Would love to see a new generation USB 3.0 capable drive in a Verbatim "Tuff n' Tiny" format. With the single piece, epoxy-sealed design, it's still the most reliable USB drive I've ever used. I just want the same thing, but with faster transfer speeds.
That would be kind of cool, but even with the Strontium unit reviewed here, you could theoretically do the same thing, and assemble a 256GB flash drive array for about $80.00 which is actually a pretty good price. Write speed could hit 120MB/sec, read speed 520MB/sec which is pretty darn respectable, and actually would be cheaper than a comparable 256Gb SSD.
Such a RAID drive would be unreliable as hell I would think. Striping four drives means 4x the error rate compared to a single drive, then add el cheapo TLC flash, with rock bottom amounts of internal error checking and correction (if any at all), rock bottom wear leveling, spare area and so on. Also, no trim support. And on top of all that, USB flash sticks aren't meant as long-term storage either.
Some months ago, data was released that showed that some flash memories lose their data in literally only days of elevated temperatures for example - and the same thing happens at room temperature too by the way, only slower. And with the terrible error correction you'll have in this thing and 4x RAID 0, prepare to have your stuff going buh-bye in no-time. :P
As I was reading this, and idea popped in my head. These cards are basically NAND, and NAND itself is relatively one of the least costing components of the entire package, I believe that Intel's 3D XPoint memory would make a GREAT alternative for professionals in this form factor. It's much faster (basically doesn't need parallelism to achieve high speeds), much more reliable, and definitely MUCH more durable. Some professionals probably wouldn't mind paying double(?) the price for the added confidence in parts that would last years.
Besides, even if bottle-necked, the speed would be much, MUCH faster than any flash drive or SD card out there... The point here is reliability and endurance. Some photographers, IT professionals and business users wouldn't mind the extra cost for the added confidence in the product.
As you can tell from the diagrams in this review, these flash drives aren't bottlenecked by USB3 at all during real-world usage scenarios. Heck, in some of these tests they would only barely be bottlenecked by USB1.x... ;)
"Fireball HD"... now that's a name I have not heard in a long time. My old UMAX PowerPC system had one, 6.4GB I think. Remembering how horrendously slow old hard drives were really makes ya appreciate flash memory!
I would be surprised if it hadn't died. I'm pretty sure the Venn diagram of "people who have owned a Quantum ATA drive from the 90's" and "people who have suffered hard disk failures" is just a circle
Add me in the 2 for 2 failure of a Quantum Fireball and Bigfoot. The Bigfoot was nice enough to develop a lot of bad sectors about a week before it completely died so I at least backed up all my stuff first. The Fireball's failure was a lot more abrupt.
Any idea if it's possible to flip the "Removable Media" bit flag, so it reports as a fixed drive in Windows? I'm looking for one that supports this, as Windows doesn't work properly with partitioned flash drives with the removable bit set. Windows To Go also requires the drive to report itself as fixed.
I know it's difficult to compare benchmark results from different benchmarks, but the UltraFit 3.0 4K performance results are woeful, no better than the USB 2.0 based Cruzer Fit. The Nano here looks to perform much better on 4K workloads than the UltraFit.
Still, I use my Cruzer Fit as the primary storage on a netbook, whose primary SDD died long ago, and it's perfectly usable. But I have to run it using NILFS2 to get reasonable performance, using EXT4 would kill it (NILFS does all writes sequentially in a log.)
