INTRODUCTION

   Much like everything else in the PC market storage media have evolved a lot compared to even just 10 years ago both in terms of performance and capacity. Just imagine that 10 years ago the highest capacity and performance USB 2.0 flash drive one could find in the market (and i had) was just 4GB and could reach speeds up to 33MB/s read and 10MB/s write whereas now we have many 128/256GB models in the lab capable of reaching speeds up to 450MB/s for both read and write and as many of you are aware there are even 1TB models available in the market like the Predator by Kingston and the T1 by Samsung. Of course not everyone can afford the high-end 512/1TB drives and honestly i don't think they really have to since even 128GB is not something the majority of consumers will ever fill with data they need to carry around with them. Still prices for 128GB USB 3.0 flash drives have reached an all-time low and thus today we'll be taking a look at the latest model by Silicon Power, the Blaze B50.

   Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc., founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic specialists of flash data storage industry. Well dedicated in brand image and product quality, SP 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. With superior quality and innovative design, our products stood out in several competitions and awarded Taiwan Excellence and COMPUTEX Design & Innovation Award in 2009 and 2010. Winning trust of global consumers SP holds a record of successive double-digit revenue growth for last seven years. For SP, the product we introduced is not only a digital storage device but also a real promise to create and preserve your most valuable memory in every moment.

   The Blaze B50 line of USB 3.0 compatible flash drives is aimed towards the majority of consumers in the market not only because of its advertised performance numbers (up to 200MB/s read and 80MB/s write) and elegant design but also because of the currently available capacities of 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 and 256GB. To that end under the hood Silicon Power has placed the cost-effective Phison PS2251-03 dual channel USB 3.0-to-Flash micro-controller along with MLC memory modules (probably manufactured by Intel). With this configuration it's clear that Silicon Power never wanted to take on the really high end USB 3.0 flash drives currently available in the market but since time and again their reported performance numbers have been off (we've recorded higher ones) we're quite interested to see how the Blaze B50 performs.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE BLAZE B50 128GB

Typically for a product by Silicon Power the Blaze B50 arrived inside a regular package which allows you to check the drive from the front and has the features list and OS compatibility list at the rear.

Once again the package contained just the USB 3.0 flash drive (no lanyard).

The Blaze B50 128GB is not the most compact drive out there but as you can see it's far from being the larger.

At the top of the drive we see the model capacity, activity LED and a small section that looks like it’s dressed with carbon fiber.

Silicon Power has used a retractable design for the USB connector and although this is very useful we need not forget that the connector is exposed at all times.

A serial number is engraved at the top of the connector so you know you're using a genuine product.

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 (0 = we were unable to complete that test).

   All tests are performed with our main rig running Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Service Pack 1 complete with every update until August 2nd 2015 (UASP compatible models are tested using a fresh Windows 8.1 installation on a Plextor m6e). 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

   Silicon Power has yet to introduce high-end SSD based USB flash drives in the market and so as clearly shown in our charts the Blaze B50 128GB simply can't compete with the likes of the Mushkin Ventura Ultra and the SSD T1 by Samsung especially in write performance (max recorded performance hit 83MB/s). Read performance on the other hand may still be far apart with the drives mentioned but it's surprisingly good and easily surpasses the advertised number of 200MB/s (we recorded up to 234MB/s in HD Tach RW). Of course 83MB/s in write may not be sufficient for some demanding users but for the majority of the consumer base i see no problem with that. As usual Silicon Power offers their SP Widget and USB repair software suites which can really come in handy (hopefully you will never need to use the repair software). The only "issue" i always have with retractable designs is that the USB connector is exposed to dust at all times and that's pretty much why i like rugged models more.

   It hasn't been long since Silicon Power released the Blaze B50 line of USB 3.0 compatible flash drives in the market so currently the 128GB variant retails for 70Euros inside the EU from Amazon.co.uk a price tag which puts it right between several mid/high-end 128GB models. In the end once again things come down to what you need and how much you're willing to pay for that. The Blaze B50 128GB USB 3.0 flash drive may not be the fastest one out there but it does offer very good read performance with good write performance so it should cover all your needs without issue. On the other hand you can find 128GB USB 3.0 flash drives with slightly worse read numbers for as much as 20-30% less so that's also something you may need to consider. In the end however what matters is that Silicon Power has yet again released a balanced product worthy of our Golden Award.

PROS

- Good Build Quality
- Excellent Read Performance
- Design (For Some)
- Size & Weight
- SP Widget Software
- USB Repair Software
- Lifetime Warranty

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Current Availability