CHF45.90 CHF0.09/1GB
Kingston DataTraveler Max
512 GB, USB 3.2, USB-A
Product ratings
Pros
Cons
58 reviews
Quick but bigger than you think
I bought this stick because it performed well in tests with high write speeds. I tested it myself on a USB3.2 Gen2 port.
Pro
- Very fast
Contra
- Gross
This review was created for a different variant: DataTraveler Max (256 GB, USB-A, USB 3.2)
Absolute waste
I bought this USB stick from Digitec because it is supposed to be one of the fastest with a write rate of 900 MB/s and a read rate of 1000 MB/s...
Unfortunately this is NOT the case.
Of the advertised 900MB/s, 90MB/s are actually available.
I feel as if I had ordered from Wish and not from Digitec!
I know what you're going to say now... "Surely you used a USB2.0 port" or "The source medium must be able to write that fast" or "It was just overheated by all the benchmarking and therefore doesn't run that fast"....
But no. I was able to rule out all of these problems!
The first thing I noticed was that when copying with Windows, the speed suddenly drops to 44MB/s... HOW PLEASE? 44MB/s are left of 900MB/s? that's just 5% WTF?
So let's get to the cheese and benchmark for all I'm worth!
Atto with 32mb filesize confirms that the USB stick is connected correctly and really delivers 900MB/s.
Even with 32GB filesize there is still 550MB/s left.
The AS SSD benchmark, on the other hand, shows the true face of this cripple! 110MB/s write performance.
HD-tune also only gives 84MB/s as a result.
But let's move on to real life benchmarks, with TeraCopy... because that shows the duration.
As a baseline I copied the 224gb folder from C:\ to C:\. My M2 SSD is with 456MB/s fast enough to copy to the stick.
But the USB stick actually needs 44 minutes 44 seconds to write this amount of data! which ends at an effective 86MB/s.... wow.
Well... maybe 5'000 files is a bit unfair, so the same test again with 4gb chunks.
As you can see from the blue bars, the stick runs alternately at around 650MB/s and 60Mb/s...
For the 61 files, which are 203.6GB in size, it now only needs 35 minutes 49 seconds, which results in around 97MB/s...
That is 10% of the promised performance of 900MB/s.
And if you're now thinking "Yes, of course the stick is completely hot from all the testing"... You're right... but the temperature was only hand-warm, i.e. an estimated 35-45°C AND I put the USB stick in the freezer for 10 minutes before each test to get it cold again! So no, it actually had fair test conditions.
Well, what else can you say except FINGER WEG FROM THE 256GB variant!
Since the stick has a real SSD controller and a flash module, it may be that the small version cannot address enough NAND in parallel and therefore has speed limits that are not present in larger versions...
Let's see... the 512GB are currently on sale for 41. Maybe they will run better....
Pro
- Large, does not get lost.
- 256Gb is enough for most things.
Contra
- Grotto slow
- Gets hot
This review was created for a different variant: DataTraveler Max (256 GB, USB-A, USB 3.2)
It works but design is not the best
It works just fine, but the thin plastic shell is so-so, especially because the unit is so long.
Pro
- speed
- size
Contra
- length
- plastic design
WoW.... Not only the 256gb but also the 512gb version is rubbish!
I bought the 256gb version and was massively disappointed....
But maybe there was the well-known problem of the small SSD's that the controller can address too few NAND devices in parallel and therefore does not run faster... So I bought the 512gb version on sale for 41.50.
PITY NO. The 512GB version is just as slow as the 256gb version!
While Atto and AS-SSD benchmark give good results this time, HD-Tune once again shows the true face of this cripple.
After writing around 90GB it drops to a TERRIBLE 35mb/sec... that's USB2.0 speed!
And unfortunately that's exactly what you'll have if you want to use the USB!
224gb need 32 minutes, which corresponds to 119mb/sec.
Not even the 4gb files go faster. Well, yes... briefly at the very beginning.
But the 203gb take 34 minutes, which is 102mb/sec.
If you want a USB stick but don't want to use it, or just want to write 476GB to it once and then only read it, the stick is recommended.
But if you just want to make a quick backup from the server and instead of the planned 3 minutes you have to sit there for 33 minutes, then the product is simply taking the piss!
Pro
- Large
Contra
- Extremely slow!
- 10% of the advertised speed!
- 35 minutes instead of 3 minutes to copy
Top quality and price, very fast download
1 TB of space, fast transfers, but the housing...
First formatted to NTFS. I haven't reached the promised speeds yet, but it's fast enough for me.
Write: 370-380 MB/s
Read: 440 MB/s
The stick is longer than you think and you have to like the colour (pale wine red) (or not).
I was very disappointed by the quality of the casing. The casing just feels like cheap plastic, but the stick and the casing will probably survive a fall anyway.
The worst thing for me is the sharp edges/corners on the side where the key fob is attached, as I would have expected rounded edges, especially for a "traveller" stick. Paradoxically, the sharp edges are exposed when the stick is closed and are covered when the stick is open. I think I'll grind the two sharp edges a bit, then at least this problem will be solved.
I also find it unattractive that the USB plug on the underside of the stick is half open when it is closed... The housing would be more stable here if this part was also closed and it would feel better, but I'm a little worried that one of my keys could get caught in it in my trouser pocket and break the housing (or even the plug) out. That remains to be seen.
In any case, the capacity (1 TB) and the relatively good speeds are positive. The rest is a matter of taste.
Pro
- Capacity (1 TB variant)
- Good transmission speeds
- Price/performance
Contra
- Transfer speed becomes unstable if the stick gets too hot
- Cheap hard plastic housing
- Sharp edges on the plastic housing
- Sliding mechanism only covers half of the USB plug
- A little long
- The colour
This review was created for a different variant: DataTraveler Max (1000 GB, USB 3.2, USB-A)
6 out of 58 reviews
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