INTRODUCTION

   Storage media prices regardless of type (hard disk drives, solid state drives and flash drives) have been taking a significant hit during the past 3 weeks and so after giving it some thought we decided that it would be appropriate if we took a look at the latest USB 3.0 flash drives to hit the market from the big players/manufacturers in the market since now seems to be a very good time for such a purchase. However since not every single drive has made it here yet instead of doing a large comparison this time over we will be standalone reviews as they come. So today the first drive we will be testing is the latest SuperSonic Boost 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive by Patriot Memory.

   Established in 1985, Patriot Memory builds a full range of memory module and flash memory products, offering a perfect blend of quality and value. Patriot products include Extreme Performance (EP), Signature Lines (SL) and Flash Memory solutions (FM). Commitment, focus on innovation in technology, product quality, and customer satisfaction are the key enablers of our future success. Patriot's development and manufacturing facility are located in Fremont, California USA and Taipei, Taiwan. Our manufacturing segment is composed of a highly skilled production staff and multiple production lines optimized for modules, giving Patriot the ability and resources necessary to provide a full line of memory module solutions. We understand the value of designing and responding quickly and intelligently to the rapid changes inherent in the memory module industry. This commitment to R&D enables us to deliver the best quality memory modules powered by the latest innovative technology.

   Just by looking at the specifications of the SuperSonic Boost 32GB it's quite obvious that Patriot did not aim to deliver the best possible read/write speeds nor the highest capacity and so this particular flash drive is certainly not ment for enthusiasts and especially professionals who simply need the best of both worlds for their jobs. Of course enthusiasts and professionals are not the majority of people and so it will be quite interesting to see exactly how the SuperSonic Boost 32GB compares to other USB 3.0 flash drives in the market in terms of speed and of course what kind of price/performance ratio it offers.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The package allows you to see the SuperSonic Boost 32GB flash drive prior to purchasing it and also lists the USB connectivity type, max read speeds and system compatibility.

The product specifications are listed at the rear in 8 languages.

I was somewhat surprised to see that Patriot ships the SuperSonic Boost in the package without a lanyard.

THE SUPERSONIC BOOST 32GB

Some of you may remember the old Boost XT USB 2.0 flash drive by Patriot featuring a black rubber exterior. Well the body of the new SuperSonic Boost USB 3.0 is identical, just slightly smaller and this time over the XT is blue (was red in the USB 2.0 version).

At the rear end of the drive we see the capacity, activity LED and the lanyard space (of course you can still use it with your keychain but it's not as easy as it would with a lanyard).

The SuperSonic logo is placed on the other side.

When using the drive you can place the front cap at the rear where the lanyard space is.

To showcase the size of the SuperSonic Boost 32GB i placed it next to the Kingston HyperX 128GB USB 3.0 flash drive.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Since flash drives are basically plain storage media devices just like solid state drives and hard disk drives we are using almost the same testing methodology to successfully record the achieved performance numbers. The benchmark suites used are HD Tach RW (Read Speeds / Long Bench 32mb Zone Testing), HD Tune Pro (Read speeds), Sisoftware Sandra Pro (Read / Write speeds), AIDA 64 Engineer Edition (Average Linear Read / Random Read Speeds), Crystal Disk Mark x64 (100MB Read / Write speeds) and finally ATTO (Max Read / Max Write speeds). Every test is repeated a total of 6 times after which the average performance numbers are recorded into our charts.

   All tests are performed with are main test rig running Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1 complete with every system update up until May 10th. As always for comparison purposes we also used some of the drives currently available to us such as right now (the ones we no longer have access to are not included in the charts since they were tested using different system configurations).

TEST RESULTS - AIDA 64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

CONCLUSION

   The original Boost XT USB 2.0 became one of my favorite USB flash drives when i got to test it almost 3 years ago because it combined very good read/write speeds with a rugged rubber body which in many cases one would even call water resistant (dropped it into water quite a few times). Naturally 3 years later i expected the same results from the new SuperSonic Boost USB 3.0 flash drive when i saw the Patriot announcement shortly ago but judging from the performance numbers we got (especially write ones) this was not the case. Yes you do get good read/write speeds especially compared to USB 2.0 but even the quite older SuperSonic drive was a lot faster than the Boost although i have to say that the rugged body of the Boost may be important to some people (which brings about the question why they didn't use the same interior as the normal SuperSonic drive).

   With a price tag currently set at USD39.99 inside the USA (Newegg) and at around 35Euros inside the EU the SuperSonic Boost 32GB by Patriot is the cheapest rugged USB 3.0 flash drive in the market currently and that's perhaps the most important feature that may place it on top of the to buy list of some people. However if you just want a plain USB 3.0 drive with very good speeds, good build quality (aluminum) and an attractive price tag then the original SuperSonic USB 3.0 flash drive by Patriot is a much better overall choice. Bottom line the new SuperSonic Boost 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive may feature the same rugged exterior just like its predecessor (only smaller) but lacks the performance required to go up against even the previous SuperSonic USB 3.0 drive again manufactured by Patriot and so i can't really recommend it to people who don't require a rugged flash drive. However if you are in need of a cost-effective rugged USB 3.0 flash drive with relatively good transfer speeds (but don't need the best there is) then the Patriot SuperSonic Boost 32GB is certainly worth a look.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Rugged Rubber Exterior
- Design
- Size
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Performance
- Only Available Up To 32GB
- Lanyard Not Included