Engadget Explains When Premium USB Flash Drives Are Worth the Extra Cost as NAND Prices Rise

Engadget reported that flash drives are not the first devices people think of when considering current sky-high RAM and storage costs, but they have been affected. USB drives have not absorbed NAND price increases dollar for dollar, yet cheap flash memory can no longer be taken for granted. Two drives with the same capacity may cost vastly different amounts, and the extra cost usually brings something noticeable, such as faster transfers, stronger security or hardware better suited to life outside a desk drawer. The key is figuring out what the buyer is actually paying for.

Faster transfers are a clear benefit of spending more. Engadget noted that USB 3.0 was the first major successor to USB 2.0, raising maximum theoretical transfer speed to 5 Gbps from 480 Mbps. USB naming then became complicated. The two following standards were initially called USB 3.1 and USB 3.2, but were retroactively changed to use “Gen” names. The group behind USB now recommends using the maximum transfer rate for clarity rather than “USB 3.2” followed by a generation; those rates cap out at 5 Gbps, 10 Gbps or 20 Gbps. A box marked “USB 3.2” therefore does not necessarily indicate how fast the drive will be, and buyers must check the transfer rate elsewhere in the specifications.

USB-C does not fix the problem either, according to the report. USB-C is a connector type, not a performance promise, and USB-C devices can run at USB 2.0 speeds. What USB-C can provide is convenience. A single drive with both USB-A and USB-C connectors makes it easier to switch between older PCs and newer laptops, tablets or phones without carrying an adapter.

Actual read and write speeds matter most. Engadget cited Kingston’s rating for its DataTraveler Max at up to 1,000 MB/s reads and 900 MB/s writes. In a 10GB transfer test, Tom’s Hardware measured Samsung’s cheaper Fit Plus at 319.7 MB/s reads and just 58.4 MB/s writes. That gap may not matter when copying a PDF, but a folder full of 4K video is a different matter.

A USB drive’s controller handles tasks such as error correction and write management, while the flash memory itself also affects performance. Manufacturers do not always disclose enough about those components to make drives easy to compare, Engadget reported. Actual speeds can also drop during long transfers, so anyone regularly moving hundreds of gigabytes should pay attention to sustained write performance rather than assuming the largest number on the package is what they will always get.

Sometimes the premium goes to factors other than speed. The Kingston IronKey Keypad 200 focuses on security instead of speed, with a physical keypad, XTS-AES 256-bit hardware encryption, brute-force protections and FIPS 140-3 Level 3 validation, the report said. Those advanced features, not found in basic flash drives, protect the device from physical tampering and technical attacks. Its fastest variants are rated at 280 MB/s reads and 200 MB/s writes. The goal is not to make a progress bar disappear faster, but to make files much more difficult to access if the drive goes missing from a pocket.

Capacity can push up the price too. While 2TB flash drives exist, packing more storage onto a keyring does not guarantee strong performance. In the same 10GB test, Tom’s Hardware measured the tiny 1TB SanDisk Extreme Fit at 318.3 MB/s reads and just 82.52 MB/s writes. It also came close to blocking the adjacent USB-C port on the reviewer’s laptop, according to Engadget.

Ruggedness is another reason to consider spending more. Samsung rates its BAR Plus for protection against water, shock, extreme temperatures, magnets and X-rays, and it carries a five-year limited warranty. That matters if a flash drive lives on a keychain, in a camera bag or anywhere less hospitable than a desk.

None of those features makes an expensive flash drive a substitute for a proper backup, the report said. For occasional documents, installers or file transfers, a good, inexpensive USB 3.x drive might be enough. But buyers willing to spend big for capacity and sustained speed should compare the price with top portable SSDs. External SSDs are often the better choice for regularly moving large amounts of data, or for extra storage that sits permanently attached to a computer.

Editor's Summary

Engadget reports that AI and data-center demand has raised NAND flash prices, making the choice between cheap and premium USB flash drives more important. The report says faster transfer speeds, hardware encryption, higher capacity and ruggedness can justify paying more, but only when they match the user's needs. It also warns that expensive drives are not a substitute for proper backups, and that portable SSDs may be better for moving large amounts of data regularly.