• HyperX 64GB DataTraveler 3.0 Review

Hey gang, Valkor here. And welcome back to another of TOV's TechView, where we get our hands on some the latest gadgets and gizmos around and work them over like no one's business. OK maybe not to that extreme, but you get the idea. The folks at Kingston are back in town, showing off their latest drive, the DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB flash drive, touting speeds only seen in larger Solid State Drives (SSD). Hmmm... Challenge accepted, Kingston. Let's see what you got!

Kingston HyperX 3.0


On the outside, the HyperX sports a metallic blue finish with black rubber grips. The cap of the drive meshes in so well that it appears to be one solid piece. I learned that you can actually place the cap on the tail of the device as opposed to simply setting it down and whoops! It's gone. The drive we received is the 64GB version, but the HyperX comes in a 128GB as well as 256GB and touts speeds of 225MB/s read and 135MB/s write – crazy speeds! Just for comparisons sake. The Lexar S73 (16GB) that we have in house reads at 45MB/s and writes at 20MB/s. So this should be an interesting Val-cave run.

The HyperX is meant to show off the true power of USB 3.0, so for this test I got my hands in a semi-souped up DELL (loaner) running Windows 7 Home, 4 GBs of RAM, and a 256 SSD drive. For files, I chose a 700MB digital film, a 90MB file, and 1.4 GB folder. I thought I about doing a vs. with the HyperX going against Lexar's S73, however the S73 is more for casuals users, while the HyperX is for those looking for some serious storage and the speed to go with it. On the read (reading from the drive) the 90MB file clocked in just under a second, the 700MB hit 7s, and the 1.4GB came in at 14s. With the write (writing onto the disk) the 90MB file checked in at 3s, the 700 hit 13s, and the 1.4GB… 26s. Now that's pretty damn fast.

Kingston HyperX 3.0


Speeds will vary depending on your system, but make no mistake the HyperX 3.0… this is one serious contender. So let's summarize to the quick in the TOV Breakdown.

The Bang:

On the outside the HyperX DataTraveler is one sexy beast and it feels good to the hands, but it's the inside that's where its at and the HyperX shows that it is one speed demon. The drive is perfect for transferring and storing large files with the quickness all thanks in part to the USB 3.0 interface. It actually works in the USB 2.0 slot but way slower. Thinking about... it would be a waste. Nice if you're simply moving images and docs, but for larger files, you may want to utilize the USB 3.0 standard. Finally, with the sizes that the HyperX is pushing, it makes for a great companion to any laptop, netbook, or ultrabook, expanding on their onboard memory. In the end the HyperX 3.0 is the best drive to enter the Val-Cave and it'll be the perfect drive to have in your home.

Kingston HyperX 3.0


The Slack:

Now this is mad nitpicking and doesn't have anything to do with the drive; it's more of a suggestion for future products. But I kinda like the color scheme that Lexar has with the S73 and I hope more companies, such as Kingston, will utilize their model of allocating different colors for each drive.

Kingston HyperX 3.0


In the end the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64GB Flash Drive is a total win in my book and it's the one drive that's perfect for anyone seriously looking for a flash drive that's super fast, and can handle large transfers with the swiftness. Before I forget the HyperX 3.0 is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7 as well as Mac computers. In the end, out of TOV 5 stars, I gotta give the HyperX 3.0 a solid score of 5 stars perfect and the it's been Valkor tested, TOV Approved.