USB Drive Speeds

Since we have been using USB sticks for lamp applications over the past few terms it has become clear that not all USB sticks are the same. They may all be 2.0 but the speeds are obviously different. I have been recommending students purchase sticks that are advertised as Windows Vista 'readyboost' capable on the assumption they have to meet a certification program for speed.

With Vista going the way of windows me we need another way of finding good usb sticks so we need to test the speed to answer the question of how different are they?

So off we go to http://mikelab.kiev.ua/index_en.php?page=PROGRAMS/programs_en and download check flash, a utility that performs read/write tests on a USB stick. This program has the advantage of not needing to be installed so you can keep it on your stick to test another stick anywhere. It runs in dos-mode (which may be a disadvantage to some)

So we download it and open a terminal in windows and type chkflsh and then select a currently mounted USB stick. There is a bit of a bug, you must select one of the NT based system choices and then select the Temporary File choice in the radio button menu before you can click START.

If you just leave it on Temporary File then START is greyed out. Of course you nornmally want the temporary file option as the other 2 options wipe the stick clean - destroying existing data.

USB Stick Speed Tests

Our first step is on a cheapo 1 gig GTX stick formatted as FAT32. READ speed is constant at 16.2 mb/s but the write speed is awful hitting a max of 5 mb/sec and frequently dropping down to 4 mb/sec.

Next up is a 1 gig Kingston DataTraveller formatted as FAT. The READ speed is 13.9 mb/s with a truly awful write speed of 1.2 mb/s probably due to the use of the slower FAT file system.

And the same model Kingston Data Traveller 1 gig formatted as FAT32. The READ speed is 13 mb/s with a write speed of 2.7 mb/s. The read speed is the same but the writes are twice as fast.

Next a Kingston Data Traveller 2 gig formatted as FAT. The READ speed is 13 mb/s with a write speed of 5 mb/s. This is much faster writing than the 1 gig model. I should backup and convert to FAT32.

Next a Kingston Data Traveller 2 gig formatted as FAT32. This is a more recent version that my white data traveller model. The READ speed is 16 mb/s with a write speed of 10 mb/s.

And a Patriot 2 Gig formatted as FAT32. The READ speed is an amazing 24 mb/s with a write speed of 3.2 mb/s. This is my daily XAMPP stick, might be time to change...

Finally, we have a Kingston Data Traveller 8 gig formatted as FAT32. The READ speed is 17 mb/s with a write speed of 7 mb/s.

This was my daily XAMPP stick until my foot sent it flying and broke the plastic case. Can't believe the ITS people bought computers in 2009 with the usb ports on the botttom of the case. Now the stick is held together with duct tape and it still works but it's retired from regular service.

We would like to compare with our portable 80gig SATA hard disk formatted as FAT32 and running off the usb port but chkflash 1.09 cannot handle this. So we downloaded HD_speed, another dos-based non-installable utility. The USB portable hd READ avg was 24.4 mb/s but we could not test the WRITE data rate without destroying the existing data.

We assume it is faster but it can't fit on a keychain, more of a shirt pocket item as it is about the size of an ipod touch, although a bit heavier. You will note the preponderance of Kingston USB Sticks. I've used them for years and found them quite reliable. Never had one die on me unlike sandisk and others.

Conclusions

• Check the file format on your stick, if FAT back up the data and reformat as FAT32
• Buy a new stick, it is probably faster than your old workhorse
• Higher capacity sticks are probably faster than lower capacity ones

Latest test is on a maxell - one of the new thin sticks that looks like a piece of plastic with some gold 'finger' connectors. These sticks should be immune to the bending and eventually breaking that happens with the square USB connector on many sticks. We ran Check Flash 1.09 on it using the 'temporary file' setting and got a result of 15.5 mb/s for reads and 4.8 mb/s for writes so it is slower than my faster sticks.