While products like this are interesting, smaller flash drives are sold at hundreds of times greater volume. A roundup doing some quick tests of a few dozen drives in the $10-30 range (and only going that high to see if spending a little more is worth it for faster performance as well as capacity) would be a lot more beneficial to readers.
I would think the reliability of a flash drive that supports proper trim would be more important than the cheapness of the existing flash drives - once price goes down.
Right now the drives are so cheap (and poor quality) that replacement is the easiest choice.
If I'm reading this right, you seem to be equating TRIM support with reliability which is not the case. Based on my experience with the blue USB 3.0 Voyager drives, I wouldn't trust Corsair for reliability.
The fact that they are planning on pulling a bait-and-switch with the internals of this GTX flash drive means I'll never buy a Corsair product again. Are Corsair trying to fill the void that OCZ left? I didn't know that demand for shoddy marketing practices was high.
Great review. I would suggest an article evaluating the leading 'high end' USB drives at about 128GB and above using the Anand pillars of SSD performance. In the race to differentiate, the suppliers are looking for the biggest performance numbers possible, that may not match real life experiences. To your point, these devices tend to be high value compared to more generic USB drive types available.
There's also the Mushkin Ventura Ultra series. Their 240GB drive is $120 on Newegg. IIRC they've been out for at least a year. They use the SandForce 2281 controller and perform quite nicely.
Is this a 'native' USB drive using UASP, or is this a USB-attached IDE/ATA/SCSI controller connected to a 'standard' SSD controller?
Part of why I ask is how differently they're handled by some low level functions in windows. (For example, if you wanted to use this as a very fast offline media for SCCM Operating System Deployment (OSD), and it's detected as a 'hard disk'("Fixed disk", even if hot-swap enabled) rather than a 'usb flash disk'("Removable disk"), it won't work, because it gets confused by the extra hard disk detected.)
Corsair have not told Anandtech what the internals are as per the article. This means that they will wait a few months before every tech site out there reviews them and then they will promptly switch to cheaper internal components without changing the product name or SKU.
So even if you knew what was inside them now, may not be the case by the time you buy one.
That's doubtful. The controller will remain the same, we just don't divulge the flash in case we can source comparable flash elsewhere.
We also learn from the mistakes of our competitors. Whenever something like what you're saying is even suggested, there's a LOT of internal resistance it has to fight through.
Well the firmware might change and a feature that was there before may no longer be available with the latest revision. Who knows what changes may need to be made to accommodate cheaper flash once all the reviews are in.
I just don't trust companies that do a bait-and-switch on components or ones that aren't transparent about their hardware.
I think this article is very timely. That's because I have been considering buying a USB 3.0 flash drive for backup purposes! Yes, I know that they don't last as long as an external HDD. But a cheap external drive is still a fair amount of money, while that SanDisk Cruzer is indeed $35 on Amazon. So I'll probably end up going with a "flash drive" because of convenience, and price, and because I have <64GB to back up .. so note it's not an option for huge media storers :P
I do have doubts about the Cruzer however, because some of the reviews indicate they think they were shipped an older and slower version of the drive. We saw something similar with Kingston SSDs about six months back: The manufacturer went to a cheaper and worse memory type, the resellers couldn't differentiate based on part number, and they dumped them all at a "great deal" price. So you took your chances. I bought one. I lost. :P
But higher-speed USB flash drives will proliferate and the price will drop, so eventually they'll be affordable. Most consumers don't know or care about the difference in performance, and you can get cheap drives for basically free, so this is fundamentally a commodity type of product ... unless you are a sophisticated buyer and poke behind the scenes.
I don't know what the situation is in the US, but in Europe there are two versions of the Cruzer, the original X46 and an updated G46. The G46 writes at 245MB/s while the X46 at 190MB/s. The write speed is also listed on the front of the packaging so you can't confuse them. You'll have to come live over here :)
You guys should review the so called fastest USB 3 Sticks on Earth. Nobody tests those, like the PQI Thunder 4, for example. I would really like to know if those are really that fast (especially the writes).
Jimmy Hoffa and the previous Voyager GT "TURBO". No one has seen them and no one is talking what happened. Until someone at Corsair makes an official statement of their "previous" incantation, I will never touch another USB 3.0 anything from this company! Epically Unforgivable!! http://usb.userbenchmark.com/Corsair-Flash-Voyager...
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
24 Comments
Back to Article
DanNeely - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
While products like this are interesting, smaller flash drives are sold at hundreds of times greater volume. A roundup doing some quick tests of a few dozen drives in the $10-30 range (and only going that high to see if spending a little more is worth it for faster performance as well as capacity) would be a lot more beneficial to readers.designerfx - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
I would think the reliability of a flash drive that supports proper trim would be more important than the cheapness of the existing flash drives - once price goes down.Right now the drives are so cheap (and poor quality) that replacement is the easiest choice.
semo - Thursday, September 25, 2014 - link
If I'm reading this right, you seem to be equating TRIM support with reliability which is not the case. Based on my experience with the blue USB 3.0 Voyager drives, I wouldn't trust Corsair for reliability.The fact that they are planning on pulling a bait-and-switch with the internals of this GTX flash drive means I'll never buy a Corsair product again. Are Corsair trying to fill the void that OCZ left? I didn't know that demand for shoddy marketing practices was high.
