While
USB Flash drives have become the savior of the IT community for
storing needed information in an easy to carry, conveniently accessed
medium, they are also evolving into mobile operating systems as
both their size and their performance ramp up.
Case
in point, not long ago (less then 24 months), a 1GB USB 2.0 Flash
drive was both large and expensive. With todays advancements,
1GB is minimal, and the cost has dropped dramatically. How has
performance faired in those 2 years? A question I will be asking
as we go through our testing process.
Super
Talent has provided VL with a 4GB USB Flash Drive, this is
of their new lineage and performance is supposed to be enhanced.
While we are here, let's see what you get with the STF_SM_USB20
Drive.
|
Specifications
|
4GB
USB 2.0 Flash Memory Drive |
| Dual
Channel Flash Memory Architecture |
| Supports
password protection |
|
No
driver needed for most operating systems (Windows 98SE
driver online)
|
| LED
indicates power, busy |
| More
than 10 years data retention |
| Limited
lifetime warranty |
First
and foremost, this is a USB 2.0 Flash Drive, secondly, and almost
as important, this drive supports and is MS verified for “Speed
Boost” on Vista. While I won't be testing Vista here,
as the comparison drive is not “supported” it is
still a viable consideration. A fairly inexpensive price to
pay for a performance boost and at 4GB, it could actually be
your entire swap area for a 2GB RAM install.
While
4GB is not the largest you will see out there today, the performance
of the 4GB and the 8GB in the same line will provide similar
performance. I also noted that there was no fancy necklace or
strap that came along with the flash drive, it was simply the
drive and a cap. While I don't have a problem with this, some
people actually use those straps around there neck to maintain
location of their flash drives.
Ok,
so not so “included” as it is downloadable. You can
grab “Memorybar” from the Super Talent website. This
application is a two fold download, it has the Win98SE drivers
as well as the Flash Memory Security software.
The
Memory Bar application allows you to set aside a section of
the Flash Memory Drive that must be accessed with a security
password. The application assigns a base password and you have
the ability to change (highly recommended) once the new “Security”
partition is built. While the application is rather simply looking
in nature, there really isn't much to it, so Super Talent has
kept it simple in a place where simple works very well.
Test
Bed: Asus P5WDH-Deluxe, HIS Radeon X1600Pro IceQ
Turbo, Seagate 250GB 7200RPM SATA-II, Intel E6400 (C2D 2.13GHz
LGA-775), Asus A55G 550W PSU, Super Talent (1.8V) (4-3-4-8)
Flash
Memory Drives:
Super
Talent 4GB USB 2.0
Lexar
Media 1GB JumpDrive
Test
suite
The
Lexar JumpDrive is well known for its performance early on, taking
the crown of many shootouts. While this drive is nearly 2 years
old, its performance is still top notch.
I
will be testing the Flash Memory Drives with the following functions:
-
Transferring
several files that equal 897MB of data from a hard drive to
the Flash Memory Drive
-
Transferring
one large RAR of the above files from the Hard Drive to the
Flash Memory Drive
-
Install
and boot Ubuntu 6.10 from the flash disk itself (4GB only)
To begin with we will test transfer speeds of 15 files that equal
897MB
Multiple
Small Files - Ext2 (Ubuntu 6.10)
Time
in Minutes:Seconds, Lower is Better
Multiple
Small Files - Ext3 (Ubuntu
6.10)
Time
in Minutes:Seconds, Lower is Better
Multiple
Small Files - Fat32 (Windows
Vista)
Time
in Minutes:Seconds, Lower is Better
Multiple
Small Files - NTFS (Windows
Vista)
Time
in Minutes:Seconds, Lower is Better
Next
we will will test transfer speeds of a single RAR file that equals
830MB
Single
Large File - Ext2 (Ubuntu 6.10)
Time
in Minutes:Seconds, Lower is Better
Single
Large File - Ext3 (Ubuntu
6.10)
Time
in Minutes:Seconds, Lower is Better
Single
Large File - Fat32 (Windows
Vista)
Time
in Minutes:Seconds, Lower is Better
Single
Large File - NTFS (Windows
Vista)
Time
in Minutes:Seconds, Lower is Better
Across
the board, be it many files or a single large file, Super Talent
does not disappoint. Take into consideration that the Super Talent
Flash Memory Drive is 4GB, larger does not appear to hinder performance
in comparison with the Lexar. While it does not matter if you
are in Linux or Windows, Flash Memory Drives transfer many small
files at a higher rate then a single large file. In our tests,
Super Talent performs well enough to blur that line.
Installing
Ubuntu
OK, yes I did install Ubuntu on the Super Talent Flash Memory
Drive, I could have installed a smaller variant of Linux on the
JumpDrive, but that is neither here nor there.
The install went slightly slower then on a hard drive, as to be
expected. The performance of booting and day to day web surfing
etc are on par with a HD install. Performing functions such as
Open Office Writer or viewing a video clip took enough extra time
that I could tell I was no longer on a Hard Drive. The slick thing
about this is, not only can I apply updates to the flash drive
as though it were a hard drive, I can then move my flash drive
to another system and boot it as a Ubuntu system (kind of like
a LiveCD but with patches, saved files, my settings etc etc).
Final
Words
Flash
Drives keep getting bigger and performance is increasing even
as we increase in size, as Super Talent has proven here today.
The applications for a flash drive have multiplied as storage
has increased and Super
Talent is offering you plenty of space with performance. Hell,
with Super Talent's 4GB or 8GB Flash Memory Drive, you can easily
bring your entire Operating System with you as you travel.
Inexpensive,
Large capacity, Increased performance, easy to carry around, Super
Talent brings yet another solid product to Market. Super Talent
also offer a Limited Lifetime Warranty on this drive which is
of great benefit if like Scott you have a tendency to leave your
flash drives in your pocket when they are being washed (Scott
– Hey, I dried it out and it still worked ...). Priced
at around $30
USD at time of writing, it won't break
the bank either.
If
you have Questions or Comments on this or any other review, feel
free to use our Forums.
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