Benchmark USB

Discuss hardware related to portable usage, including the kind of storage devices people use, and how they use them.
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lajjal
Posts: 82
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 12:18 pm

Benchmark USB

#1 Post by lajjal »

I am looking for a comprehensive usb benchmark program in the freeware or open-source arena. Not a portable app per se so it may seem a misplaced thing to ask for here but here is where the performance of the usb drives is really put to the test. Seemingly small differences in specs make massive differences in program launch time, operation, and exit time.

Queue is doing some marvelous work trying to deal with the havoc the exit delays can cause when ejecting the drives. Cleanup time can be substantial on slower drives and people who have just been using their drives for storage are normally not expecting it.

It seems to me that there are 5 numbers that would be needed to determine the performance in advance. I have never seen more than 3 and that very rarely. They are read speed, write speed, read and write simultaneously with small bursts, read while write with long data streams, and, similarly, write while read.

The usb vendor world is full of companies telling half truths or no truths at all. I have tried 14 companies so far and the performance indicated by so-called speed tests found in articles from the Internet or Press has never measured up.

At this point I can say I have usually had solid performance from Lexar with Super Talent and Adata bringing up the rear. Super Talent has a "200x" drive that is one of my slowest.

A couple notes of caution. If the drive boasts encryption steer clear. These drives, like Verbatim for instance, have hardware encryption that cannot be turned of and it covers the entire drive whether you are in the "secure area" or not. Regardless of memory specs (which is what Verbatim provides) these drives will crawl and are completely inappropriate for use with applications. Also beware of the fingerprint drives since they all try to install software on every computer they are plugged into and some permanently screw up the windows context menu. An Adata fingerprint drive completely trashed one of my systems. The fingerprint software is always from Biometrics and it's garbage.

lajjal
Posts: 82
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 12:18 pm

#2 Post by lajjal »

I didn't notice until too late that this should probably been put in the hardware forum. Sorry for the faux pas.

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