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USB 3.0 has been growing in popularity over recent months, and we have seen many manufacturers, such as Kingston and Corsair releasing a steady stream of high performance drives. Today if you buy a computer you can be assured that there will be at least one USB 3.0 port. If you are already using an older USB 2.0 flash drive is it worth upgrading to a new model?
We have already reviewed a series of high cost, ultimate performance drives, but what if you wanted to aim lower in the price chain? Today we are looking at the latest low cost offering from ADATA – the S107 16GB drive, competitively priced around £25.
ADATA are offering this particular drive in three capacities. 8GB at £14, 16 GB at £21 and 32GB at £43.
Capacity: 8GB/16GB/32GB
Color: Red / Blue
Dimensions: 61.8 x 18.7 x 10.7mm (L x W x H)
Weight: 13.6g
Interface: Supports USB 3.0, backward compatible with USB 2.0
System requirements: Windows: XP/Vista/7 or later
Mac: OS10.5 or later
Linux: Kernel 2.6 or later
Texture: Water and shock resistant rubber material
The drive is available in two colours, blue and red. We received a red unit with 16GB capacity. The blister pack is easily ripped open, however it can't really be re-used for storage later.
The S107 is a compact little unit measuring 61.8mm x 18.7 mm x 10.7 mm. It weighs only 13.6g meaning it can easily fit into a shirt or coat pocket without being uncomfortable. The 16GB model we received for review is rated at 100 MB/s read and 25 MB/s write. The 32GB drive has the same read speed of 100 MB/s, but is twice as fast when writing data, rated at 50 MB/s. I like the appearance of the drive, the soft, rubberised body feels durable and strong enough to withstand a fall.
The S107 is not only shockproof, but waterproof too. ADATA claim it falls in line with U.S. military regulations. In operation there is a little LED light which pulses as data is moved to and from the drive. The little rubber cap looks like it could go missing very easily however. The cap can be held in place within the circular section at the rear of the drive however.
We decided to test the waterproof capabilities with a ‘live' test. I honestly didn't know what would happen here, so we submerged the drive into a glass of cold water and shook it around. After removing it, we ensured no specks of water were on the USB 3.0 header and inserted into a Sony laptop. It worked fine!
To test the drive performance today we are using an Intel Core i7 990X Extreme Edition system.
Processor: Core i7 990X Extreme Edition @ 4.8ghz.
Cooling: Corsair H100 Liquid Cooler.
Motherboard: Asus Rampage III Black Edition.
Chassis: Lian Li X2000F.
Power Supply: ADATA 1200W.
Memory: (6 x 4GB) 24GB Visiontek DDR3 1866mhz (10-10-10-24).
Storage: Memoright 240GB SSD & 2TB Samsung storage drive.
Monitors: Dell U3011.
Comparison Products:
ADATA Nobility N005 Pro 64GB Flash Drive.
Kingston 64GB DT Ultimate Drive.
1TB USB 3.0 Toshiba HDD.
Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 64 GB
We perform each test multiple times to ensure that abnormalities don’t enter into the test results.
First we copied a folder containing 12 MKV files, totaling 8GB in size. We copied them to and from each of the drives via an internal sata based Memoright 240GB SSD.
The drive delivers good results when it comes to the read test, averaging around 95 MB/s. The write speed is quite slow however, at 24 MB/s.
Next we copied a folder with many mixed files, ranging in size from simple text based Word documents to several 100 MB video files. The folder size is 1GB. We record the average time taken then work out the speeds of the drives. Again we copy via an internal sata based Memoright 240GB SSD.
With a complex mixed file folder the results from all drives drop significantly. The S107 maintains an average speed around 57 MB/s read and 23 MB/s write.
The next stage is to analyse the performance of the drives with some of the best software available online.
Crystalmark is a useful benchmark to measure theoretical performance levels of hard drives and SSD’s. We are using V3.0 x64.
These results are close to the speeds that ADATA list, around 100 MB/s sequential read and 25 MB/s sequential write. This is by no means one of the leading USB 3.0 flash drives in regards to throughput, but it is a relatively quick drive marketed at a budget price point.
The ADATA N005 Pro is the quickest ADATA flash drive we have tested to date, but the 64GB Kingston DataTraveller HyperX takes the top performance spot by a clear margin. Those read and write speeds are seriously impressive. It is a completely different price sector however.
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.
ATTO mirrors the results of CrystalDiskMark, the S107 16GB scores around 100 MB/s read and 25 MB/s write. The S107 is a decent performance drive at a good price point for general use. Anyone seeking ultimate performance however will need to dig a little deeper for a more expensive drive.
The ADATA S107 16GB USB 3.0 drive is a solid performer, delivering sequential performance speeds around 100 MB/s read and 25 MB/s write. While this is far from class leading, the price point is critical when basing a conclusion.
The test results in this review are from a wide cross section of hardware, and if you have read it in detail, the 64GB Kingston DataTraveller HyperX clearly takes the top spot, by a huge margin. Everyone would want this drive for their system, but few would be willing to pay the £130 asking price. This ADATA S107 16GB by comparison will be priced under £25.
Unless you need the ultimate read and write performance with huge capacity, the ADATA S107 makes for an ideal ‘all purpose' drive.
With read performance around 100 MB/s, it can eat through large data with relative ease, although the write performance can be painfully slow at times when dealing with larger files. If you are planning to use the drive for small folders of files, and generalised backups then it is a good value for money purchase with decent storage capacity. The larger 32GB drive seems to offer a good performance increase, doubling the write speed, while still hitting the market under £45.
Pros:
- value for money.
- Good read performance.
- nice design.
- built to last.
- waterproof and shock proof.
Cons:
- sluggish write performance.
Kitguru says: For the price it is hard to beat.
bit slow in the write speed, but the 32GB drive seems better value, as its double the size with double the write speed, and no more than twice the price. Where can we buy one, or is this another ADATA paper launch with no stock anywhere in the UK?