USB3 Drive Speed

By Xah Lee. Date:

I tested my USB 2 flash drive speed.

USB2 flash drive read speed 2012-11-13 USB2 flash drive write speed 2012-11-13
USB 2.0 flash drive speed. Read = 26 MB/second. Write = 8 MB/second.

Over at Jeff Atwood's blog [A SSD in Your Pocket By Jeff Atwood. At http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/11/a-ssd-in-your-pocket.html , accessed on 2012-11-13 ], he recommended this USB 3.0 flash storage device:

patriot memory supersonic magnum 64 gb flash drive
Patriot Memory Supersonic Magnum 64 GB Flash Drive Buy at amazon

The practical speed he got is: “237 MB/s reads; 143 MB/s writes”. That's 9 times faster for read, and 17 times faster for write!

USB 3.0 is in current versions of MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, except Mac Pro (which is that big tower.)

For Microsoft Windows PC, cheap ones don't have USB 3.0. Those with Window 8 might. For example, [Dell Inspiron i660-3036BK Desktop At Buy at amazon ]

The Zenbook Prime does have USB 3.0 ports. [see Laptops 2012 Comparison: ASUS Zenbook Prime vs Apple MacBook Pro]