Physically, this Transcend 16 GB JetFlash 500 Retractable USB 2.0 Flash Drive looks almost identical to the SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16GB drive. The retractable USB plug on the Transcend drive also works EXACTLY the same way as the Sandisk (I'm surprised that somebody hasn't got sued yet). But that's where the similarity ends, because the Transcend JetFlash is a whole lot faster!
A bit of background information: I own both the Sandisk Cruzer Micro 4GB and 16GB versions. What I noticed is that the 16GB version is much slower than the 4GB version, especially when witting data. I even contacted Sandisk customer support, trying to find out what is the speed of Cruzer Micro. The response I got was quite useless:
"There is no guaranteed speed for SanDisk Cruzer Micro flash drives, as the speed for these flash drives have not been tested. If you need a flash drive with fast data transfer speed, we recommend SanDisk Extreme Cruzer Contour for this."
Prior to ordering this JetFlash drive, I visited the Transcend USA web site to search for information. Surprise, surprise! The data transfer speed of JetFlash 500 (under the 'V' series) is actually specified as:
"Read 15 MByte/s, Write 7 MByte/s (16GB)"
Once I received this Transcend JetFlash drive, I put it through several benchmark programs, to compare against the Sandisk Cruzer Micro:
- For typical photo files, write speed of the Transcend varies from 6.8MB/s (for 1MB file) to 11.3MB/s (for 5MB file). In contrast, the Sandisk only ranges from 2.0MB/s to 3.5MB/s. That means the Transcend is about 3x faster than the Sandisk! (See my Customer Images for details)
- For very large video files, the Transcend writes at about 7.8MB/s, while the Sandisk only reaches 5.1MB/s. The difference in smaller but still significant.
In terms of storage space: The Transcend drive reports 15.1GB of total capacity, while the Sandisk drive reports 14.9GB. Note that it is normal for a '16GB' flash drive to show only 14.9GB of storage, because 14.9GB for computer people (where 1GB = 2 to the power 30) actually translates to about 16,000,000,000 bytes. So that can be called '16GB' according to marketing people (where 1GB = 10 to the power 9).
In summary, the Transcend JetFalsh 16GB drive looks and works just like the Sandisk Cruzer Micro, but its write speed is +50% to +200% faster than the latter. As of this writing, both drives are available at similar prices, so this makes the Transcend a much better value.
[Update on Nov 3, 2010]:
- The price of this Transcend USB drive dropped further during the past two months. So now it is an even better value.
- Several reviewers have reported bad experiences using this USB drive on the Xbox 360. Right now your only safe bet is to get the Xbox 360 - 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive by SanDisk, which costs twice as much.
- If you don't intend to use the software supplied by Transcend, simply rename the file "Autorun.inf" (located at the root directory of this drive) to something else, such as "Autorun._inf". Then you can use it as a simple USB storage device. Transcend 16 GB JetFlash 500 Retractable USB 2.0 Flash Drive - TS16GJF500 (Black)
I purchased this as a Gold Box deal, so I won't include price as a factor in my review- in all fairness to later reviews. I purchased this for the sole purpose of transporting music and picture files.
I received this yesterday and plugged it into a USB 1.1 port on my case- Not a 2.0! I installed the Transcend Jetflash elite software. I haven't utilized anything in the software, but it includes features for:
1. Outlook Expres and Windows email
2. easy access to your favorites in Intenet Explorer and Firefox browsers
3. secret-zip setup- password feature
4. Data backup and Data sync
5. PC Lock
6. My Jetflash- shows what's on the drive
After installing their software, there was still 15.1 GB available, which I believe is what's the norm for a 16GB drive.
Performance is usually the most critical issue (besides price) with all drives. Needless to say, that is not a big issue with me, since I have it plugged into a 1.1 port! lol. But I did decide to do a couple of performance checks for the tech geeks! (Yes I fall into that category, too!) These specs are read from an external Maxtor One Touch 1TB hard drive and written to the Transcend 16GB jump drive- into a 1.1 port and out a 1.1 port! Sorry, I didn't feel like pulling the full tower case out to reach the 2.0 ports!
A 77.2 mb music folder took 13 seconds (nearly 6mb/sec and a 337 mb music folder took 52 seconds (6.5mb/sec). I imagine it would perform quite better using 2.0 ports.
The only con I can think of would be the somewhat cheap construction (plastic) of this drive. It rattles slightly when you shake it, so rough users might have issues with this. Hopefully, some of this may help you with your decision!
Bought this as a Gold Box special to create a multi-boot USB drive with. That project is being a bit of a pain, but can't blame the drive itself. Not wild about the strange neon pea-soup green color. ;-) The slider is nice once you realize it really does lock into place upon sliding all the way out, despite the feeling to the contrary. Had a little trouble plugging it in as I was keeping my thumb on the slider to "help", only to quickly realize I was creating the problem vs fixing it. 16GB of space for, if memory serves, under $25 was just fine with me.
According to USBDeview the speeds for this device are approximately 7MB/s for write and 15MB/s for read. A bit on the slow side, so if you're going to be moving tons of data on & off this device on a regular basis it might get on your nerves. Not a huge deal for me, but to each their own! - Transcend - 16gb - Usb Flash Drive - Flash Drive'
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