INTRODUCTION

   Up until recently the only high performance USB 3.0 compatible flash drives in the market where either average or quite large in size making it somewhat difficult to carry around and especially on a keychain. Personally I’ve always carried a USB flash drive on my keychain so i know firsthand how much of a role size plays when choosing the right one for the job so although performance is crucial for me i have to admit that size is even more important. Lately however things have changes so quite a few manufacturers including Kingston and Patriot have begun releasing very small USB 3.0 drives with very good performance levels. Silicon Power is one of those manufacturers that never falls behind in new things so it was just a matter of time really before they released their own tiny USB 3.0 drive and so today we will be taking a look at the Jewel J10 32GB model.

   Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc., founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic specialists in International Business, Global Marketing, and Technical Engineering of flash data storage industry. Well dedicated in brand image and product quality, Silicon Power has been recognized and well accepted by millions of end-users in more than 100 countries, becomes the world's leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, DRAM modules, solid state disks, and portable hard drives in less than a decade. Headquartered in Taipei, we continuously established various branches throughout the world including Netherlands, Japan, Russia, Mainland China and other emerging market to reach the worldwide market. Silicon Power's overall performance has gradually drawn great attention worldwide. In 2006, we received Taiwan Rising Star Award for our foreign business achievement. In 2008, we won 17th National Outstanding Small & Medium Enterprise Award for our outstanding progress. Moreover, with superior quality and innovative design, our products stood out in several competitions and awarded Taiwan Excellence and COMPUTEX Design & Innovation Award in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Winning trust of global consumers, Silicon Power holds a record of successive double-digit revenue growth for last seven years. According to the Common Wealth Magazine's 2010 Survey of Taiwan Top 1000 Manufacturers, our 2009 revenue growth rate was ranked No.11 among Taiwan's top 1000 manufacturers, and even ranked No.1 in semiconductor industry. Positioned as Passionate, Creative and Hungry for Success, Silicon Power introduces products for users who are seeking individualized, unique and personal digital storage devices. With the mission of creating unprecedented experience for users, Silicon Power will endeavor to deliver a full range of high quality products that have innovative designs, distinctly unique features and comprehensive after sales services to create and fulfill your personal memory.

   The cap-less Jewel J10 USB 3.0 Flash Drive by Silicon Power is currently available in silver color and in three different capacities (8GB/16GB/32GB/64GB) so that pretty much describes most similar solutions currently in the market. However Silicon Power took things a step further and so according to them the stainless steel housing of the Jewel J10 is not only scratch resistant but it's also water, dust, shock and vibration proof. However although i can certainly understand the shock and vibration proof claim it's somewhat hard for me to imagine how a cap-less USB Flash Drive can be both dust and water proof. It goes without saying that during this review we didn't try our luck by putting it in the dirt or in water since we require our samples to be in working condition for future comparisons (we would if for example it had a rugged housing) but regardless of that i still feel that no one should try that. Performance and size is what we care mostly about so let's see if the Jewel J10 delivers.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The Jewel J10 arrived inside the typical package we see with most USB flash drives that allows you to see the drive prior to purchasing it.

All of the features are listed at the rear in 10 languages right next to the OS compatibility.

Along with the Jewel J10 you will also get a keychain (we don't see that a lot).

THE JEWEL J10 32GB

With measurements of 31.5mm in length, 12.2mm in width and 4.6mm in height the 4g heavy stainless steel housing of the drive is really tiny.

To showcase the size of the Jewel J10 we placed it right next to several USB flash drives.

Both the connectivity of the drive and its capacity are printed at the top.

There's a large opening at the top which makes it very easy to mount the drive even on a thick keychain.

The cap-less design makes it easy to use the drive (not to mention you don't have to worry about misplacing the cap).

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-1000MB 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 our main rig running Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1 complete with every update until February 6th 2014. As always for comparison purposes in the charts you will also find many other flash drivers which have been tested using the same exact test bench as the one in this review (we really can't keep every flash drive we get forever and also even if we could testing them all again and again would simply not be possible).

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

CONCLUSION

   After testing the very fast Spark USB 3.0 Flash Drive by Patriot a while back we really were under the impression that we wouldn't be receiving anything faster at least not any time soon but it seems that Silicon Power just had to prove us wrong (not that we mind). Certainly the difference in read/write speed between the Spark and the Jewel J10 are not great but it is there and when you are spending your hard earned money everything matters. On the other hand the Spark is half the size of the Jewel J10 and although the difference in size is really legible (at least that's what we think) that's also something some may take into consideration. Also the housing doesn't feel as sturdy as the one of the Spark but i doubt that people who will choose such a tiny flash drive will expect it to withstand much punishment.

   Right now the Jewel J10 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive by Silicon Power retails for around 35Euros inside the EU a price tag which is actually roughly 20% less than the one of the Spark 32GB model. Unfortunately currently the Jewel J10 32GB is not available inside the USA (although you can get it from memory4less at USD105) and that's perhaps the only bad thing we could come up with. The Jewel J10 is simply put the fastest tiny USB 3.0 drive we have ever tested and although it's almost certain that there will be even faster models in the near future for now Silicon Power has the lead and for that they get our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Tiny Size
- 4g Weight
- Excellent Read/Write Speeds
- Design
- Keychain Included
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Current Availability In The USA