USB - The Current status of this essential of Modern Computing

bikemanI7 · Oct 30, 2023

Yeah well when i tried to enable write caching for this usb stick, said was not supported, but will try again in a 2nd here

Well Definitely says Not supported to enable Write Caching for both Sandisk 256GB Sticks

Flashorn · Oct 30, 2023

Take a look here and scroll down to the actual tests:

Best USB-C Flash Drives with USB-A Compatibility

We tested six 128GB dual flash drives from Kingston, Lexar, PNY, and Sandisk. These USB 3.2 Gen. 1 drives serve as a bridge between […]

www.everythingusb.com

bikemanI7 · Oct 30, 2023

Will do
Thank you

Flashorn · Oct 30, 2023

bikemanI7 said:
Will do
Thank you

I also have a Sandisk Ultra but, a 128GB and Policies will allow better performance.
Do you, by any chance, have a Thunderbolt port on your PC ? if so, try it there and see
if will be accepted and then see if the transfer speeds increase.

I also ran a CrytalDisk bench on it and yes, the read speed is 150MB/s but , the write speed is about half.
So, that's what you look for, write speed.

bikemanI7 · Oct 30, 2023

I don't have Thunderbolt on Desktop, but I do on HP Gaming Laptop, i can try it on first thing tomorrow, that machine isn't loaded up right now

hdmi · Oct 31, 2023

I got these 6-7 years ago:

It knocks me unconscious why anyone would still want to buy a 256GB USB-C flash drive with 10 times slower sustained write performance than these. Just because an article published on the internet appears to be technical, doesn't also mean that the author has a clue, even in the slightest.

bikemanI7 · Oct 31, 2023

Well got it connected to PC 2 Gaming Laptop with Latest Windows 10 Today, with Thunderbolt/USB C connection, Speed so far with Better Performance activated (Write Caching not supported) 2.92MB/s

CrystalDisk Mark does not see the Drive to run a test with that at the moment

Think buying these cheap Sandisk 256gb Flash drives from Amazon--maybe wasn't such a good idea lol

Fabler2 · Oct 31, 2023

bikemanI7 said:
Well got it connected to PC 2 Gaming Laptop with Latest Windows 10 Today, with Thunderbolt/USB C connection, Speed so far with Better Performance activated (Write Caching not supported) 2.92MB/s

CrystalDisk Mark does not see the Drive to run a test with that at the moment

Think buying these cheap Sandisk 256gb Flash drives from Amazon--maybe wasn't such a good idea lol

You can run a speed test on it using Nirsoft's USBDeview. 64 bit download.

View any installed/connected USB device on your system

USBDeview is a software that lists all USB devices that connected to your computer, and allows you disable, enable or uninstall them.

www.nirsoft.net

bikemanI7 · Oct 31, 2023

Here is the Result From PC 2 on USB C 256GB Flash Drive via CrystalDiskMark

This is with Better Performance On (Write Caching Not Supported by this Drive)

Flashorn · Oct 31, 2023

bikemanI7 said:
Think buying these cheap Sandisk 256gb Flash drives from Amazon--maybe wasn't such a good idea lol

Yes, I know what you mean. I got caught once and from then on, I saved and bought the best I could.
I Hate buying the same thing twice.
So, I hadn't tested my patriot before but, here are the results. I know they can be expensive but...

Crystal bench normal setting (default)

Crystal bench Real World setting.

And , the transfer speeds you have already viewed in my previous post.
So , yes, save and buy the best that you can with what you have but, look at the
transfer speeds before you buy.

bikemanI7 · Oct 31, 2023

Will definitely look at the transfer speeds before i buy the next one! as this one very slow I've found out, both 256GB Sandisk drives

Fabler2 · Nov 1, 2023

bikemanI7 said:
Here is the Result From PC 2 on USB C 256GB Flash Drive via CrystalDiskMark

This is with Better Performance On (Write Caching Not Supported by this Drive)

These USB flash drives have different controllers. The cheaper one's are classed as 'media' devices akin to CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs. That's why CrystalDiskInfo can't read them and write caching is not supported.

The expensive ones are classed as 'storage' devices' akin to SSDs ,HDDs and NVMe and CrystalDiskInfo reads them.
That's my very basic understanding of the differences.

The Nirsoft's speed test is a more true to life speed test on these cheaper USB flash drives as the Verbatim shows better speeds on CrystalDiskMark.

Write 15.65 MB/sec, Read speed 35.79 MB/sec compared to this,

Flashorn · Nov 5, 2023

Fabler2 said:
The Nirsoft's speed test is a more true to life speed test on these cheaper USB flash drives as the Verbatim shows better speeds on CrystalDiskMark.

From what you posted, it seems that what you would actually get with your USB drive is the actual speed to expect
when transferring data to it. So , the moral of this story is , why buy cheap drives.

hdmi · Nov 5, 2023

Flashorn said:
From what you posted, it seems that what you would actually get with your USB drive is the actual speed to expect
when transferring data to it. So , the moral of this story is , why buy cheap drives.

More expensive isn't necessarily always the better choice either, though. At the time when I bought my two USB flash drives they were 100 Euros each, but there also was a 256GB USB flash drive available from SanDisk at that time. The latter drive was priced at 140 Euros and had ~20% faster read/write speeds than mine, according to specs. It was actually SanDisk's flagship model at the time. What the specs didn't say, though, was that this SanDisk had a bad tendency to start to overheat and that very often caused it to suddenly die prematurely. On one hand, you've got the old "buy cheap, buy twice" adage. On the other hand I also know from experience that there are a lot of so-called "premium" products out there carrying premium price tags and that are in many respects almost equally as worthless as the cheapest of the cheap. In short, perceived quality vs real quality also plays a role. Caveat emptor...