Looking for a fast 32GB or 64GB USB Flash Drive...

the_syco · 11-10-2013 2:09pm #1

Hey all,
I'm looking for a fast 32GB or 64GB USB Flash Drive, with a write speed over 10MB/second.

Would prefer to hear from people who own them, as I've found out that most websites totally lie about write speeds (recently sent one back to a local supplier, as it was writing at about half the speed advertised).

Would prefer the "stick" type USB (as opposed to a 2.5" drive), and budget would be around the €40 mark.

Anyone have any recommendations?

11-10-2013 4:17pm

I presume you have USB 3.0 ? You won't do much more than 30MB/s on USB 2.0 no matter how fast the thumbdrive.

The best value high performance around €40 is probably the Sandisk Extreme 32GB. Genuine sequential write speed of something around 100MB/s.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDCZ80-032G-X46-Extreme-Flash-Drive/dp/B007YXA5TC

Lots of drives benched here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3.0-thumb-drive-review,3477-2.html

Torqay · 11-10-2013 4:22pm

I have a Patriot Supersonic Magnum (how could you possibly go wrong with such a name?

), paid 60 yoyos in the States for the 64 GB version. Also have a Sandisk Cruzer Extreme 32GB, £30 at Amazon. Both are USB 3.0 and very fast.

the_syco · 11-10-2013 6:58pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I presume you have USB 3.0 ? You won't do much more than 30MB/s on USB 2.0 no matter how fast the thumbdrive.

Only have USB 2.0 Currently have USB drive that writes at 5MB/s and have had to RMA another USB drive that I bought as it was advertised at 18MB/s but only wrote at 8MB/s-9MB/s.

Cannot get a USB 3.0 USB Card, as one of the PCI-E x1 ports is used by a 3GB's SATA port for use with my SSD, and the other x1 and x16 ports are blocked by the graphics card fan.

the_syco · 11-10-2013 7:47pm

Deleted User wrote: »

Lots of drives benched here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3.0-thumb-drive-review,3477-2.html

Thanks for pointing me towards tomshardware. From this chart, I found the CMFVYA32GBGT2 which was seemingly very fast, but also dies quickly as well.

Seems the TS16GJF600 has gotten good reviews, so will probably go for that. Sadly it's brother, the TS32GJF500 was the one which I bought, tht has a ****e write speed. the 600 is about €14 more expensive, but seemingly has a much better write speed.

11-10-2013 11:48pm

the_syco wrote: »

Seems the TS16GJF600 has gotten good reviews, so will probably go for that. Sadly it's brother, the TS32GJF500 was the one which I bought, tht has a ****e write speed. the 600 is about €14 more expensive, but seemingly has a much better write speed.

No, the JF600 is not a fast drive. Check the ATTO benchmark in the customer images. Its only doing about 12MB/s sequential write.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-JetFlash-Endurance-Frustration-Free-Packaging/dp/B007CEBXG2/

If you're keen on Transcend, consider a 32GB Jetflash 700. Hopefully the write speed will saturate USB 2.0 which is what you want. I have a 16GB lying around I can bench in the morning but larger capacities are usually faster so always go with the biggest you can afford.

anthony4335 · 12-10-2013 12:47am

I have the transcend's 600 and 700's and find them good, quick enough not to annoy. I also have http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lexar-Jumpdrive-Flash-Drive-Memory/dp/B008XIYKP2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381532450&sr=8-1&keywords=lexar+32gb which also proves to be quite good, value for money and best of all cant loose the top.

the_syco · 13-10-2013 3:14pm

Deleted User wrote: »

No, the JF600 is not a fast drive. Check the ATTO benchmark in the customer images. Its only doing about 12MB/s sequential write.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-JetFlash-Endurance-Frustration-Free-Packaging/dp/B007CEBXG2/

Thanks for the heads up. I'll mark this as another one to miss.

Deleted User wrote: »

If you're keen on Transcend, consider a 32GB Jetflash 700. Hopefully the write speed will saturate USB 2.0 which is what you want. I have a 16GB lying around I can bench in the morning but larger capacities are usually faster so always go with the biggest you can afford.

Not keen on any one brand; just want a fast write speed for a product that will last.

13-10-2013 5:01pm

the_syco wrote: »

Not keen on any one brand; just want a fast write speed for a product that will last.

The 32GB Jetflash 700 looks like a decent choice. It's £15.50 on Amazon which is about as low as it has been.

My 16GB one did 25MB/s real world write speed with a 1GB video file. The 32GB is about twice as fast so you should easily max out your USB 2.0 interface with sequential transfers.

the_syco · 14-10-2013 1:59am

Deleted User wrote: »

The 32GB Jetflash 700 looks like a decent choice. It's £15.50 on Amazon which is about as low as it has been.

My 16GB one did 25MB/s real world write speed with a 1GB video file. The 32GB is about twice as fast so you should easily max out your USB 2.0 interface with sequential transfers.

Is the Transcend JetFlash 700 USB 3? Backwards compatible, so I'm assuming that the write you're talked of used a USB 2 port?

