You really won't want to lose Kingston's Data Traveller 300 256GB thumb drive, the highest-capacity thumb drive available. There could be a near-universe of files, pictures and music inside and yet it can be as easily mislaid as any 2-gig thumb drive.
Data Traveller 300 against Tardis background
This tiny Tardis holds as much …
So 256GB. Assume they're using the 1GB=1000MB method of capacity calculation that's 256000MB. (256000/10)/(60*60)=7.11 hours. So it'll take 7.11 hours to transfer that 256GB assuming it's continuously writing at at the maximum possible speed. Which of course it won't be because of the overhead of all the handshaking stuff that comes with copying each individual file.
So the Tardis analogy is very apt. The product will be of most interest to Timelords since they can skip over the tediously long period of time it takes to fill the drive up or retrieve it's contents.
I'll use the tardis to collect mine. Then I won't have the 3 day made-to-order wait - in fact I can also buy them from when the price will have dropped through mass production.
Who cares how big the drive is. The real metric of any thumb drive is "Will it Survive a Tumble in the Wash". No reviews ever does it. But it is a real saleing point!
also buy one if it were shaped like a Tardis. Sad, I know.
@ 3kids2cats1dog
BTW, I have two USB (8 Gb) Tesco cheapo sticks (around eight quid on sale) which both have survived a wash and when dried out the data was all still perfectly readable. Bargain!
Since fister will use any attached USB stick as ReadyBoost (if it's fast enough - and you can get that from the performance figures), presumably "comes with ReadyBoost" actually means "comes with extra words printed on the box".
Also, since ReadyBoost supports a maximum of 4Gb, we're beyond sledgehammer territory here and off into the lala land of using piledrivers to crack nuts.
I've got a 4GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro that has been through the wash at least half a dozen times now. Still works perfectly, although I do let it dry out properly before using it.
Mine's the one with the thumb drive left in the pocket...
I've never managed to kill a memory stick, through multiple washes, crunches, bangs, drops, you name it.
I didn't even manage to murder my Sansa clip when it got dropped in the driveway in the winter for two weeks - stuck in the snow, with my car driving over it every day. My mom found it after a while, soaked with water... I let it dry out, and it works fine to this day.
8GB Sticks for £8 each? That was definitely a bargain, as the cheapest Tesco offer today is just under £15.
eBuyer are currently cheaper, from around £11.50 for 8GB.
8GB and 16GB sizes appear to be the "sweet spot" for cost-effective flash memory at present. The cost jumps right up as you move up to 32GB and beyond.
The fastest Kingston USB stick writes at 20Mb/s (DataTraveler BlackBox). I would have thought that with better technology comes better performance. Anybody out there understand the concept of parallel access? Can't anybody come up with a better flash chip interface controller??
I did the same math as Bug, and this product looks to be useless for mass storage. I'll go with USB hard drives instead.
Yes, they were originally £14.99 but marked down to £8.99 -- just checked. My local Tesco still has 'em and I recall thinking "they're prolly wrongly priced". But hey, at the checkout I asked and sure enough -- £8.99. In lovely lurid see-thru colours too.
It would take forever to fill up that thumb drive. Even worse some devices that will take thumb drives index the whole file system before returning to root menu and playing the first mp3. I'd avoid using a thumb drive this big with my truck's stereo as it is afflicted with that problem.
Mine's the one with the sonic screwdriver and celery in the pocket.
I think there is a story here some where. A Reg Poll on the worse thing that has happened to a flash drive. Washing up is fine, but really what else has happened to your flash drive: i.e. How deep was that mud hole, what body cavity did you dig that flash drive out of and the burning question that I have is; can you use a flash drive as a marital aid and save my love life. Please post pictures.
I have a Sandisk 2Gb Titanium Cruzer that spent a winter in a snow bank, two washes with bleach and dry cycles and been run over by a car...nary a scratch on it and the data was fine in each instance :)
My no name cheepo 16GB stick bought at a stall in Ashton market spent well over 3 hours in the urinal in the Turks Head and after fishing the damned thing out and wiping it with my hanky, it worked straight away when I returned to work and plugged it in and continued my "anonymous surfing" session...
