Memina Rocket falls to the very bottom of this list while Corsair's Flash Voyager, which had mediocre read performance, floats much closer to the top.
OCZ's 512MB Rally is also a bit of an exception to the rule, as it had very high read speeds, and manages a greater than 1MB/s write speed in this test.
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sprockkets - Thursday, October 6, 2005 - link
Although not reviewed here, I got the A Data key from newegg.com simply because they say it works with Linux on the package. I know any key will, but they are the only ones to have the guts to say it. Thanks for admitting Linux exists. Lifetime warranty too.jgh - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link
here is a link for another link, to an app that can make many (but probably not all) usb drives bootable and a couple of other hints/tips.http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5735">link
O.T. - for some reason i get a message that says i do not have permission to access this forum when i tried to create a new login with my e-mail address. did i get banned or something? i have only posted once (it was about the gta:lcs website). i also cannot log in with the origianl user name and password.
p.s. - it is o.k. to post links like this right?
Toolsac - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
I just wanna say thanks to anand for bring us all so much info on every nook and crany of computing. When ever I am getting ready to upgrade or have a problem with my computer, Anand can help me. THANKS GUYS YOU ROCK!!!GameManK - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
also curious about the memorex drives like the m-flyerhoppa - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Cool article, and a nice summary of the market (the intro stuff), but seriously, who really cares that much about the perfomance of these things when the entire thing can be written or read in <1 minute anyway. I do love benchmarks though (born and will die a stat-whore)!I have a suggestion for the article: can you post a single picture of all the drives (preferably with a key). I'd like to see what they all look like but I wasn't too crazy at all about clicking through 20 pages. In fact, I only made it through 4.
-andy
vexingv - Friday, October 21, 2005 - link
its an iomega 256mb and claims to be usb2, but is ridiculously slow compared to a generic 64mb drive i have. i've tried transferring about 20mb worth of portable firefox on the two drives side-by-side and the iomega drive took close to 5 minutes while my other drive took less than a minute.these benchmarks are really useful for that purpose of finding drives w/ faster flash memory controllers.
Souka - Wednesday, October 5, 2005 - link
REad the article....less than 1 min? Read it....not happening.Write times had the biggest delta....upto 20x speed difference....
So would you rather watch your drive write data for 3.5mins, or almost an hour?
Far as "clicking through 20 pages" Click once on the "Print this Article"....then you just use page down(or equivalent button) to scroll through
Chriz - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
This was a good roundup, but I was also curious on some other drives that can be found on Newegg. Mainly interested in the Apacer drives and also the Memorex M-flyer...which got a good review in Maximum PC because of the retractable USB connector which seems convenient to me, but I am really not sure on the performance compared to other drives.intellon - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
And why was iPod Shuffle excluded? Is it cuz of security matter/ bigger size/ higher cost? Cuz I use half of my shuffle for transfering files to and from - work, home and school.jkostans - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Because its an mp3 player. There are plenty of ipod shuffle type players out there which aren't included, some smaller and more compact. I'm sure they would be with the slowest of the slow.