INTRODUCTION

     Storage media is one of my favorite subjects when it comes to reviews not only because benchmarks always point to the fastest models and thus it's not something that comes down to personal preference (easier for readers) but also because at the end of the day there's not a single person out there who doesn't need extra available space. Now USB flash drive reviews may not be as popular as SSD and HDD reviews but surprisingly enough many of you have come forward asking for more and although we can't possibly test every single model in the market (not up to us really, we always welcome samples) we do our best to deliver. Mushkin recently introduced two USB 3.0 flash drives, the high-performance impact series which we already reviewed a few weeks back and the more "affordable" atom series which we'll be testing today.

    For nearly 20 years, Mushkin has been dedicated to helping overclockers, gamers, IT managers, digital artists and mobile professionals enhance their computing experience by providing reliable, high-performance products. Mushkin products include a line of Flash Memory-based products and complete selection of memory upgrades for desktops, notebooks and servers. Since the company’s founding in 1994, Mushkin has received numerous awards and commendations for quality, reliability and technical excellence.

   The atom series belongs in the same category as the Patriot SuperSonic Mini and the Kingston DataTraveler Micro series so once again in our hands we have a very compact USB flash drive which can fit pretty much anywhere. Of course the atom series is USB 3.0 compatible and currently available in 8/16/32/64/128GB capacities (with us we have the 128GB model) but unlike the very fast impact series its tiny size doesn't allow the use of the same high-performance components we see in SSDs (NAND flash controller). Instead under the hood we find the PHISON PS2251-07 ultra-high-speed USB 3.0-to-Flash micro-controller chip along with Toshiba TLC flash. Because of that we expect down to earth performance levels from the atom so the only real question is whether or not the reported performance levels by Mushkin (130MB/s read and 20MB/s write) are right on the spot.