Super Talent Introduces USB 3.0 Express RAM Cache Drive Series

[btarunr]

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced they are now shipping their new "USB 3.0 Express RAM Cache drive". Available in 32 & 64GB capacities, this new drive implements a DRAM caching system to boost small block random performance by up to 300%. As most manufacturers are announcing their first USB 3.0 flash drive, SuperTalent we is announcing their fourth. SuperTalent is also currently the only USB flash manufacturer offering a caching system on their drives.

"We've made the first, fastest, hardware encrypted, and most affordable USB flash 3.0 flash drives, now with the Express RAM Cache, we are offering affordable cache support on USB 3.0." - SuperTalent COO, CH Lee. Sequential read and write speeds only show how a drive will perform when copying large files. In "real world" applications, we are often reading and writing 100's of smaller files and in some cases even booting to the drive. In these instances traditional flash designs show their weakness and a caching system can dramatically improve performance. For example, say you wanted to copy 40 MP3 files to your flash drive. By adding a caching system, the Express RAM Cache drive can now write these same files 260% faster; instead of taking 13 seconds, this transfer now takes less than 5 seconds. As the file size decreases and the file count increase, this time savings becomes even more apparent.



Models:

• ST3U16EDK USB 3.0 Express Drive, 16 GB $59
• ST3U32EDK USB 3.0 Express Drive, 32 GB $99
• ST3U32ERS USB 3.0 Express RAM CACHE Drive, 32 GB $129
• ST3U64ERS USB 3.0 Express RAM CACHE Drive, 64 GB $209

"No longer are we talking about a 10x performance increase over USB 2, now we are talking about a real world experience that is up to 110x what our customers have experienced before. Adding RAM Cache to our USB 3.0 Express Drive line-up raises the bar we have establish with our first three USB 3.0 products and reiterates our commitment and leadership in the USB 3.0 space.", Super Talent COO, C.H. Lee.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Mussels]

makes sense, flash drives benefit from a write buffer as much as any other storage medium.

 

[Tartaros]

So is this the same as the turbo boost thing back in vista?

 

[Mussels]

So is this the same as the turbo boost thing back in vista?

no.


this is just putting a cache on the drive so the drive itself is faster. much like hard drives have 32/64MB of cache.

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

...the Express RAM Cache drive can now write these same files 260% faster; instead of taking 13 seconds, this transfer now takes less than 5 seconds. As the file size decreases and the file count increase, this time savings becomes even more apparent.

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So lets do math. 13/5 = 2.6 *100 = 260%.

Wow I was expecting that to be wrong.

If this is as advertised then this is a neat advancement. I might pick one up once I see one in 64gb. I have an aging 16gb that I have never filled, but there is no reason why I shouldn't get a new one right?

 

[WarEagleAU]

Pretty cool and to be honest the prices are not bad at all.

 

[Atom_Anti]

40 MP3 files=5sec,
40X3MB=120MB
120MB/5=24MB/sec

So the writing speed is somewhere between 20-30MB/sec. I think is not so big deal for that money.

 

[Mussels]

40 MP3 files=5sec,
40X3MB=120MB
120MB/5=24MB/sec

So the writing speed is somewhere between 20-30MB/sec. I think is not so big deal for that money.

you ever seen the minimum write speeds on flash drives? its a big deal.

 

[Atom_Anti]

you ever seen the minimum write speeds on flash drives? its a big deal.

I think I have already seen USB2.0 flash drives with more than 20MB/sec writing speed, might not. However from an USB3.0 flashdrive I was expecting somewhere between 100-200MB/sec for writing.

 

[Mussels]

I think I have already seen USB2.0 flash drives with more than 20MB/sec writing speed, might not. However from an USB3.0 flashdrive I was expecting somewhere between 100-200MB/sec for writing.

thats the max speed. try it with small files and see them go under 500KB/s

 

[Atom_Anti]

thats the max speed. try it with small files and see them go under 500KB/s

Mp3 files are not so small, it should not mean the minimal write speed, but something 100kb or smaller files.

 

[Wile E]

I have the non-ram cache model, and it writes much faster than my Patriot Xporter XT, even when both are in a USB 2.0 port.

They are much faster drives with smaller files, and mine doesn't even have internal RAID or Ram caching.

The one downside, however, is they have a permanent CDFS partition with the Turbo drivers on them. Plays havok with trying to use it as a boot drive sometimes. Wish they would give a patch to eliminate it.

 

[Mussels]

damn, those minimum write speeds are way up there.

 

[Wile E]

Sweet, they released a firmware update that lets you permanently install the Turbo drivers, and reformats the drive to a single partition. Smokin fast install drive, here I come!!!!

http://www.supertalent.com/support/download/Express Drive Firmware Upgrade.zip

 

[Atom_Anti]

Nice writing speeds with small files.

 

[IdleWild]

So guys I've got the ST3U32ERS USB 3.0 Express RAM CACHE Drive, 32 GB for $84 shipped. I'm little bit disappointed with the benchmarks though. This are the benches of the USB 2.0 interface of course.

 

[Mussels]

well of course its going to be slow on USB 2.0 ports

 

[Wile E]

So guys I've got the ST3U32ERS USB 3.0 Express RAM CACHE Drive, 32 GB for $84 shipped. I'm little bit disappointed with the benchmarks though. This are the benches of the USB 2.0 interface of course.

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/5300/st32gb.jpg

Did you install the turboHDD drivers? If not, do so immediately. Huge difference in write speeds. (Assuming the Cache series offers the option. The regular Express Drive does.)

Besides, I don't know why you are upset, those write speeds are still double of most USB 2.0 flash drives.