USB flash faster than Corsair GT?

[Tzupy]

I am interested in buying a new USB flash, since I wasted too much time since I bought a Corsair Voyager 32GB.
Wasted time because I'm using it for backups of source code (Visual C++ projects) and they take longer than I would like.
Probably because of many small files the write speed issue becomes worse. So I want to buy a new faster USB flash.
Is the Corsair Voyager GT much better than the vanilla Voyager, with writes in particular?
Or should I look for something else? I probably could settle for only 16GB, if I'll use it for code backup only, so it can cost more / GB.
Thank you in advance for your inputs.

[Vicotnik]

I have both a Corsair Voyager 32GB and a Corsair Voyager GT 16GB. I could post some benchmark data if you like, but I'm not sure what benchmark program to use.

[halcyon]

This is extremely fast, and big:

Traxdata Pendrive 32Gb Traxdata SuperFast 233x
http://www.opirata.com/pendrive-32gb-tr ... -2791.html

http://foro.noticias3d.com/vbulletin/sh ... tcount=479

Good luck finding one though.

[SebRad]

Hi, I have a Voyager 8GB and Voyager GT 16GB. The GT is significantly faster to write to and use generally. The Voyager GT 4GB I had originally was noticably better still. I'm pretty sure it was an SLC flash drive where all USB drives are now MLC due to cost. If you read up on SSDs and MLC vs SLC it's the same issue, in short much faster more responsive writes with SLC, at (at least) twice the price.
I have occationally looked for a replacement 4GB GT but with no luck nor do I expect any as they stopped making them sometime ago and anyone with one would be silly to let it go. IMO of course
Regards, Seb

[ntavlas]

The slc voyager gts were fast but had some reliability issues. The 16gb gt model is still one of the faster drives today but it has some compatibility issues when working with some nvidia chipsets.

One of the fastest writing drives is the cruzer contour but expect to pay a premium over the voyaget gt.

[Eunos]

The 8GB Voyager GT was the last SLC. I have a 16GB GT but would stop well short of calling it usefully fast for anything beyond smaller files and infrequently-updated archives. The USB2 interface is the main bottleneck, and claimed speed improvements with the newer models (including the 128GB monstrosity) are best taken with a pinch of salt.

If you are serious about speed, hold off for a few months and buy a USB3 flash drive when they are available in lower capacities and sensible prices. The speeds they are looking at will eventually put most current SSDs to shame.

A further option is the OCZ Throttle which is compatible with eSATA for blazing speeds compared to USB2.

[theycallmebruce]

I have a 4GB Voyager GT and I've never seen a drive as fast.

Thinking outside the box, what about archiving your source code into a single file and backing it up that way? You may be right that all the small writes are hurting performance.

I'm not sure what OS you're using, but just try a quick experiment with tar or WinZip or whatever.

[RaptorZX3]

now USB 3.0 flash drives will be extremely fast! So fast, in fact i think the speed limitation will be the memory speed itself now.

[halcyon]

You guys need to look at the Traxdata drive again.

Sequential Read : 30.593 MB/s
Sequential Write : 27.324 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 30.296 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 25.202 MB/s
Random Read 4KB : 7.326 MB/s
Random Write 4KB : 2.128 MB/s

Compare this with the Corsair Voyager GT 16GB

Sequential Read: 33.51 MB/sec
Sequential Write: 14.04 MB/sec
512kb Random Read: 33.46 MB/sec
512kb Random Read: 2.59 MB/sec
4kb Random Read: 8.05 MB/sec
4kb Random Write: 0.02 MB/sec

The Traxdata drive is more than 10x as fast in 4K random writes, almost twice the sequential write speed.

For multi-file writes that is a considerable difference.

