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I benchmarked 6 different metal USB sticks - Lemmy.World
lemmy.world## Background I have had the same Kingston DataTraveller DTSE9 since around
2010, when I was still in school. I’ve carried it on my keychain for at least 12
years and it still works, its “the old reliable”. That said, it’s slow. Very
slow. I use it mostly as a boot USB for Linux / Windows, so I need several
sticks with decent random read speed, and decent write speed for when I update
them. My criteria were: - All-metal construction for durability, including the
keychain loop - Sits well on a keychain next to keys - Reasonable speed,
including random reads. ## Testing method I evaluated the sticks in two ways. I
ran CrystalDiskMark with 256 MiB (x5) configuration. I also measured the angle
at which the USB stick sits on a keyring. I found that several of them could not
sit perpendicular to a keyring it because of their geometry, which makes it
difficult to comfortably use them next to keys. At the datum of 0 degrees, the
key sits perpendicular to the keyring. ## Results ### The competitors Here are
the 6 main competitors in this space I bought. All transfer units are in MB/s. |
Product | Price (£) | Angle on keyring (0deg is best) | Sequential reads Q8T1 |
Sequential reads Q1T1 | Random reads Q32T1 | Random reads Q1T1 | Sequential
writes Q8T1 | Sequential writes Q1T1 | Random writes Q32T1 | Random writes Q1T1
| | --------------------------------- | ------------------ |
------------------------------- | --------------------- | ---------------------
| ------------------ | ----------------- | ---------------------- |
---------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------ | | Corsair
GTX 128GB | 65 (256GB version) | 0 | 470.214 | 429.330 | 157.436 | 19.390 |
436.990 | 414.201 | 166.829 | 38.937 | | Samsung Bar 64GB | 10 | 55 | 305.424 |
305.268 | 14.517 | 13.428 | 36.434 | 36.247 | 20.537 | 21.619 | | Kingston
DTSE9G3 64GB | 11 | 0 | 246.705 | 244.496 | 13.756 | 13.028 | 100.236 | 110.054
| 0.484 | 0.474 | | Integral Arc 3 | 10 | 0 | 162.336 | 161.338 | 15.567 |
11.188 | 49.457 | 47.965 | 5.032 | 4.244 | | Kingston DataTraveller Micro 64GB |
11 | 0 | 247.000 | 245.247 | 13.788 | 12.961 | 100.932 | 101.292 | 0.496 | 0.470
| | Sandisk Ultra Luxe 64GB | 12 | 25 | 403.863 | 399.974 | 12.438 | 12.054 |
91.835 | 91.685 | 4.272 | 4.258 | Some additional notes: - The Samsung Bar had
really sharp corners. You might need to file them down like I did. - Corsair
GTX: the 128GB version is no longer available and the lowest capacity is 256GB.
It’s more of a portable SSD in the form of a USB stick, which makes it really
fast, but it’s bulkier than a normal USB stick, though not by much. Often it
takes up more than one USB port because it’s wide. It’s still very good and I
recommend it. ### Other devices Some related products I own but don’t qualify
for this comparison but are offered up here for context. Here’s why they don’t
qualify. - Crucial P3 Plus: It’s an NVME SSD. Can be made portable with a good
enclosure, but too bulky for what I’m looking for. - Samsung 860 Evo: It’s a
SATA SSD, definitely not the right form factor. - Sandisk Ultra Curve: I bought
this thinking it was made out of metal, but it was not. It’s fairly flimsy
plastic. - Kingston DTSE9 16GB: This is my old stick. The old reliable. No
longer sold, but I’ve tested its successor. - Samsung SD Card: It’s a 2016
MicroSD card connected to my PC via a MicroSD-SD adapter and a USB card reader.
I included this as a meme. | Product | Sequential reads Q8T1 | Sequential reads
Q1T1 | Random reads Q32T1 | Random reads Q1T1 | Sequential writes Q8T1 |
Sequential writes Q1T1 | Random writes Q32T1 | Random writes Q1T1 | |
------------------------------------- | --------------------- |
--------------------- | ------------------ | ----------------- |
---------------------- | ---------------------- | ------------------- |
------------------ | | Crucial P3 Plus M.2 NVME 2TB | 1598.227 | 1332.131 |
305.220 | 46.643 | 1560.989 | 1452.256 | 238.134 | 102.502 | | Samsung 860 Evo
SATA 1TB | 564.446 | 539.913 | 272.631 | 43.322 | 536.440 | 518.168 | 238.752 |
101.313 | | Sandisk Ultra Curve | 160.091 | 158.859 | 9.271 | 9.043 | 58.680 |
60.377 | 2.902 | 3.209 | | Old Kingston DTSE9 16GB | 18.452 | 18.220 | 8.473 |
8.096 | 13.626 | 13.629 | 0.115 | 0.026 | | Samsung Memory Pro Plus Micro SD
Card | 20.765 | 20.969 | 5.146 | 5.102 | 19.493 | 20.316 | 2.181 | 3.421 | ##
Conclusion There are no clear winners in this fight. - The Corsair GTX is the
fastest in all categories by a country mile, but has a larger form-factor than
other entries and higher price. Very good, but not for everyone. - Samsung Bar
has the fastest random writes, and decent performance in other metrics for its
USB stick form factor, but sits awful on a keychain due to the angled hole. -
The Integral Arc 3 has solid random performance, but worst sequential
performance than the rest. - Sandisk Ultra Luxe gets the best overall balance of
performance, but does not sit on the keychain super well. - The two Kingston’s
perform effectively the same, with the Micro being much more compact. That said,
that can be a disadvantage on a keyring if there are adjacent items. - All
competitors (bar the GTX) had similar random reads. For me, I’d say the right
choice is either the Kingston DTSE9G3. It’s a nice upgrade over my old DTSE9 and
sits nicely next to it’s grandfather. If I needed any random writes though, for
copying lots of small documents like code files, I’d pick the Integral Arc 3.
(I’ll delete if OP wants to post it themselfes.)
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