At the recent Pepcom show I met with
the Kingston people who were kind enough to provide us with a review
sample of their new USB 3.0 flash drive – the DataTraveler Ultimate
3.0. This is their first USB 3.0 flash drive and its fast as well as
chunky. According to David Leong the reason for this girth is due to normal USB controller plus bridge chip to get the SATA interface required for USB 3.0 speeds.
The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 has read
speeds of 80MB/sec and 60MB/sec for writes when using USB 3.0 and
30MB/sec for both read and write operating on a USB 2.0 connection.
In case you were wondering; yes it is backwards compatible with USB
2.0 connectors. Depending on the power output of the USB 2.0
connection, you may need to use the included Y-split cable for
powering the DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0.
In the past we have seen great results
with Kingston flash drives and expect to see more of the same with
the DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0. Let’s take a closer look at this new
flash drive.
Kingston
DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 64gb USB 3.0 Flash Drive
Reviewed by: Tomas Ratas
Sponsor: Kingston
Tech Specs,Features or the
Basic Info:
Ultimate Performance expands new
worlds.
Kingston’s DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0
(DTU30) features the latest technology for USB Flash drives, making
it ideal for early adopters who want to take advantage of all the
performance improvements offered by USB 3.0 right away.27 inches
The DTU30 is the perfect solution
for easily storing and quickly transferring all your documents, high
resolution photos, HD video, and more. It’s exceptionally fast and
easy to let you keep data with you wherever you go.
USB 3.0 offers the same ease-of-use
and plug and play capabilities as previous generations of USB
technologies but with a performance increase and better power
management. This USB 3.0 drive is backwards compatible with USB
2.0***.
DTU30 is backed by 24.7 tech
support, a five-year warranty and legendary Kingston® reliability.
Great uses for USB 3.0
* HD video
* System and data backup
* Adobe applications (Photoshop,
Premiere, Lightroom)
* AutoCAD
* Movie downloads
…and many more
Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0
(DTU30) Part Numbers:
DTU30/16GB, DTU30/32GB, DTU30/64GB
Features/Specifications:
* Capacities* – 16GB, 32GB,
64GB
* Requirements – system with
USB 3.0 port
* Fast** – data transfer rates
for USB 3.0 to 80MB/sec. read and 60MB/sec. write; USB 2.0 =
30MB/sec. read and 30MB/sec. write
* Backwards compatible*** –
with USB 2.0.
* Dimensions – 2.90″ x
0.87″ x 0.63″ (73.70mm x 22.20mm x 16.10mm)
* Operating Temperature – 32°
to 140°F (0° to 60°C)
* Storage Temperature – -4°
to 185°F (-20° to 85°C)
* Simple – just plug into a
USB port
* Practical – durable casing
with a solid lanyard loop
* Guaranteed – five-year
warranty
DataTraveler works with Windows 7,
Windows Vista (SP1, SP2) and Windows XP (SP3)
Price:
$201.56 (Price from Amazon at time of review)
A Better Look at Things
:
The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 is
packaged in Kingston’s typical clamshell style. The drive is seen on
the front and the back reveals the USB cable with some details about
the drive.
According to the packaging, the drive
is designed to work with Windows Xp, Vista and Windows 7. Obviously
Mac’s don’t have USB 3.0 but the drive is recognized on Macs as well.
Inside the package we find the
DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0, Y style USB cable and a lanyard for
attaching the drive to one’s keychain.
The drive only comes in the white and
silver combination. The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 is available in
16GB, 32GB, 64GB capacities. It measures 7.37 cm x 2.2 cm x 1.61 cm
and is composed of aluminum and plastic. The drive feels solidly
constructed. As I previously mentioned, the DataTraveler Ultimate
3.0 is a chunky so if you are looking for a svelte drive, you’ll have
to look elsewhere.
Here are a couple of other Kingston
flash drives to give you a size frame of reference.
The front of the drive has the DT
Ultimate Logo and capacity size printed on it and other opposite side
is the embossed Kingston name.
