Kingston HyperX 3.0 64GB Flash Drive Review

Kingston HyperX Flash Drives Go USB 3.0

Kingston Technology came out with the DataTraveler HyperX USB 2.0 Flash drive back in February 2008 and at that time it was one of the fastest portable storage devices that money could buy. How fast was that? The Kingston DataTraveler HyperX USB 2.0 Flash drives had a read speed of 30MB/s and a write speed of 20MB/s. This was blazing fast back in the day, but then again the 2GB, 4GB and 8GB drive sizes were acceptable. Kingston never brought out another USB 2.0 drive under the HyperX line, so it has been nearly four years since so the HyperX name has been used on a USB Flash drive released Kingston. Kingston doesn’t over use the HyperX brand name since it is reserved for the fastest and the best products that they offer. Just recently the engineers at Kingston developed a USB 3.0 Flash drive that they felt was worthy of the HyperX logo and they sent out a sample for use to look at.

The new drive is called the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 and it features the fastest speeds and largest capacities that Kingston offers for portable storage. This drive is aimed at gamers, enthusiasts, early adopters and high-end consumers that want nothing but the best.

DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 Features/Specifications:

• Capacities 64GB, 128GB, 256GB
• Dimensions 2.952″ x 0.916″ x 0.626″ (74.99mm x 23.29mm x 15.9mm)
• Operating Temperature 32 to 140 F (0 to 60 C)
• Storage Temperature -4 to 185 F (-20 to 85 C)
• Practical durable casing with a solid lanyard loop
• USB 3.0 Speed 225MB/s read and 135MB/s write
• USB 2.0 Speed 30MB/s read and 30MB/s write
• Guaranteed five-year warranty, 24/7 technical support

Kingston has always been conservative with speed ratings, so when we saw that this drive was rated at 225MB/s read and 135MB/s write when used on a USB 3.0 port, we couldn’t wait to see what it could really do. With impressive read and write speeds like this, the HyperX USB 3.0 Flash drive has performance numbers that would cause most portable hard drives to run and hide. Kingston is able to hit high-speeds like these thanks to an 8-channel controller paired with some seriously fast NAND memory. This is critical as it saves time when opening and transferring large files. Heck, you could even expand a notebooks storage or backup an entire system on one of these drives since they are available in 256GB capacities.

Just like the original, the DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 features a capless design with a modern looking metallic blue case and black rubber grips for easy handling. At first glance we didn’t see an LED activity indicator, but after we plugged it in there is a blue LED activity light located under the Kingston RedHead logo just under the capacity marking.

Flipping the drive over we see the Kingston logo in the middle of the drive and we finally noticed that the ‘X’ shape used on the body also goes along with the HyperX branding. The drive measures in at 74.99mm x 23.29mm x 15.9mm, which is a little thick, but most USB 3.0 thumb drives are. Since the HyperX 3.0 64GB drive is made using a plastic housing it weighs just 17.7 grams.

The HyperX 3.0 is obviously a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 drive and as such it has the blue colored USB 3.0 connector so you know it supports the standard.

While the cap does come off the HyperX 3.0 it does snap onto the back of the drive for safe keeping. Most people still sit the cap down and lose it, but this is better than not having a place to store it at all.

One thing we noticed when using the HyperX 3.0 is that when you attach the included lanyard to the loop on the end of the drive it’s tough to be get the cap on. You can do it, but you have to mash it on and it doesn’t sit right. This could have been prevented by placing a small gap at one end of the housing for the cord to fit into when the cap is installed. Not a major issue, but something we noticed in our daily use of the drive.