Always good to see the next storage capacity released.
#
As it generally hails price cuts on the capacities way below it. Nice to see the high end continuing to stamp along.. it was only a few months ago that 128gb drives came out.
I remember very clearly, 6 years ago, seeing the latest flash stick online for over a thousand bucks. The capacity? 4 GB.
If that rate of progress remains steady...
Mines the one from 2015 with the 16TB drive in the pocket. That's enough to back up the entire contents of my brain, assuming the cyborg hardware manufacturers get their finger out and come up with an interface by then.
My old 256Mb stick were dropped from 'airplane over t'Himalayas, fell into t'snow, were eaten by t'Yeti and shat out two weeks later, fell down t'mountain in avalanche, landed in t'middle o' road, were run over by a Tibetan truck and t'pieces were tarmacced over by a Chinese road team.
After that I dug it oop wi' jackhammer, stuck it back t'gether with cold porridge and grit and my S Club 7 collection were still there.
Memory sticks these days? Don't know they're born......
Register
Kingston's thumb drive is tiny Tardis
You really won't want to lose Kingston's Data Traveller 300 256GB thumb drive, the highest-capacity thumb drive available. There could be a near-universe of files, pictures and music inside and yet it can be as easily mislaid as any 2-gig thumb drive. Data Traveller 300 against Tardis background This tiny Tardis holds as much …
This topic is closed for new posts.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:03 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Let me know when Tesco's are sellign them. #
Then I'll know that they're a generic product.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:03 GMT
Bug
10MB/sec?! #
So 256GB. Assume they're using the 1GB=1000MB method of capacity calculation that's 256000MB. (256000/10)/(60*60)=7.11 hours. So it'll take 7.11 hours to transfer that 256GB assuming it's continuously writing at at the maximum possible speed. Which of course it won't be because of the overhead of all the handshaking stuff that comes with copying each individual file.
So the Tardis analogy is very apt. The product will be of most interest to Timelords since they can skip over the tediously long period of time it takes to fill the drive up or retrieve it's contents.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:08 GMT
Sam Liddicott
I'll use the tardis #
I'll use the tardis to collect mine. Then I won't have the 3 day made-to-order wait - in fact I can also buy them from when the price will have dropped through mass production.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:13 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Thats not a Tardis.... #
its a Doctor'in my bank ballance.......
ouch ouch ouch very very expansive on the expenses bottom line to say the least...
Balmer... cos burning money is no issue with one of the satanic, doom with a view bringers.....
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:21 GMT
3kids2cats1dog
Yes, But #
Who cares how big the drive is. The real metric of any thumb drive is "Will it Survive a Tumble in the Wash". No reviews ever does it. But it is a real saleing point!
Paris, ' cause all drive needs a tumble.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:30 GMT
Robert Ramsay
I'd buy one... #
if it was *shaped* like a Tardis.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:30 GMT
Anonymous Coward
That'll go nicely... #
...with the new NAS adapter I've ordered following this - http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2009/07/14/hitachi_simpletech_nas/
I must stop reading the register, it's bankrupting me :-(
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:41 GMT
nichomach
@Robert Ramsay #
It is; it's just that the chameleon circuit isn't busted, so it looks like a thumbdrive pretending to be a TARDIS pretending to be a thumbdrive....
/Mine's the one with the floppy hat and scarf...
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:58 GMT
Anonymous John
Damn! #
I thought you meant it looks like a Tardis
<Puts credit card back in wallet>
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 13:58 GMT
The Original Ash
@3kids2cats1dog #
My OCZ ATV 4GB lasted a wash.
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/flash_drives/ocz_atv_usb_2_0_flash-drive
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 14:13 GMT
Anonymous Coward
I would ... #
also buy one if it were shaped like a Tardis. Sad, I know.
