Corsair Flash Voyager GT (32GB)

What do you get when you combine USB 3.0 speeds, 32GB of storage space, and rugged construction that is both water-resistant and shockproof? You get the Corsair Flash Voyager GT ($64.99 direct for 32GB), a rough-and-tumble flash drive that outpaces its slower cousin, the Corsair Flash Voyager USB 3.0 ($40 street, 3.5 stars) and provides a storage solution that goes just about anywhere.

Design
The Corsair Flash Voyager GT is a ruggedized USB 3.0 flash drive that combines high-capacity storage (32GB) and speedy transfer rates (via USB 3.0) and wraps it all in a rubber housing that defends against bumps and dings and seals out moisture. At 0.57 by 1.0 by 4.8 inches (HWD) and weighing 0.8 ounce, the Flash Voyager GT may be just a bit big for adding to a key ring, but it's definitely small enough to stow in a laptop bag. Just be careful when plugging it in, because it may crowd the neighboring ports a bit.

The 32GB Flash Voyager GT sells for $64.99 direct, coming out to $2.03 per gigabyte. For the capacity and performance, that's not too shabby. By comparison, the previous, slower Flash Voyager USB 3.0 sold for $1.25/GB and the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Generation 2 (32GB) ($80 street, 4 stars) sells for $2.35/GB.

The Flash Voyager GT is preformatted to FAT32, offering out-of-the-box compatibility with all major operating systems including Windows, Mac, and Linux. There is no extra software included with the drive, but Corsair does back the drive with a 5-year warranty.

Performance
The Flash Voyager GT is equipped with USB 3.0, which more than doubles the speeds available via USB 2.0 without losing backward compatibility. The resulting performance is certainly speedy. In PCMark 7, the Flash Voyager GT scored 799 points while using a USB 3.0 connection. This more than doubles the 335 points scored by the previous Flash Voyager, but it still falls far behind the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G2's score of 2,131 (USB 3.0).

When transferring data to and from the device, the performance was similar. In our timed file transfer tests, the Flash Voyager GT delivered write speeds of 36.7 MBps and read speeds of 95.6 MBps using USB 3.0. Performance-wise, this places it somewhere between the Flash Voyager USB 3.0 (34.5 MBps write, 63.4 MBps read) and the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 (61.8 MBps write, 99.4 MBps read).

The Corsair Flash Voyager GT is one of the larger USB 3.0 flash drives on the market, offering slightly better performance than its cousin, the Flash Voyager USB 3.0. If you need still faster data transfer, you might consider opting for the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate USB 3.0, but for most users, the Flash Voyager GT is a sensible buy.

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Corsair Flash Voyager GT (32G) with several other flash drives side by side.

More flash drive reviews:
??? Corsair Flash Voyager GT (32GB)
??? Corsair Flash Voyager USB 3.0
??? Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Generation 2 (32GB)
??? Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ (8GB)
??? Victorinox Swiss Army Slim Flight
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/mH0qpNpHFn4/0,2817,2401651,00.asp

st.louis cardinals st.louis cardinals drag me to hell alot alot are you afraid of the dark are you afraid of the dark