Monday, November 1st 2010
SuperTalent Introduces USB 3.0 Flash Drive at Less Than $15
Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced that their new USB 3.0 Express Duo has broken the $15 price barrier.
The fastest USB 2.0 flash drives are limited to a maximum READ speed of approximately 32MB/s. Super Talent's new USB 3.0 Express Duo can top over 67MB/s when plugged into a USB 3.0 port, yet remains fully-backward compatible to USB 2.0… and for about the same price. Starting today, Super Talent will begin offering the 8GB USB 3.0 Express DUO for $14 and the 16GB version for only $29!"The USB 3.0 Express DUO is perhaps our most exciting USB 3.0 flash drive to date. We were first to break the 300MB/s barrier with our USB 3.0 RAIDDrive and now we're breaking the $15 price barrier. There's simply really no reason to buy a USB 2.0 flash drive anymore"., CH Lee COO of SuperTalent.
The fastest USB 2.0 flash drives are limited to a maximum READ speed of approximately 32MB/s. Super Talent's new USB 3.0 Express Duo can top over 67MB/s when plugged into a USB 3.0 port, yet remains fully-backward compatible to USB 2.0… and for about the same price. Starting today, Super Talent will begin offering the 8GB USB 3.0 Express DUO for $14 and the 16GB version for only $29!"The USB 3.0 Express DUO is perhaps our most exciting USB 3.0 flash drive to date. We were first to break the 300MB/s barrier with our USB 3.0 RAIDDrive and now we're breaking the $15 price barrier. There's simply really no reason to buy a USB 2.0 flash drive anymore"., CH Lee COO of SuperTalent.
38 Comments on SuperTalent Introduces USB 3.0 Flash Drive at Less Than $15
That said, some flash drives are not able to hit this mark. So they will be under the limit. But nothing will be over this 'limit'. It doesn't matter what kind of USB 3.0, USB 4.0, USB 5.0 capabilities the drive has, if operating in USB 2.0 mode you won't get more than ~30MB/s.
Feel free to prove me wrong, but this is how I understand it.
If you will notice, the Kingston will average 25MB/s write and 33MB/s read. The Super Talent, on the other hand, is closer to 20MB/s write, while the read is just above 30MB/s like the Kingston. Each flash drive will vary, depending on the chipset and memory modules used.
Now then, does anyone else know what the read/write performance for this particular flash drive is when used on USB2.0 hardware?
Then you ask what the drive does in USB 2.0. This is where you lose me. Clearly it won't get more than 30MB/s read and the USB 3.0 benchmark shows that the flash can only do 23MB/s write. Just like pretty much every other USB 2.0 drive, 30MB/s read 23MB/s write.
The only uncertainty in what I'm saying is if the chipset can max out the flash in USB 2.0 mode. In other words, the flash can deliver 23MB/s write, and the question is if the USB 2.0 controller can reach these speeds. (And I'm guessing it will after seeing other controllers reach these speeds)
The video is from SuperTalent and shows the drive doing ~23MB/s write in USB 3.0 mode.
I understand that the reviews were for comparison and were not of the drive in question. I didn't mention those reviews in my last post so I am confused as to why you bring those up again.
Any flash drive that can't max out USB 2.0 is not worth my ownership. Sure not all USB 2.0 drives can max out the USB 2.0 bus. But this SuperTalent drive can. We know that in USB 3.0, the drive can do 67/23 read/write. Since USB 2.0 has a 30MB/s cap, logically I would think the drive would do 30/23 in USB 2.0 mode. Does this make sense to you?
Now, was that so hard and really needed as many posts as we went back and forth on? No, I think not. Anyways, thank you for the information you provided in your last post; that post was the most helpful bit of information yet.:toast:
And USB 2.0 does not necessarily cap at 30MB/s. While not this particular drive, I do have Super Talent's 16GB Express Drive USB 3.0 and I compared it to my Patriot Xplorer XT 16GB over USB2.0.
As you can see, they are faster even than quicker USB 2.0 drives. Sure, there are some USB 2.0 drives, like Corsair's GTR series, that are just as quick in USB 2, but they cost about the same as the Express Drive for the same amount of space, so are a waste of money, as they don't benefit from USB 3.0.
For the price these drives cost, no USB 2.0 drive make sense, even if you can't exploit the full USB 3.0 capabilities.
There are overhead and stuff, but the limit is certianly higher than 30MB/s. :slap:
Thanks to Wile E for the explanation and benches. I did some more reading and it seems that USB 3.0 drives can reach higher speeds on USB 2.0 than most USB 2.0 drives. I don't understand why, but they can. I have no idea how this affects what I was arguing earlier, but now I don't care.
Didn't mean to cause so much fuss. My bad.
*leaves*
Also, looks like press release now states "Now Sampling to Press and taking orders for shipment in November."
Can't wait to see these in online retail stores!