USB Flash Drive Roundup - 10/2005
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 4, 2005 11:28 AM EST- Posted in
- Memory
Lexar JumpDrive Lightning
Lexar's only entry in this roundup is their top of the line JumpDrive Lightning. The high end Lightning drive is only available in two sizes: 1GB and 2GB.
The only downside to Lexar's drive is that the flash controller that Lexar uses does not have a hardware encryption engine, thus there is a significant performance penalty for reading/writing to your secure partition. The table below displays read/write speed for various file sizes to a Secure as well as a Public partition on the Lexar drive.
As you can see, reads are noticeably slower to the secure partition, as are writes, especially at smaller file sizes. In many cases, the performance of reading/writing to the secure partition is far less than half of working with the public partition. It's a major downside to the security benefits that Lexar offers.
The Lexar drive is a bit more stylish than what Kingston has to offer, but the downside to that is, of course, that it shows fingerprints and smudges much like an iPod. Lexar includes a polishing cloth to remove the blemishes, which although it works very well, it is still a pain that you have to do it. The case of the JumpDrive Lightning adds significant weight to the unit, which is another expense that you pay in order to support the style of the drive.
If you purchase the drive from Lexar's online store, you can get a free engraving on the unit itself, which is a nice option that's offered.
Lexar's only entry in this roundup is their top of the line JumpDrive Lightning. The high end Lightning drive is only available in two sizes: 1GB and 2GB.
The only downside to Lexar's drive is that the flash controller that Lexar uses does not have a hardware encryption engine, thus there is a significant performance penalty for reading/writing to your secure partition. The table below displays read/write speed for various file sizes to a Secure as well as a Public partition on the Lexar drive.
| 0.5KB | 32KB | 256KB | 2048KB | 65536KB | ||||||
| Read | Write | Read | Write | Read | Write | Read | Write | Read | Write | |
| Secure | 984 | 4 | 14809 | 279 | 16990 | 1903 | 17033 | 4881 | 17476 | 8738 |
| Public | 1000 | 69 | 19099 | 3507 | 26176 | 11750 | 26624 | 14131 | 26214 | 15292 |
As you can see, reads are noticeably slower to the secure partition, as are writes, especially at smaller file sizes. In many cases, the performance of reading/writing to the secure partition is far less than half of working with the public partition. It's a major downside to the security benefits that Lexar offers.
The Lexar drive is a bit more stylish than what Kingston has to offer, but the downside to that is, of course, that it shows fingerprints and smudges much like an iPod. Lexar includes a polishing cloth to remove the blemishes, which although it works very well, it is still a pain that you have to do it. The case of the JumpDrive Lightning adds significant weight to the unit, which is another expense that you pay in order to support the style of the drive.
If you purchase the drive from Lexar's online store, you can get a free engraving on the unit itself, which is a nice option that's offered.
| Lexar JumpDrive Lightning | |
| Sizes Available | 512MB - 2GB |
| Lanyard Included | No |
| USB Extension Cable Included | No |
| Data Encryption | Yes (Windows only) |
| Password Protection | Yes (Windows Only) |
| Secure + Public Partitions Simultaneously Accessible | Yes |
| Flash Controller | ? |
| Flash Memory | ? |
| Warranty | Lifetime Limited |
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LightRider - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Page 22 Shikatronics ManhattanLightRider - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Of course I make an error in my post pointing out an error...phisrow - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
I'm glad to have some idea about real world performance specs, to the degree that the volatility of the market allows that, of these drives. Any chance that this, or future, reviews of this kind could test making the drives bootable. Some are easy, some are impossible, and some need some real voodoo to get them working. I'd love to know which is which these days.johnsonx - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Page 13:"although, neither is obviously full-proof."
yacoub - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
"From top to bottom, a AA battery, Kingston DataTraveler II drive, Kingston DataTraveler Elite."No, not even close.
Elite is on top, DT2 is next, AA battery next, and 9-volt battery on the bottom.
TheInvincibleMustard - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
C'mon, I soooo posted that before you!:p
-TIM
yacoub - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
What's with all the scratches on the Corsair Flash Voyager's USB connector?TheInvincibleMustard - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
I was actually wondering that, too ... what did you do to that poor thing to take the cover off???All in the name of science, eh?
TYPO: Pg 13 ... the caption for the "battery" picture doesn't correspond to the actual picture ... oh ... and just how OLD is that 9V Eveready? It looks like something out of the stonage in comparison to the other things in the picture ...
-TIM
SpaceRanger - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
Stonage?? Sorry.. Couldn't help pointing out a typo in a "typo informative" post../em hides now.
TheInvincibleMustard - Tuesday, October 4, 2005 - link
:pAnd that's all I hafta say about that.
-TIM