The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 sports a
removable cap design, so make sure not to lose your cap as this is a
fatter drive than the standard USB flash drives so you will not have
any interchangeable cap options. The cap can be attached to the back
of the drive to help keep from losing it.
The cap slides off to reveal the USB
3.0 connector which looks pretty similar to its other USB brethren.
The USB connector looks pretty much like any other USB plug.
The rear portion of the drive has a
plastic opening for threading the included lanyard. On the end of
this section is “USB 3.0” printed to identify this drive
from its slower brethren.
Kingston includes a Y-split cable which
has a connection for data (thinner cable) and one for power (thicker
cable). On the opposite end is a USB 3.0 input for the DataTraveler
Ultimate 3.0. This cable is designed for under powered USB 2.0 such
as ones found on laptops.
Installation, Testing and
Comparison:
Plugging in the DataTraveler Ultimate
3.0 you’ll immediately notice there are no files preinstalled on the
drive, just an empty drive. No backup or encryption software which
is a little disappointing for the price of these drives.
Since this is the first USB 3.0 flash
drive that I have come across I don’t have another drive to compare
it against. So I ran some benchmarks with the drive connected as a
USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 device.
For testing I used HD Tune,
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 and ATTO Disk Benchmark. I ran the DataTraveler
Ultimate 3.0 on a USB 3.0 PCI-E card and the USB 2.0 port on my
desktop PC. I was also able to run the drive off a current model
MacBook Pro using the drive connected directly to the Mac.
Here are the results running HDTune.
It was impressive that the average read speeds exceeded the Kingston
specs as the average speed was 84.2 MB/s using the USB 3.0 interface.
Even the USB 2.0 speeds were
surprisingly fast at an average of 33.0 MB/s.
Moving over to CrystalDiskMark we once
again see speeds exceeding Kingston’s listed specs for both USB 3.0.
On USB 2.0 the write speed came in at
28.29 MB/s, not the 30 we expected but that is pretty close.
Finally using ATTO Disk Benchmark we
once again see spec beating numbers with the DataTraveler Ultimate
3.0 using USB 3.0. On the USB 2.0 end the read speeds exceeded 30
while the writes were closer to 28 MB/s.
These are some pretty nice numbers for
Kingston’s first USB 3.0 flash drive.
The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0’s rear
section illuminates with a blue LED when plugged in and flashes when
the drive is active.
One thing I did notice is that the
DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 did become warm to the touch when
operating. It was not burning hot but noticeably warmer than when
disconnected from the PC. I spoke to David Leong from Kingston about
this issue and he said that the drive does run warm but there is no
danger to the drive itself as the max temp range is 140F/60C.
Summary and Comments
Kingston’s DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 is
their first foray into the world of USB 3.0 flash drives and they
seem to set a high bar for the competition. The drives speeds are
terrific they exceed Kingston’s specs using the USB 3.0 interface
making this drive perfect for those who need fast transfers whether
for storage or data intensive applications.
The need for using the included Y-cable
is most likely for the laptop users whose machines don’t provide
enough power to the USB port.
For those who have machines with USB
3.0 interfaces and desire quick file transfers and read speeds then
the DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 is a terrific choice. But if you don’t
have USB 3.0 then the price may cost prohibitive for this flash drive
as you can buy a similar capacity for less money.
DragonSteelMods gives the DataTraveler
Ultimate 3.0 a 5 out of 5 score and our Recommended Award.
Pros:
+Fast, fast, fast
+Solid construction
+Speeds exceed Kingston specs
+Backwards compatible with USB 2.0
Cons:
-Expensive
-May require use of Y-adapter cable
-Gets warm
review# 675
Disclosure: This
product was given to DragonSteelMods for review by the company for
review purposes only, and is not considered by us as payment for the
review, we do not, never have, and never will, accept payment from
companies to review their products.
To
learn more about our review policy, testing methods and ratings
please see this page.