I just want higher speeds. Having to buy huge things like the Samsung T1, to get that USB 3.0 port maxed out just doesnt cut it. Seriously? Why dont you even see normal sized USB 3.0 sticks that can achieve that? Is there a problem with heat? I am not talking about those pseudo-fast Sandforce sticks.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
21 Comments
Back to Article
James5mith - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
Would love to see a new generation USB 3.0 capable drive in a Verbatim "Tuff n' Tiny" format. With the single piece, epoxy-sealed design, it's still the most reliable USB drive I've ever used. I just want the same thing, but with faster transfer speeds.Shadowmaster625 - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
With USB 3.0 in a Verbatim "Tuff n' Tiny" format, I think you'd end up with skinnier pads, which might get scratched off?casperes1996 - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
I want 4 of the SanDisk Extremes in RAID... Anyone willing to give?bill.rookard - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
That would be kind of cool, but even with the Strontium unit reviewed here, you could theoretically do the same thing, and assemble a 256GB flash drive array for about $80.00 which is actually a pretty good price. Write speed could hit 120MB/sec, read speed 520MB/sec which is pretty darn respectable, and actually would be cheaper than a comparable 256Gb SSD.FaaR - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Such a RAID drive would be unreliable as hell I would think. Striping four drives means 4x the error rate compared to a single drive, then add el cheapo TLC flash, with rock bottom amounts of internal error checking and correction (if any at all), rock bottom wear leveling, spare area and so on. Also, no trim support. And on top of all that, USB flash sticks aren't meant as long-term storage either.Some months ago, data was released that showed that some flash memories lose their data in literally only days of elevated temperatures for example - and the same thing happens at room temperature too by the way, only slower. And with the terrible error correction you'll have in this thing and 4x RAID 0, prepare to have your stuff going buh-bye in no-time. :P
lilmoe - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
As I was reading this, and idea popped in my head. These cards are basically NAND, and NAND itself is relatively one of the least costing components of the entire package, I believe that Intel's 3D XPoint memory would make a GREAT alternative for professionals in this form factor. It's much faster (basically doesn't need parallelism to achieve high speeds), much more reliable, and definitely MUCH more durable. Some professionals probably wouldn't mind paying double(?) the price for the added confidence in parts that would last years.smorebuds - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
you mean as an alternative for usb flash drives? it'd still be bottlenecked by usb 3.0.lilmoe - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
3.1?lilmoe - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
Besides, even if bottle-necked, the speed would be much, MUCH faster than any flash drive or SD card out there... The point here is reliability and endurance. Some photographers, IT professionals and business users wouldn't mind the extra cost for the added confidence in the product.FaaR - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
As you can tell from the diagrams in this review, these flash drives aren't bottlenecked by USB3 at all during real-world usage scenarios. Heck, in some of these tests they would only barely be bottlenecked by USB1.x... ;)meacupla - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
So is it Strontium or Nitro?Is it Plus or Nano?
What a silly product name, lol
stephenbrooks - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
Strontium Nitro Plus Nano Extreme Uranus Fireball HDKateH - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
"Fireball HD"... now that's a name I have not heard in a long time. My old UMAX PowerPC system had one, 6.4GB I think. Remembering how horrendously slow old hard drives were really makes ya appreciate flash memory!AndrewJacksonZA - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
The Quantum Fireball HDD that I had died. I don't like speaking about it... *shudder*KateH - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
I would be surprised if it hadn't died. I'm pretty sure the Venn diagram of "people who have owned a Quantum ATA drive from the 90's" and "people who have suffered hard disk failures" is just a circleBrokenCrayons - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
Add me in the 2 for 2 failure of a Quantum Fireball and Bigfoot. The Bigfoot was nice enough to develop a lot of bad sectors about a week before it completely died so I at least backed up all my stuff first. The Fireball's failure was a lot more abrupt.shinkuprophet - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
Strontium Nitro Plus Nano Extreme Uranus Quantum Fireball Ultra HD w/ lanyard.Gigaplex - Monday, August 3, 2015 - link
Any idea if it's possible to flip the "Removable Media" bit flag, so it reports as a fixed drive in Windows? I'm looking for one that supports this, as Windows doesn't work properly with partitioned flash drives with the removable bit set. Windows To Go also requires the drive to report itself as fixed.tygrus - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
There is also a SanDisk UltraFit 3.0 which would be strong competition. Not as fast as the physically larger Extreme model but better than most.http://usb.userbenchmark.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Fit-USB...
TheWrongChristian - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
I know it's difficult to compare benchmark results from different benchmarks, but the UltraFit 3.0 4K performance results are woeful, no better than the USB 2.0 based Cruzer Fit. The Nano here looks to perform much better on 4K workloads than the UltraFit.Still, I use my Cruzer Fit as the primary storage on a netbook, whose primary SDD died long ago, and it's perfectly usable. But I have to run it using NILFS2 to get reasonable performance, using EXT4 would kill it (NILFS does all writes sequentially in a log.)
Beaver M. - Tuesday, August 4, 2015 - link
I just want higher speeds. Having to buy huge things like the Samsung T1, to get that USB 3.0 port maxed out just doesnt cut it.Seriously? Why dont you even see normal sized USB 3.0 sticks that can achieve that? Is there a problem with heat? I am not talking about those pseudo-fast Sandforce sticks.