14-10-2013 10:45am

the_syco wrote: »

Is the Transcend JetFlash 700 USB 3? Backwards compatible, so I'm assuming that the write you're talked of used a USB 2 port?

Yes its USB 3.0.

Up to about 30MB/s it doesnt really matter whether the drive or host are USB 2.0 or 3.0. Its only above that speed where the advantage of USB 3.0 comes into play.

If you are stuck with a USB 2.0 port, it might sound pointless to get a USB3 drive that benches at say 40MB/s, but it's not. It means you'll get a drive that hopefully hits your 30MB/s goal as much as possible. Flash drives always perform slower with small transfer sizes so even with a USB 2.0 port, you can still benefit from the higher performance flash memory and architecture that good USB3.0 thumbdrives use.

the_syco · 15-10-2013 11:16am

Deleted User wrote: »

Flash drives always perform slower with small transfer sizes so even with a USB 2.0 port, you can still benefit from the higher performance flash memory and architecture that good USB3.0 thumbdrives use.

Would be mainly transferring 1GB to 16GB files to it, so that's not much of a problem.

Would the "760" series be somehow a slower writer?

32GB Transcend JetFlash 700 USB3.0 Flash Drive €35.88
32GB Transcend JetFlash 760 Super Speed USB3.0 Flash Drive €21.23
64GB Transcend JetFlash 760 Super Speed USB3.0 Flash Drive €40.96

Looking at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTTZJncAoTU it looks to write quite fast even to the USB 2.0 connection. Seems the 64GB version gets very bad reviews, with devices failing shortly afterwards. Seems the 32GB version isn't that much better.

Looking at the various Transcend reviews on Amazon and Newegg, and over and over the general comment seems to be; avoid, fails after a few months

15-10-2013 12:20pm

The JF760 seems to be a bit slower than the JF700 in write performance. But still a reasonably fast drive.

I don't know where those prices are from but the 32GB JF700 is only £15.50 on Amazon (~€19) with the normal free shipping on orders over £25.

I can't speak for reliability, I havent had any of my thumbdrives fail but I know it does happen. One of my most used thumbdrives is a 5 year old Corsair Voyager GT that still writes faster than the average drive today and is still going strong. I use exFAT to minimise wear on thumbdrives because NTFS will kill them a lot quicker.

At the end of the day you just have to narrow it down to a few different drives from different manufacturers and pick the one you think is best for you. There's a fair few suggestions on the thread now and you can find ATTO benchmarks for most of them.

Torqay · 15-10-2013 12:43pm

I can confirm that the Sandisk Cruzer Blade is mashine-washable, fancy that for reliability.

bonzodog2 · 15-10-2013 12:57pm

the_syco wrote: »

Only have USB 2.0 Currently have USB drive that writes at 5MB/s and have had to RMA another USB drive that I bought as it was advertised at 18MB/s but only wrote at 8MB/s-9MB/s.

Cannot get a USB 3.0 USB Card, as one of the PCI-E x1 ports is used by a 3GB's SATA port for use with my SSD, and the other x1 and x16 ports are blocked by the graphics card fan.

Maybe one of these might suit you

the_syco · 15-10-2013 7:39pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know where those prices are from but the 32GB JF700 is only £15.50 on Amazon (~€19) with the normal free shipping on orders over £25.

Prices were from memoryc.com

Deleted User wrote: »

I use exFAT to minimise wear on thumbdrives because NTFS will kill them a lot quicker.

That I did not know.

Torqay wrote: »

I have a Patriot Supersonic Magnum (how could you possibly go wrong with such a name? ), paid 60 yoyos in the States for the 64 GB version. Also have a Sandisk Cruzer Extreme 32GB, £30 at Amazon. Both are USB 3.0 and very fast.

Aye. Have a 16GB Sandisk Cruzer Slice which is built fairly well. Just a bit slow writing. Shall probably get it with the next pay packet, and buy a Todd Lammle CCNA book to bring up the cost.

OscarMike · 15-10-2013 7:42pm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004Q5VVQ2/?smid=ASZEJQ42K2Y4L&tag=idealocouk-mp-21&linkCode=asn&creative=6742&camp=1638&creativeASIN=B004Q5VVQ2

16.99 64gb

the_syco · 20-12-2013 9:01pm

Deleted User wrote: »

The best value high performance around €40 is probably the Sandisk Extreme 32GB. Genuine sequential write speed of something around 100MB/s.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDCZ80-032G-X46-Extreme-Flash-Drive/dp/B007YXA5TC

Lots of drives benched here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3.0-thumb-drive-review,3477-2.html

An update; went with the 64GB Sandisk Extreme. Write speeds of about 29-30MB/s write speed on a USB2 port, 100MB/s write speed on a USB3 port. Very happy with the results!

Pique · 24-09-2014 12:48pm

Mymemory are doing a 64GB USB3 Patriot stick for £25 delivered (£22.99 + £1.95 delivery) Great price for a fast stick.

LINKY

Looking for a fast 32GB or 64GB USB Flash Drive...

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