Review: Kingston DataTraveller flash drives

By Alex Kayle, Senior portals journalist

Johannesburg, 16 Feb 2012

ITWeb Digital Life tested three Kingston DataTraveller flash drives - the sporty HyperX 3.0, the business-styled SE9 (DTSE9) and the compact DT Micro.

DataTraveller HyperX 3.0

The Kingston DataTraveller HyperX 3.0 USB drive is robust and sporty. The one ITWeb reviewed holds an impressive 64GB. The flash drive is also available in 128GB and 256GB capacities, the latter of which can store around 10 Blu-ray disks or 54 DVDs.

It has been designed for tech enthusiasts who are looking to carry their photos, videos and data on the go while demanding fast speeds. The flash drive has a strong, rubberised grip and looks like it can take a beating if dropped or roughly handled.

The HyperX reads data at a transfer rate of up to 225MB per second and writes at 135MB per second. The fast write speeds mean users can work on large files or applications from the drive while experiencing minimum performance lag.

In summary:

DataTraveller HyperX 3.0
Pros: One of the fastest flash drives on the market
Cons: Far too expensive for a flash drive
Overall rating: 8/10
Capacities: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB
Price: 64GB at R1 545, 128GB at R2 999 and 256GB at R6 799
DataTraveller SE9
Pros: Great design, good protection, compact
Cons: Slightly pricey
Overall rating: 8/10
Capacities: 8GB, 16GB
Price: 7GB at R72 and 16GB at R138
DataTraveller Micro
Pros: Very affordable
Cons: Too small, transfer rates are a bit on the slow side
Overall rating: 7/10
Capacities: 8GB, 16GB
Price: 8GB at R66 and 16GB at R127

While it wins in terms of speed, it fails when it comes to cost-effectiveness, as the 256GB will set you back by R6 799, the same cost as a high-quality notebook or tablet device.

DataTraveller DT Micro

The Kingston DT Micro is one of the tiniest flash drives on the market, but it's fast and stores 8GB. I just felt that I would lose the tiny device at any minute.

While its small size is designed to make the device compact and to not block other ports, I found that perhaps this flash drive, which is smaller than my thumbnail, is a bit too small. However, its size makes it ideally suited to a tablet device.

DataTraveller SE9

The Kingston DataTraveller SE9 (DTSE9) is elegant, sleek, very lightweight and comes in a slim, metal casing that can be attached to a keychain. ITWeb reviewed the 8GB flash drive, but it also comes in 16GB. Its small size means it does not get in the way of other flash drives when USB ports are clustered together.

Put to the speed test

ITWeb pitted the three drives against each other to test their file transfer speed.

In the speed test, the HyperX took six minutes to copy a 350MB video, the SE9 took 12 minutes to transfer the same file, and the DT micro took 15 minutes.