KenPC - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
Great review. I would suggest an article evaluating the leading 'high end' USB drives at about 128GB and above using the Anand pillars of SSD performance. In the race to differentiate, the suppliers are looking for the biggest performance numbers possible, that may not match real life experiences. To your point, these devices tend to be high value compared to more generic USB drive types available.mertesn - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
There's also the Mushkin Ventura Ultra series. Their 240GB drive is $120 on Newegg. IIRC they've been out for at least a year. They use the SandForce 2281 controller and perform quite nicely.hojnikb - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
Too bad ssd controller makers dont include usb support. That would eliminate the need for sata->usb bridge and thus saving space and cost.Araemo - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
Is this a 'native' USB drive using UASP, or is this a USB-attached IDE/ATA/SCSI controller connected to a 'standard' SSD controller?Part of why I ask is how differently they're handled by some low level functions in windows. (For example, if you wanted to use this as a very fast offline media for SCCM Operating System Deployment (OSD), and it's detected as a 'hard disk'("Fixed disk", even if hot-swap enabled) rather than a 'usb flash disk'("Removable disk"), it won't work, because it gets confused by the extra hard disk detected.)
semo - Thursday, September 25, 2014 - link
Corsair have not told Anandtech what the internals are as per the article. This means that they will wait a few months before every tech site out there reviews them and then they will promptly switch to cheaper internal components without changing the product name or SKU.So even if you knew what was inside them now, may not be the case by the time you buy one.
Dustin Sklavos - Thursday, September 25, 2014 - link
That's doubtful. The controller will remain the same, we just don't divulge the flash in case we can source comparable flash elsewhere.We also learn from the mistakes of our competitors. Whenever something like what you're saying is even suggested, there's a LOT of internal resistance it has to fight through.
semo - Friday, September 26, 2014 - link
Well the firmware might change and a feature that was there before may no longer be available with the latest revision. Who knows what changes may need to be made to accommodate cheaper flash once all the reviews are in.I just don't trust companies that do a bait-and-switch on components or ones that aren't transparent about their hardware.
Araemo - Thursday, September 25, 2014 - link
So? Ganesh can look at device manager (or plug it into a *nix box) and see how the computer talks to it.Araemo - Thursday, September 25, 2014 - link
Nevermind, I guess I skipped over the section at the end that explicitly mentions a SATA-USB bridge chip, and the phison SSD controller..So, this is much less interesting to me than a native USB3 UASP UFD.
djvita - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
so can i flash windows 8.1 on it and boot like a live CD?Paul Tarnowski - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
That's what Windows-to-Go certification is, which is only available for Enterprise customers.ganeshts - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
Yes, it can be done even with the non-certified drives like this one.Check out the steps here: http://www.admin-magazine.com/Articles/Putting-Win...
yefi - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
The 64GB Sandisk Cruzer Extreme can do 250MB/s read, 190MB/s write, 16MB/s 4K read and 10MB/s 4k write. It's only $35.The Corsair doesn't make sense unless you absolutely need the extra performance, wear-levelling or capacity.
ViRGE - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
Woah, who's selling the Cruzer Extreme for $35?yefi - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
That's the price it came up as on Amazon: www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-Flash-Drive-s-SDCZ80-064G-GAM46/dp/B00KT7DOSE/wboz - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
I think this article is very timely. That's because I have been considering buying a USB 3.0 flash drive for backup purposes! Yes, I know that they don't last as long as an external HDD. But a cheap external drive is still a fair amount of money, while that SanDisk Cruzer is indeed $35 on Amazon. So I'll probably end up going with a "flash drive" because of convenience, and price, and because I have <64GB to back up .. so note it's not an option for huge media storers :PI do have doubts about the Cruzer however, because some of the reviews indicate they think they were shipped an older and slower version of the drive. We saw something similar with Kingston SSDs about six months back: The manufacturer went to a cheaper and worse memory type, the resellers couldn't differentiate based on part number, and they dumped them all at a "great deal" price. So you took your chances. I bought one. I lost. :P
But higher-speed USB flash drives will proliferate and the price will drop, so eventually they'll be affordable. Most consumers don't know or care about the difference in performance, and you can get cheap drives for basically free, so this is fundamentally a commodity type of product ... unless you are a sophisticated buyer and poke behind the scenes.
yefi - Wednesday, September 24, 2014 - link
I don't know what the situation is in the US, but in Europe there are two versions of the Cruzer, the original X46 and an updated G46. The G46 writes at 245MB/s while the X46 at 190MB/s. The write speed is also listed on the front of the packaging so you can't confuse them. You'll have to come live over here :)Beaver M. - Thursday, September 25, 2014 - link
You guys should review the so called fastest USB 3 Sticks on Earth.Nobody tests those, like the PQI Thunder 4, for example.
I would really like to know if those are really that fast (especially the writes).
[email protected] - Saturday, September 27, 2014 - link
Jimmy Hoffa and the previous Voyager GT "TURBO". No one has seen them and no one is talking what happened. Until someone at Corsair makes an official statement of their "previous" incantation, I will never touch another USB 3.0 anything from this company! Epically Unforgivable!! http://usb.userbenchmark.com/Corsair-Flash-Voyager...HammerSandwich - Sunday, September 28, 2014 - link
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/HammerSandwi...">ChartHammerSandwich - Sunday, September 28, 2014 - link
Ouch - please kill that. See http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/HammerSandwi...