@ 3kids2cats1dog
BTW, I have two USB (8 Gb) Tesco cheapo sticks (around eight quid on sale) which both have survived a wash and when dried out the data was all still perfectly readable. Bargain!
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 14:31 GMT
TeeCee
ReadyBoost? #
Since fister will use any attached USB stick as ReadyBoost (if it's fast enough - and you can get that from the performance figures), presumably "comes with ReadyBoost" actually means "comes with extra words printed on the box".
Also, since ReadyBoost supports a maximum of 4Gb, we're beyond sledgehammer territory here and off into the lala land of using piledrivers to crack nuts.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 14:31 GMT
Peter Foulkes
Squeaky Clean #
My 4GB SanDisk Cruzer USB stick is spotlessly clean following at least one spin cycle.
It also still works and the data did not wash away.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 14:31 GMT
david 63
@bug #
You don't need to watch that little blue bar crawl across the screen you know. It will keep going without you willing it along...
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 14:31 GMT
Jon Green
@The Original Ash #
"The OCZ ATV 4GB ... made for today's lower temperature washes!"
Yeah, that could work... ;)
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 15:32 GMT
exilis
Spin me right round... #
I've got a 4GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro that has been through the wash at least half a dozen times now. Still works perfectly, although I do let it dry out properly before using it.
Mine's the one with the thumb drive left in the pocket...
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 15:32 GMT
David W.
Stick survival #
I've never managed to kill a memory stick, through multiple washes, crunches, bangs, drops, you name it.
I didn't even manage to murder my Sansa clip when it got dropped in the driveway in the winter for two weeks - stuck in the snow, with my car driving over it every day. My mom found it after a while, soaked with water... I let it dry out, and it works fine to this day.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 15:54 GMT
Steve Foster
@Greg Fleming #
8GB Sticks for £8 each? That was definitely a bargain, as the cheapest Tesco offer today is just under £15.
eBuyer are currently cheaper, from around £11.50 for 8GB.
8GB and 16GB sizes appear to be the "sweet spot" for cost-effective flash memory at present. The cost jumps right up as you move up to 32GB and beyond.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:23 GMT
Anonymous Coward
Exchange rate gone mad? #
"The price is £50"
I'm sure I read this earlier and it said it was over $500... something crazy going on.
Frankly, I don't believe that you could get a 256GB key for £50... prove me wrong!
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:23 GMT
Brian Miller
And this is the computer age?? #
The fastest Kingston USB stick writes at 20Mb/s (DataTraveler BlackBox). I would have thought that with better technology comes better performance. Anybody out there understand the concept of parallel access? Can't anybody come up with a better flash chip interface controller??
I did the same math as Bug, and this product looks to be useless for mass storage. I'll go with USB hard drives instead.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:29 GMT
Anonymous Coward
@ Steve Foster #
Yes, they were originally £14.99 but marked down to £8.99 -- just checked. My local Tesco still has 'em and I recall thinking "they're prolly wrongly priced". But hey, at the checkout I asked and sure enough -- £8.99. In lovely lurid see-thru colours too.
I can almost hear the stampede now ...
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:29 GMT
dracotrapnet
Roomy in here. #
It would take forever to fill up that thumb drive. Even worse some devices that will take thumb drives index the whole file system before returning to root menu and playing the first mp3. I'd avoid using a thumb drive this big with my truck's stereo as it is afflicted with that problem.
Mine's the one with the sonic screwdriver and celery in the pocket.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:29 GMT
Anonymous Coward
could hold everything I know #
Seriously, now where's the beer? i only a one brain cell left....
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:29 GMT
Tom 35
@david 63 #
" You don't need to watch that little blue bar crawl across the screen you know. It will keep going without you willing it along..."
No, 5 seconds after you turn away it will stop.
Do you really want to move that locked file?
or
There is already a folder named crap...
