Kingston Announces its First USB 3.0 Flash Drives: Data Traveller Ultimate Series

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it is shipping its first USB 3.0 Flash drive. The Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Flash drive takes advantage of the faster USB 3.0 specification that has up to ten times the data transfer rates of the current USB 2.0 specification.

The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 has a read speed of 80 MB/sec. and a write speed of 60MB/sec. It is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities. The combination of speed and size makes it ideal for data backup or fast transferring of large files including music, photos and videos. To ensure backwards compatibility, Kingston is also including a Y cable as some USB 2.0 ports require it to initialize USB 3.0 drives.

"USB 3.0 is the next major milestone in Flash memory for USB products and Kingston wants to have a solution in the marketplace for early adopters," said Andrew Ewing, USB business manager, Kingston. "The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 is our first USB 3.0 Flash drive offering and is designed for enthusiasts who like to embrace new technology before it goes mainstream."

During internal testing, a 1 hour 44 minute movie (3.9GB) was written to the drive in 1 minute 13 seconds. Similarly, a 2 hour 23 minute DVD (4.4GB) transferred to the drive at a fast 1 minute 23 seconds(+).

Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Features and Specifications:

• Capacities*: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
• Requirements: system with USB 3.0 port
• Backwards compatible**: with USB 2.0
• Speed***: data transfer rates for USB 3.0 up to 80MB/sec. read and 60MB/sec. write;
• USB 2.0: approximately 30MB/sec. read and 30MB/sec. write
• Dimensions: 2.90" x 0.87" x 0.63" (73.70 mm x 22.20 mm x 16.10 mm)
• Operating Temperature: 32 degrees to 140 degrees F (0 degrees to 60 degrees C)
• Storage Temperature: -4 degrees to 185 degrees F (-20 degrees to 85 degrees C)
• Practical: durable casing with a solid lanyard loop
• Warranty: 5 Years

(+) Test system: Gigabyte P55A-UD4P motherboard; Intel Core i5 670 processor; 8GB HyperX (KHX1600C9D3K2/4G) system memory; SSDNow V+ (SNVP325-S2/128GB); Windows 7 Professional x64

* Some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage. For more information, please consult Kingston's Flash Memory Guide.

** Includes USB 2.0 Y cable. Some USB 2.0 ports may require the Y-cable to initialize the drive.