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The translucent port caps on either end of the ESD31C Portable SSD also don’t fit very snugly, which makes them easy to lose. This is a downside, in part, to having a slim (0.31-inch) frame rather than the bulkier plastic used by competing drives. That’s not exactly going to burn you, but if using it as an external drive to run programs from, it may get even hotter.

After just a few minutes of heavy writes, it hit 93.7 degrees Fahrenheit. For starters, it was the warmest drive we tested under sustained use. That doesn’t mean that Transcend’s ESD31C Portable SSD doesn’t have its drawbacks. And the Transcend drive is available in a 2TB model, while Kingston’s drive tops out at 1TB. And selling for about $88 when we wrote this (in the 1TB variant we tested), it’s also cheaper than the Kingston drive, which often sells for closer to $100. Aside from its top-notch performance, it also sports both a UCB-C and a USB-A port (one on each side) and a metal shell that feels a lot nicer than much of its plastic-clad competition. Still, with the fastest scores we’ve seen yet for one of these drives in PCMark, DiskBench, and CrystalDiskmar’s sequential tests (see charts, below), The Transcend drive isn’t hard to recommend. If you feel the need for flash drive speed, Transcend’s forgettably named ESD31C Portable SSD is the fastest drive in a true flash drive form factor, although Kingston’s DataTraveler Max wasn’t far behind on most of our tests, and was often a bit speedier when it comes to writes. I only had a problem with rear motherboard ports and this drive.

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But, if your PC case has a front USB-C port or you’re using a laptop, this shouldn’t be an issue. I tried this with three boards I have on hand and had the same issue with each. Thanks to the two-piece plastic slide mechanism that protects the drive’s port when not in use, the USB-C connector is just a bit too short to plug into most motherboards successfully. Just note that, if you’re a desktop user and you opt for the model with the USB-C port, you will likely have problems plugging the drive into rear USB-C ports on the motherboard. And it’s also fairly slim, making it easy to slip into a pocket. But at $30-$35, Kingston’s 256GB drive is a great balance of speed, affordability and capacity for those who don’t want to spend much more on a roomier fast alternative.Īvailable with either a USB-C or USB-A connector (though not both, like Transcend’s drive), the 256GB DataTraveler Max performed nearly as well as its more spacious 1TB sibling in our PCMark, DisBench, and CrystalDiskMark tests, making it the second-fastest flash drive we’ve tested (third if you count the 1TB Kingston drive as competition). Just like its roomier 1TB variant, the 256GB Kingston DataTraveler Max is a speed demon in the flash drive world, even if it falls a bit short of the newer Transcend ESD31C Portable SSD (see our next pic, below). And while the prices of M.2 SSDs remain low, you may find more value by building your own external SSD.

However, if fast performance is important to you and you can live with a device that's just a little bit bigger, an external SSD might be a better buy. To help you choose what drive is best for you, we’ve tested dozens of recent flash drives from leading brands and listed the best USB flash drives below.

If you've been hanging onto a drive for several years, now's a good time to upgrade. Capacities of up to 2TB are an option with some models (and 1TB is becoming common), and performance on the best flash drives approaches that of some of the best external SSDs. But in all cases, my data remained intact.īecause these drives seemingly last forever, you could be hanging onto one that’s pitifully slow by today’s standards, and too cramped to hold all the data you want. I've sent flash drives through laundry cycles in pants pockets in the past, and once when I was in college, I accidently drove over my flash drive with my car, crushing its outer shell.

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You may also need a USB flash drive to do a clean and speedy install of your favorite OS (see how to do a clean install of Windows).Īlso, a good flash drive can be surprisingly tough to destroy.

For many, a flash drive that you can carry around in your pocket or on your keychain is still a better option – and faster if you don't have a speedy internet connection on every device you use.