Today we're reviewing another USB 3.0 drive, but this isn't just any USB 3.0 drive. What we have here is the Kingston HyperX USB 3.0 64 GB drive. Not all USB drives are created equal and what's on the inside actually matters (imagine that). We all know that the HyperX line from Kingston means business and their HyperX USB drives are no exception. How fast is this drive? We’ll lay it out on the table with the specs right from Kingston's web site. I have to admit the first time I saw those specifications I thought there was a typo. Read on to see if the drive can actually stack up to these claims.
Specifications
Capacities1: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB
Dimensions: 2.952" x 0.916" x 0.626" (74.99mm x 23.29mm x 15.9mm)
Operating Temperature: 32°F to 140°F (0°C to 60°C)
Storage Temperature: -4°F to 185°F (-20°C to 85°C)
Practical: durable casing with a solid lanyard loop
Speed:
•USB 3.0: 225MB/s read and 135MB/s write
•USB 2.0: 30 MB/s read and 30MB/s write
8-Channel Architecture
Backwards Compatible - with USB 2.0
ReadyBoost™ Support
Guaranteed: five-year warranty, free technical support
Packaging
Normally the HyperX line comes with pretty fancy packaging above and beyond what the packaging would be for average devices. A perfect example of this is the HyperX SSD drive we reviewed recently. We were slightly surprised to see the HyperX USB drive in a plastic package with nothing more than the drive, standard instructions and a basic keychain adapter. Of course packaging is not what most of you are here to read about and it certainly is not an indicator of what to expect from the performance of this drive.
Build Quality
The HyperX drive is a little larger than some of the other USB drives we’ve reviewed but we suspect that is partially due to the 64 GB storage. The blue which you see in the picture above is a slick plastic while the black forms a nice x of the HyperX line and has a slight rubber feel to it. The cap attaches only one way to the tip and it’s a snug fit. The cap can also be attached to the back of the drive. However, the tip comes off the back end easily and we could see it getting knocked off and lost this way. The key chain lanyard that comes with the drive is a simple one and nothing to get excited about. The back of the drive has a nice rugged loop hole which you can attach a lanyard to. The drive feels nice in the hand and it has a solid shell which we feel will last as long as you have it.
Speed
We used a couple of the same tools we use to test SSD’s as we think they do a good job demonstrating just how fast this drive actually is.
ATTO - Kingston HyperX 64GB USB 3.0 Drive
A picture is worth a thousand words and we think this picture speaks volumes. Our ATTO results were only slightly slower than what Kingston was advertising for this drive. We originally thought these numbers were a typo but it’s hard to dispute results.
CrystalDiskMark - Kingston HyperX 64GB USB 3.0 Drive
If that doesn’t make your jaw hit the floor then I don’t know what will. These results from a USB drive are absolutely staggering. CrystalDiskMark results have this drive coming in slightly faster than what is written on the packaging for the drive’s specifications.
I had to do a few other tests just because I couldn’t believe my eyes. I took a large 14.7 GB file and set it to copy to a slower USB 2.0 drive. The file took almost 10 minutes to copy. Kingston’s HyperX 64GB USB 3.0 drive took just over a minute to copy. I had similar results when copying a folder with several small files. From the benchmark results above you can see that the drive does not do as well with small files but our folder with several files still copied much faster than the USB 2.0 drive.
Conclusion
If you are looking for the fastest USB drive possible then we can only recommend one drive: The HyperX USB 3.0 drive by Kingston in any of the capacities offered. If you are in the market for a high capacity USB 3.0 drive Kingston offers their HyperX line starting at 64GB and going up to 256GB. If you’re still not impressed then we’ll leave you with this last thought: the 64GB version can be picked up for a mere $103 over at Best Buy. Based on it's design, quality, and performance, the Kingston HyperX 64GB USB Drive has earned our Editor's Choice Award. For more info and complete specs, check out their website at www.kingston.com.
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