Real World Tests

Small Files Collection

Now this graph pretty much proves out what both of the synthetic tests indicated. Both drives perform about the same, with some very good times, some of the best we've seen for USB 2 Flash drives. Again, the Silicon Power drive just edges out, but keep in mind the numbers are rounded up, and there is in-fact just ½ a second between the two. The write times are very interesting though as this is where the Silicon Power drive loses out to the Patriot Rage XT's Quad Channel setup. The difference is quite staggering. Only 35 seconds to write 518MB of small files compared to just over 2 minutes.

Large File

The Large File transfer test mirrors the small files transfer test. Both drives read at the same, but it's the writes where the Patriot drive flexes it's muscles. The Silicon Power does well, and better than many at just over a minute, but the Patriots Quad Channel setup once again wins out with under 30 seconds to transfer a single 498MB file.

Final Words

's is one of the best we've seen. It's red and black design is a refreshing change from the blue, silvers and blacks we've had a majority of over the past few years. Not that the silvers and blacks and blues are ugly; far from it. But a change is nice, so I'm personally pleased with Patriot's colour choice.

The cap-less design is also good. You can attach a lanyard or keyring through the supplied hole at one end, and the body slides away to reveal the USB port. Whilst the comes in different capacities (8, 16, 32 and 64GB), ours was supplied with a hefty 32GB of storage space, but the drive itself is only a couple of inches long. This makes it small enough to fit on your keys, but not so small you're going to lose it.

From a performance point of view, the didn't disappoint, with especially fast write speeds. If you're looking for performance in a USB 2 flash drive, we've all come to expect a certain speed when it comes to reads, but it's more often the writes when we're actually wanting the drive to go faster. Here, the 's Quad Channel design pays off, with a good half shaved off write times in comparison with other drives on the market.

It's small, has no removable caps to lose, it's coloured and designed to be eye-catching, so that only leaves the price. The is at time of writing , which isn't bad, but it could be better (as always!). I think it's a fair price but not a bargain price for what you get.

All in all, I really like the . An easily recommended USB 2.0 flash drive.

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