The only thing faster that I am able to find is the OCZ Throttle eSata/USB stick - using the eSata interface:

Sequential Read : 91.446 MB/s
Sequential Write : 51.017 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 86.203 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 43.684 MB/s
Random Read 4KB : 10.877 MB/s
Random Write 4KB : 2.065 MB/s

On USB it still loses out slightly to the Traxdata monster in write speed:

Sequential Read : 32.824 MB/s
Sequential Write : 20.319 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 29.770 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 17.615 MB/s
Random Read 4KB : 5.303 MB/s
Random Write 4KB : 1.849 MB/s

Currently most USB flash drives are limited in random writes due to the memory chips / controller used, not the USB 2.0 interface.

[Tzupy]

Thank you for the answers! I don't want to backup archives, because of the increased risk of data loss. If I lose 1-2 files of the 500+ files of the projects, I can rewrite them.
I have a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 mobo with i7 920D0, 6 GB DDR3-1066, and Vista64 HP. I WON'T GET a new mobo with 6-core, USB3, SATA600, Windows7, in the next 3-6 months.
The Traxdata is imposible to find, but I found the Cruzer Contour. The OCZ Throttle would be great, I could order from AmazonUK, but WTF... delivery in 1-3 months???
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCZ-Throttle-eS ... 103&sr=8-2
How about this Patriot drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/BOOST-Flash-dri ... 103&sr=8-5
The Extreme Cruzer Contour: http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Extreme ... 84&sr=8-10
Some customers reported failure of the Cruzer within a year, so I'm not inclined to buy it...

Edit: I found a new contender, the Mushkin Midnight Turbo, it claims 40MB/s reads and 30 MB/s writes, but I couldn't find any confirmation of these figures, they look too good to be true...

[halcyon]

There are no reviews of Midnight turbo as of yet - at least that I can find.

For your set up, it sound like random write speed is what you need, not sequential write speed.

Many USB sticks have high advertised sequential write/read speed, but completely fall apart on random write 4KB. Just like the Voyager GT.

As such, I'd wait for a review, before I'd plunk down my money on the midnight turbo.

Then again, if you buy it, be sure to run CrystalDiskMark on it to find out the random 4KB read/write values and post them here, please :)

[Tzupy]

I asked today two local shops (in Bucharest), that list it as 'orderable', about the availability of the Mushkin Midnight 16GB, and they *might* get one in a month... Aargh!

Any info on another product, the Silicon Power SSD II 64GB eSATA / USB? It claims 90MB/s reads and 50MB/s writes on eSATA.

Update: I placed an order for a Sandisk Extreme Cruzer Contour 16GB at AmazonUK, since it is supposed to have higher write speed than the Corsair GT.
When the Mushkin Midnight will become truly available I'll probably get one too, just to compare with the Cruzer.

[Tzupy]

I received the Extreme Cruzer Contour and performed some tests, using my main project, which is now at ~400 files and ~104MB.
Copying this to the USB flash took 480s with the 32GB Corsair Flash Voyager, but I remember slightly better results with it. Or should I say not so horrible?
It's possible that the used Corsair's performance has degraded to abysmal levels. Is it something I can do to restore some performance?
With the new and unused 16GB Cruzer it took only 32s to do the copy, so it's a major improvement, although not spectacular, here's why.
I bought the Eset SS4 as my new antivirus, and received a 2GB USB flash with it. I initially thought it should be a crappy one, but it's faster than the Cruzer.
The copy test took only 27s, so it's definitely not a crappy product, at least speed-wise. In fact, if I knew for sure who makes it, I might buy a larger version.

[Eunos]

I don't know if write amplification is a factor here, but you can try saving the Corsair's files elsewhere, zeroing the drive and restoring the same files back.

[ces]

1. There used to be a brand of SSDs that also had a USB and could be used as flash drives. It was carried by newegg.

2. How can you get this trax data flash drive in the US.

3. Is anyone collecting all this info and organizing it into something? If so can you collect it all into one message?

4.When I went shopping for a 16G flash drive a while back, after sorting through what data there was I ended up with the Patriot Exporters. The voyager was the only other one that seemed fast. But the Voyager seemed to have more reliability problems.