Computer Ed Radio

Kingston Data Traveler Gets The HyperX Treatment.

You know of all the computer parts one that is take truly for granted is the USB key. I remember when these first came out and how we marveled at the ability to easily move files between PCs without waiting for a CD to burn or trying to use floppies. These simple little devices changed the way we moved files between systems and put the final nail into the floppy coffin. However they have changed little over the years except for adding more space. The original drives where tiny compared to today and expensive as well. Today an 8 gig key might set you back $10 and we all have one laying around someone, most of us have more than one.

Kingston, as one of the industry leaders in memory has had a solid line of USB drives over the years. Producing these devices under the name of Data Traveler, Kingston build on it’s solid reputation with a dependable USB Key that was reasonably priced. However looking back over the years there was an absence of the use of the HyperX name when it came to these drives. The reason for this was simple, for Kingston the HyperX brand is their flag ship and unless they felt they could do something that would really stand out they wanted to not make use of the branding. Well it appears that special USB Key design has been found and so we are looking today at the Data Traveler HyperX.

For before we begin lets be clear, this is NOT a common use USB key. Priced at $130 on Newegg, this is a serious luxury item. With 64 gig of memory this is the size of a decent SSD and makes full use of the USB 3.0 ports you see on new computers. This key comes in two sizes, the 64 gig model we are looking at today and a 128 gig model for those needing even more space.

Now remember this is a HyperX product so this is the best of the best and Kingston setout to make sure this was achieved. Not only do you have a large capacity for storage, the devices use an 8 channel memory controller to allow this drive to reach incredible transfer rates. In fact according to Kingston on a USB 3 port this drive should move data faster than a spindle hard drive.

We started out testing by running a quick read test using Crystal Disk Mark, I reran the test 4 times to confirm the fact that this drive was doing a sequential transfer rate of 250 MB/s. Not only is this FAST but it is faster than spindle hard drives, something I have never seen from a USB key and faster than the speed Kingston rates the device at.

However simple benchmarks have never impressed me so I decided to see what this beast could do with real world usage. I put together a test folder made up of pictures, some programs and even a short video. To ensure the key was not held back I put the file on my HyperX SSD and then transfer the folder to the USB Key and them transferred it back, measuring the time with a stopwatch. For comparison purposes I used another brand of USB 3.0 key and a generic 8 gig USB 2 key, all devices where used on the USB 3 port connected to a Z68 based motherboard.

Using the USB 2.0 device as the standard and zero mark the other USB device was at 19% faster. This was a nice speed boost but not what you would hope for with the move to USB 3 on a device supposedly designed to use the USB 3 speed. Next up was the HyperX and again we ran the test mutliple times to confirm the results, the HyperX was 417% faster!  I am not kidding and this is not a typo, the speed difference was NUTS! To give you an idea of how fast we did 500 meg, 76 files of various sizes in under 10 seconds.

Okay so this suckers lets you move files onto it fast, what about off the drive to the SSD? Again the generic USB 2 device is our standard and our other USB 3 device achieved a more impressive than last time, clocking at 170% faster. Now we begin to see the USB 3 speed kick in. Again we fired up the HyperX and again our jaws dropped when the numbers showed that the data was moved back to the SSD 651% faster! This translates BTW into right at 4 seconds to pull the data off the key.

Okay so this is impressive but can it sustain those speeds, well I had a thought and I wanted to test it. Remember this is a HUGE device with 64 gigs of space. With the amazing transfer rates I was seeing I wanted to see what this little key could really do so I moved my entire STEAM folder to the key and unplugged my 64 Gig SSD that I use for my STEAM games. Now with the games fully moved over and the software running okay I fired up Skyrim.

This was a seriously ambitious test that would make any other USB key fall to it’s knees in tears, however the Hyper X did not even burp as it swallowed everything I threw at it, letting me play Skyrim and Civilization V off the USB key with no performance hit. In fact compared to a spindle drive, a Caviar blue, the games actually loaded a little quicker. To say this result is insane is an understatement!

With a USB 3 enabled computer this key is more like an external SSD. The performance is amazing and it can be used just like an internal storage device. I can serious see this paired with a netbook or laptop using an SSD and this being the storage drive for data and even some software. It would be like adding a second SSD to the device.

Fast is great but will the HyperX hold up to use? Well Kingston thinks so as the device comes with a 5 year warranty. The exterior of the device is made of a mix of a powder coated metal and rubber. To be honest though I did not have a clue of how tough the metal was until I did the key test on it. However rather than try to explain how tough the finish is I thought you should see it for yourself and so put together a quick video.

As I said at the start Kingston had held off creating a HyperX USB Key until they felt they could make something worthy of the HyperX branding, HOLY COW! This is the fastest USB Key I have ever seen, and I have seen a ton of them over the years, none have ever come close to this level of performance. I mean a lot of spindle hard drives do not come close to this level of performance, some old SSDs did not beat this thing in benchmarks! I think it is safe to say Kingston found a design worthy of the HyperX branding.

As if all that speed and the massive storage was not enough, Kingston made this key TOUGH! I have run this key over with a car, stepped on it, put it through a washer cycle and it keeps working. Kingston is so sure of how solidly it is built they put 5 years behind it, then we have a tough outer shell that looks great and holds up the punishment it will face everyday with ease.

If you can handle the cost and want the absolute best USB Key you can get then there is nowhere else to look. The Kingston Data Traveler HyperX is nothing short of amazing!

Review segment as aired live 28 January 2012.

January 28, 2012 Posted by Computer Ed | Reviews | Data Traveler, HyperX, Kingston, USB, USB 3.0, USB Drive, USB Key | 4 Comments