Most people nowadays don’t really think about how fast their USB drives are simply because the vast majority of USB ports out there today are about the same speed and the same mostly goes for the USB drives as well. With the advent of USB 3.0 there has been an explosion of much faster USB drives that start to creep into external hard drive or even solid state drive territory. As such, these drives become much easier to use and at certain capacities may usurp having an external drive for large data transfers.
Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G2 - this USB 3.0 Drive looks quite the same as USB 2.0 DataTravelers, with the main difference being the blue colored connectorThe Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G2 is the second generation of Kingston's USB 3.0 drives. This is what Kingston believes will really give those people who bought computers with USB 3.0 a great return on their investment. Kingston does this by giving the drive fairly good speeds on paper by stating that it will do 100 MB/s read and 70Mb/s write on USB 3.0. In addition to that, this drive also is claimed to perform at 30 MB/s read and 30 MB/s write on a USB 2.0 port. This will give users some of the fastest transfer speeds regardless of whether or not they’re using USB 3.0 or 2.0.
Today we will be evaluating whether or not Kingston’s claims are valid and how much value these drives bring to consumers.
Packaging and Accessories
Simplistic packaging - compact-sized clamshell and that's about that.The packaging for the the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G2 is quite minimalist as it comes in a simple clamshell package with highly detailed information on the cardboard insert stating what capacity, what speed, and the warranty. The minimalist approach is appropriate considering how simple the product itself really is.
Rear page of the package is completely dedicated towards explaining that this USB 3.0 drive can be used with USB 2.0 ports as well (in as much languages as it could fit)If you don’t pay attention, you’ll miss that Kingston included a little lanyard loop so that you can attach your lanyards to your USB drive so that its harder to lose. Admittedly, this drive is a little bigger than normal, but as we’ve always said with Kingston they always are the best at supplying the right accessories with their product no matter how big or small. Most USB drives don’t come with such an essential accessory and sometimes you’re left hoping you don’t lose the drive.
Design and QualityThe Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G2 is a very stylish USB drive, albeit a rather thick one. Slightly thicker than what we’re used to. We did like that Kingston designed this USB drive to be easy to grab (grooves in the drive) as well as easy to remove and place thanks to the metallic inserts which also give it a very nice sense of style.
Furthermore, Kingston designed this drive to be very practical and as such you can actually take the cap of the USB drive and attach it to the back end of the USB drive so that you don’t lose the cap when you’re using it. A simple, but necessary design decision. Although, we must caution you that if you do want to utilize this design aspect you won’t really be able to close the cap on the back of the USB drive as that is the only place to install the loop for a lanyard. That could’ve possibly been more thought out.
Also, the actual USB port on the drive itself is not centered. It is slightly lower than normal and as a result, the cap can only be put on one way and you may find yourself putting it on the wrong way from time to time.
None of these aspects actually drew away from the overall quality of the drive. Kingston doesn’t back this drive for 5 years for nothing. They support this drive with a 5-year warranty because they know its going to last hundreds if not thousands of plug ins and unplugging. The simple fact is that this drive feels solid and took quite a beating in the month or two that we’ve had it.
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