Toshiba TransMemory EX II 64GB USB 3.0 Encrypted Flash Drive Review

Introduction Toshiba has a lot of experience in the storage area and it's a pleasure to take a closer look at their TransMemory EX II 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive today, a fast and secure pocket drive. This tiny flash drive doesn't just promise us great speeds over 200MB/s at both writing and reading, it also supports Windows ReadyBoost and comes with Toshiba's Pad Locker software to encrypt and password protect your drive. The fast USB 3.0 Super Speed allows you to transfer 25GB of video content in less than 4 minutes, that's about the size of an average Blueray movie. Not bad. Windows ReadyBoost allows external memory storage to be used as a cache for the hard disk drive of a PC. Windows ReadyBoost capability contributes to enhanced PC performance, such as reduced time required for PC start-up - another way of improving older hard drive setups. One of the things that sets this flash drive apart from the rest is the Pad Locker software. Not only does it allow you to create a password protected and encrypted drive, it allows you to set the amount you want to encrypt. You could do half and half or whatever ratio you have a need for and how many files of yours actually need to be protected to that degree. Pad Locker also allows you to format the drive as FAT32, even for models above 64GB and it can handle multiple devices on the same computer at once; a great little piece of software. The TransMemory EX II is backed by a five-year warranty from the date of purchase. Test Procedure Test system: Gigabyte Z97X UD5H-BK Intel Core i7-4790K Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB 2400MHz OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD CoolerMaster Silent Hybrid 850W PSU We would like to thank our sponsors for providing us with the test equipment to perform these tests. To allow for the fairest testing possible, I will be using as many different software applications as possible to test each drive. This ensures the most accurate results and increases the chance that it can help you making just the right drive decision. Software used: AIDA64 Anvil's Storage Utilities ATTO Disk Benchmark CrystalDiskMark Some of these application will put quite a strain on a flash drive, it simply isn't designed for the same workload as an SSD. I still like to include as many tests as possible in my reviews as they paint a great picture of how a drive will perform even when you tax it to the max. AIDA64 Storage AIDA64 is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for home users. It provides a wide range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives and is compatible with most Microsoft Windows operating systems. It also has a disk benchmark tool, and that is the one we’ll be using. Average Read Access: Drive Performance We see a slight upwards curve on the access times as the drive fills up. This is a usual thing to see on thumb drives and the Toshiba TransMemory EX II stays below 1ms throughout the tests. Anvil's Storage Utilities Anvil’s Storage Utilities is a new benchmarking utility that we have started using here at eTeknix, it’s completely free to download and has the ability to test mainly hard drives and solid state drives, but also any other form of storage medium that you can throw at it. Compressible Data: Incompressible Data Drive Performance Anvil's Storage Utilities shows a straight performance without a single drop. Drive Comparison The TransMemory EX II ranks in as the fastest thumbs drive tested in Anvil's Storage Benchmark. The write scores are great for a flash drive of this capacity. ATTO The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customize your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage. Drive Performance As previously mentioned, my tests put a strain on the drive performance and the result is seen clearly in the ATTO results. Even with the drop, the drive still performs well above average. Drive Comparison ATTO paints a great picture for the Toshiba TransMemory EX II with read scores up to 233MB/s and write scores up to 201MB/s. This is without a doubt the fastest scores we've seen from a drive with this size and connection. CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a small HDD benchmark utility for your hard drive that enables you to rapidly measure sequential and random 4KB/512KB read/write speeds. Drive Performance Drive Comparison Software Impressions Toshiba's TransMemory EX II comes packed with the EX II Pad Locker software that allows you to encrypt and password protect your drive or just parts of it. It is an awesome feature that you can device how much you want to encrypt, leaving the rest free to use with less hassle and without the need for a password when it isn't needed. There are four simple pages in the program where one of them just is an about page. Encrypting and password protecting your drive is easy and doesn't require much. Select space you want to protect and confirm the deletion of the drives content. Unlocking the drive again, in the event that you don't need the encryption and protection at all, is just as easy as it was setting it up. A couple clicks and entering the previous set password and the drive is back to being just a normal USB 3.0 drive. Final Thoughts Pricing You can pick up one of Toshiba's TransMemory EX II USB 3.0 drives for a little under £0.80 per GB, not bad for a drive in this class. At the time of writing this review, the stick can be had at Moby Memory for £49.99, Amazon US for $79.99, NewEgg for $72.26 or starting from €57.56 in Germany. Overview The Toshiba TransMemory EX II 64GB USB 3.0 drive comes packed in a relative simple enclosure, but one that feels very sturdy and stable. There is no doubt that this is a quality drive as soon as you pick it up. The rippled design around the drive help to have a great grip on it while plugging it in or out, or just handling it. The drive performed great in our benchmarks with transfer speeds around and over the 200MB/s marker. Reading speeds even went as high as 238MB/s. The access times weren't bad either for an encrypted drive, staying under 1ms throughout the entire testing process. The EX II Pad Locker software is easy and straight forward in its use. It is a great feature that you can decide how much of the drive you want to protect, or if you want to protect any at all; this gives you the freedom of choice and a drive for just your usage needs. Pros: Great speeds Sturdy construction Encryption with variable size of encrypted partition Easy to use software Cons: Price "Toshiba has used their knowledge in storage and created a great USB 3.0 drive with the TransMemory EX II, making it more than worthy of our Extreme Performance Award." Thanks to Toshiba for providing us with this review sample.