If you are looking for a very fast external hard drive, then why not take a look at the SSD Flash drive from iomega?
Here is how iomega describe the SSD Flash:
[box style=”rounded” border=”full”]With write speeds up to twice as fast as 7200 RPM SATA hard drives, the new Iomega external SSD Flash Drive has maximum USB 3.0 transfer speeds for HD media. Cool to the touch and silent, it’s compact and super-rugged for mobile use.[/box]
Specifications
- Preformatted and hot plug-and-play
- No AC adapter needed
- Compatible with PC and Mac
- NAND Flash Type— MLC
- Max Read— up to 191MB/s
- Max Write— up to 130MB/s
- Data Transfer Rates— USB 3.0 up to 5 Gbits/s*
- MTBF— 1.2 Million Hours
- Hardware Encryption— 256-Bit AES Encrypted Storage Controller
- Three year limited warranty (with product registration)
Dimensions: 4.35″ x 2.72″ x .37″ (L x W x H)
Weight: .24 lbs
The SSD Flash comes in either 64GB, 128GB or 256GB. For this review we are looking at the 128GB version.
What’s in the Box?
The box contains the SSD Flash drive itself, a small manual, some other paperwork and a USB 3.0 cable.
Performance Testing – USB 3.0
The read test:
The write test:
Performance Testing – USB 2.0
The read test:
The write test:
Final Thoughts
I like this drive. It is small and fast and it is very light weight so you won’t even notice you are carrying it. It is also very quiet and even after a lot of use it wasn’t that hot.
The drive easily picks up fingerprints and other marks, but it can be wiped down with little effort.
The inclusion of disk encryption software was a very welcome addition, and the software is very easy to use. I highly recommend if you are going to use this drive for storing anything personal you use the encrypted partition.
I was happy with the speeds from my USB 3.0 card, and I think if I had a motherboard with a dedicated USB 3.0 port on it I would probably get faster speeds!
Price wise, the 64GB is £183, the 128GB is £325 and the 256GB is £624, so make no mistake these drives are not cheap, but they are good.
You can learn more about the iomega SSD Flash drive here