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:29 GMT
Anonymous Coward
There is precisely one use for this device #
namely slaying all comers who dare to play Who's Got The Biggest Thumb Drive during weekly geek-offs at The Old King's Headcrash.
Do you want to be that man?
Do you?
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:29 GMT
3kids2cats1dog
Tales of Flashdrives #
I think there is a story here some where. A Reg Poll on the worse thing that has happened to a flash drive. Washing up is fine, but really what else has happened to your flash drive: i.e. How deep was that mud hole, what body cavity did you dig that flash drive out of and the burning question that I have is; can you use a flash drive as a marital aid and save my love life. Please post pictures.
KC
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 20:29 GMT
John Smith 19
Just what every government minister needs #
Something to stuff their department's databases on and loose on a train.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 21:26 GMT
Andus McCoatover
Tiny Tardis? #
At that speed, I'd call it a "Tardy Tardis"
Too effing pricey. But, the plods can put the entire UK's DNA database in it.
Then lose the fuc*ker.
Posted Monday 20th July 2009 23:03 GMT
James O'Brien
Hell since its a pissing contest #
I have a Sandisk 2Gb Titanium Cruzer that spent a winter in a snow bank, two washes with bleach and dry cycles and been run over by a car...nary a scratch on it and the data was fine in each instance :)
/Sandisk FTW
Posted Tuesday 21st July 2009 09:07 GMT
Anonymous Coward
@ James O'Brien #
My no name cheepo 16GB stick bought at a stall in Ashton market spent well over 3 hours in the urinal in the Turks Head and after fishing the damned thing out and wiping it with my hanky, it worked straight away when I returned to work and plugged it in and continued my "anonymous surfing" session...
Posted Tuesday 21st July 2009 09:07 GMT
Another Anonymous Coward 1
Always good to see the next storage capacity released. #
As it generally hails price cuts on the capacities way below it. Nice to see the high end continuing to stamp along.. it was only a few months ago that 128gb drives came out.
I remember very clearly, 6 years ago, seeing the latest flash stick online for over a thousand bucks. The capacity? 4 GB.
If that rate of progress remains steady...
Mines the one from 2015 with the 16TB drive in the pocket. That's enough to back up the entire contents of my brain, assuming the cyborg hardware manufacturers get their finger out and come up with an interface by then.
Posted Tuesday 21st July 2009 09:07 GMT
TeeCee
That's nowt! #
My old 256Mb stick were dropped from 'airplane over t'Himalayas, fell into t'snow, were eaten by t'Yeti and shat out two weeks later, fell down t'mountain in avalanche, landed in t'middle o' road, were run over by a Tibetan truck and t'pieces were tarmacced over by a Chinese road team.
After that I dug it oop wi' jackhammer, stuck it back t'gether with cold porridge and grit and my S Club 7 collection were still there.
Memory sticks these days? Don't know they're born......
Posted Tuesday 21st July 2009 10:47 GMT
Mark Lockwood
@TeeCee #
I used to dream of having a 256Mb stick...
Posted Tuesday 21st July 2009 11:33 GMT
Anonymous Coward
@TOM 35 #
you mean you didn't just type xcopy /s /y *.* f:
Posted Tuesday 21st July 2009 13:13 GMT
MyHeadIsSpinning
@TeeCee #
Icon says it all
Posted Tuesday 21st July 2009 14:58 GMT
Bill Fresher
Not Indestructible #
I have a 4Gb memory stick that I used to carry in my back pocket. It lost all its data one day when I did a big fart.
Posted Wednesday 22nd July 2009 19:58 GMT
Anonymous Coward
BOOST!? #
"The data transfer rates are up to 20 MB/sec read and 10 MB/sec write." - Windows must be crap to be boosted by such a lame thing.
Posted Monday 3rd August 2009 16:09 GMT
Anonymous Coward
@ John Smith 19 #
The word is LOSE... LOSE... LOSE.. LOSE. For the love of everything that is holy, the word is LOSE!!!!!
This topic is closed for new posts.