Reviews - Patriot 128GB Xporter Magnum USB pen-drive review. Big-stick fun.

[HEXUS]

We test a 128GB USB pen-drive, bigger than many hard drives of yesteryear. Find out how good it is.

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[Aranthos]

Hey all, good review. I like how they're tested with various different file sizes especially since half of what I move around is GMod addons etc. consisting of thousands of teeny LUA files etc.

Anyways, I thought I'd try to help you out a little. If you need a truer idea of performance, particularly on the SSD, have you considered using a RAMdisk?

Stick 8GB of RAM in the host system, and use software such as Farstone virtual drive or something to mount 4GB of it as a virtual HDD. They're known to transfer several GB/s (derp, they're RAM. Of course they're fast) and don't need a Hyperdrive or iRAM etc. Just got to pump the rig full of RAM and use the software. Then test the drives with files stored on the virtual drive.

????

[TheAnimus]

Whilst ram drives remove a factor, they also reduce the complexity.

Saying copying from one drive to another, a big factor is the amount of ram given to it, whilst some drives like this have high random performance, the sequental stuff isn't so hot.

For real world use, a real world test is often best, because its these little facists of performance altering characteristics, often not taken into account in synthetic tests, that often dricetly effect them in the real world.

Now how long before we see this in a eSata stick form.

[Aranthos]

Whilst ram drives remove a factor, they also reduce the complexity.

Saying copying from one drive to another, a big factor is the amount of ram given to it, whilst some drives like this have high random performance, the sequental stuff isn't so hot.

For real world use, a real world test is often best, because its these little facists of performance altering characteristics, often not taken into account in synthetic tests, that often dricetly effect them in the real world.

Now how long before we see this in a eSata stick form.

Fair logic there TBH, however I think it's always nice to see what the device is capable of when removed from realistic constraints. I'd like to know that if I get an eSATA based SSD that it won't stop getting faster when I upgrade my hard disk to a faster model. I'd like to know its upper limit. The way I see it, using a RAMdrive does remove an element of real-world performance, but it also lets the reader know just how fast a device truly is. If the only figures Hexus are giving out for a particular device are using a portion of its capabilities who's to say what's really the best one to get? Sure, two competing SSD based eSATA drives might perform similarly now, but when the SATA 3 spec is rolled out to eSATA and the HDD in the host system is upgraded, which one is faster then?

[tscoffee115]

Hi there, Would a new one like me be welcome here?
Thanks so much in deed.