INTRODUCTION

   Over the years USB flash drives have evolved not just in terms of available storage capacity but also performance without at the same time having to sacrifice size to achieve this (with just a handful of exceptions). Yes, to date they still can't compete with some portable SSDs but USB 3.2 Gen 2 models are still capable of reaching very good sub-1Gb/s speeds which should be more than enough really for the majority of users out there. Well, with their recently released DT (DataTraveler) Max line of USB 3.2 Gen 2 flash drives Kingston clearly aims to "blur" the line between flash drives and portable SSDs and today I’ll be testing the top of the line 1TB model.

   Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory products. Kingston designs, manufactures and distributes memory products for desktops, laptops, servers, printers, and Flash memory products for PDAs, mobile phones, digital cameras, and MP3 players. Through its global network of subsidiaries and affiliates, Kingston has manufacturing facilities in California, Taiwan, China and sales representatives in the United States, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine, Australia, India, Taiwan, China, and Latin America. For more information, please call +44 (0)1932 738888 or visit www.kingston.com

   The DataTraveler Max line of USB 3.2 Gen 2 flash drives is currently available in 256GB/512GB/1TB capacities and is based on the same quad-channel (32 CEs) SM2320G NAND flash controller by Silicon Motion as their XS2000 portable SSD line. Not only this choice means that Kingston has no need for a USB bridge chip (this should reduce costs and probably also improve performance) but it also gives the DT Max features like Silicon Motion's NANDXtend ECC end-to-end data path protection (the SM2320G controller also supports real time full drive AES 256-bit encryption and TRNG for full compliance with the CG Opal v2.0 specification but the DT Max line does not make use of it). Two 3D TLC NAND flash modules are also present under the plastic housing of the DT Max 1TB (probably manufactured by Micron but unfortunately the serial numbers in my sample were just not visible enough). So, let's see if the DT Max 1TB USB 3.2 Gen 2 flash drive by Kingston has what it takes to compete with portable SSDs like the XS2000.