Kingston Digital, Inc., in 2017, released their latest, and thus far most ambitious device, the DataTraveler® Ultimate Generation Terabyte (GT), which is the largest storage capacity flash drive on the market.
With a capacity of 1-2 TB, USB 3.1 Gen 1 (USB 3.0) (What is the USB 3.0 Port)performance and a zinc-alloy metal casing as well as a 5-year warranty with free technical support on paper, the device sounds worth the buy but how did theory hold up to reality?
What does a capacity of 1-2 TB mean?
‘TB’ refers to Terabyte and is a unit of measurement used to describe the amount of available space on a digital device. You are probably used to hearing or seeing Gigabytes (GB), Megabytes (MB) or Kilobytes (KB) used in your day to day existence. As a matter of fact, most laptops come with approximately 500 GB of memory.
One Terabyte is the equivalent to 1,000 Gigabytes and putting that into perspective, that’s the storage capacity of 2 laptops in one flash drive. That makes this device ideal for storing HD videos, movies, pictures; anything that usually eats away at your storage space.
What does USB 3.1 Gen 1 performance actually mean?
Universal Serial Bus or USB is a standardized connector and refers to the silver part of your Flash Drive that you place into your PC or laptop. Since its launch in 1998, USB technology has evolved right alongside the devices it’s used to connect. The most recent 2 incarnations of this evolution being the USB 3.1 Gen 1 and Gen 2.
The only difference between the two are their transfer speeds; speed at which data or information moves across the connector, with USB 3.1 Gen 1 being able to transfer data at a speed of 5GB per second and USB 3.1 Gen 2 being able to transfer data at a speed of 10 GB per second.
What is so special about this Zinc-alloy metal casing?
Zinc-alloy metal casing is to make the device shock resistant. Flash drives, while appearing hardier than former technologies such as floppy disks, are also perceptible to damage by shock and dust.
However, the Zinc-alloy casing of the DataTraveler® Ultimate Generation Terabyte (GT) is there to ensure that your device is safe from shock while its retractable design ensures that dust doesn’t enter the connector.
Now that we know the benefits of the device what are the drawbacks?
Despite these features, many are saying that the DataTraveler® Ultimate Generation Terabyte (GT) is just not worth its huge price tag as the device retails for about $1,650. With other products on the market of a similar size, with faster transfer speeds, and a much smaller price tag; the slower, bulky and expensive DataTraveler® Ultimate Generation Terabyte (GT) may be considered by many as not worth it for its price.
Additionally, the Zinc Alloy metal casing, while good for protecting your data, may make it more difficult to access your data as the bulkiness of the case makes it hard to plug the device into close-set USB ports.
Finally, when the device was tested on both Windows and Mac Operating Systems, its read and write speeds (the speed at which you can access data from the flash drive and the speed at which you can add data to the flash drive) were found to be disappointingly lower than the speeds advertised by the company.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the DataTraveler® Ultimate Generation Terabyte (GT) is an impressive piece of technology that takes speed and data storage to a whole new level.
Though users reported a few issues with this device, it is important to point out that its benefits far outweigh its drawbacks. Its relatively high price tag should therefore not be an excuse to forego this great offer in favour for those that are less capable and less function;.
