SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Model: SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.0 Flash Drive
Manufacturer: SanDisk
Provided By: SanDisk

SanDisk has been a leader in the storage industry for more than 20 years. Founded in 1988 by Dr. Eli Harari, the company has grown to become the world's largest supplier of flash memory data storage products. The company offers a wide range of products including memory cards, USB flash drives, SSDs, and its popular line of Sansa portable music and video players.

Earlier this year, SanDisk launched its latest USB 3.0 flash drive, the Extreme PRO. This professional-grade drive offers 128GB of storage as well some of the fastest speeds in the industry. The Extreme PRO takes advantage of the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 specification by providing write speeds up to 240MB/s and read speeds up to 260MB/s. These speeds allow users to transfer a full-length movie in seconds, or 1,000 hi-res photos in less than 35 seconds. A stylish aluminum metal casing also guards against daily wear, while SanDisk's SecureAccess software helps keep your data safe using 128-bit AES file encryption and password protection. Last, but not least, the Extreme PRO is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS X and is backed by a lifetime limited warranty. 

Needless to say, this is only a taste of what the Extreme PRO has to offer. To give you an idea of what to expect, we'll take a closer look at SanDisk's new USB 3.0 flash drive and then see how well it performs. Does the Extreme PRO live up to its name? Keep reading as we find out.

Packaging:

Like many other USB flash drives, the SanDisk Extreme PRO comes packaged in a cardboard blister pack. The front of the card advertises many of the Extreme PRO's key features including its capacity, rated speeds and file encryption with SanDisk's SecureAccess software. The back of the card provides a bit more information regarding the Extreme's features, capabilities and supported operating systems.

Physical Features:

While far from being the smallest flash drive in SanDisk's lineup, the Extreme PRO is relatively compact for a USB 3.0 flash drive. With the USB connector retracted, the drive measures 2.79" (71mm) long, 0.84" (21mm) wide and 0.45" (11mm) thick.

The body of the Extreme PRO is constructed out of lightweight, black plastic which is protected by a durable aluminum casing. While the black plastic has a glossy finish, the aluminum casing has a rougher, matte finish which makes it a little easier to hang onto the drive. The Extreme also has a hole on the end so that it can be attached to your key ring.

The Extreme PRO's USB connector is exposed using a sliding mechanism that can be manipulated with your thumb. This sliding mechanism is spring assisted and, while a bit stiffer than the one on the original Extreme, is very smooth. There is also an LED underneath the mechanism which lights up blue whenever the drive is transmitting or receiving data or is in the identification process.

Installation:

As with most USB flash drives, the SanDisk Extreme was very easy to install. Those running Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8 can simply plug the drive into any available USB 2.0 or 3.0 port on their computer. If the computer is already turned on, plug and play will automatically detect the drive.

If installed correctly, the Extreme should show up in the Device Manager. Under Windows 8, the drive is identified as a "SanDisk ExtremePro USB Device".

The Extreme PRO comes formatted with FAT32, giving the 128GB model about 119GB of usable space. Of that, about 9.4MB is taken up by the SecureAccess software that comes bundled with the drive.

Using CrystalDiskMark we can see that at the heart of the Extreme Pro is one of SanDisk's pSSD modular solid state drives. According to the utility, the drive supports S.M.A.R.T., NCQ and TRIM.

Software:

The SanDisk Extreme Pro ships with v2.0 of the company's SecureAccess software. Available for both Windows and Mac, SecureAccess is a fast, simple way to store and protect critical and sensitive files on any SanDisk USB flash drive. The software automatically secures files using 128-bit AES encryption and then stores them in a password-protected folder or “vault" on the drive.

Before you can protect files using SecureAccess, you will need to create your own vault. To begin, connect the SanDisk Extreme Pro to your computer and double-click the SanDiskSecureAccessV2_win.exe file. When the program launches, accept the EULA and enter a personal password for the vault. By default, the password must be at least 6 characters in length and use upper and lower case as well as numeric and alphabet characters.

Files and folders can be moved into your vault by dragging and dropping them onto the main screen. They can also be added manually by clicking on the "Add File" icon from the My Vault menu bar and then selecting the files you want to add.

Performance:

The test system used in this review was an HP EliteDesk 800 G1. The computer is equipped with an Intel Core i5-2400 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 1333MHz memory, Plextor PX-256M5P 256GB SSD, PNY Quadro K600 1GB PCIe graphics card and Intel 1217-LM gigabit network card. For the operating system, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 8.1 Enterprise.

To test the performance of the SanDisk Extreme PRO, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1, HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0, ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46 and SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2012.SP4c. To get a feel for the "real world" performance, I also copied and pasted 500MB of random files and directories in Windows Explorer.

CrystalDiskMark 3.0:

First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark tool measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its random read and write speeds using blocks 512K and 4K in size.

SanDisk Extreme PRO - USB 3.0

SanDisk Extreme PRO - USB 2.0

According to SanDisk, the Extreme is capable of reading at 260MB/s and writing at 240MB/s when connected to a USB 3.0 port. While the drive performed very well, it came up a bit short of these numbers in CrystalDiskMark's sequential read and write speed tests.

HD Tach RW 3.0.4.0:

Next, I used HD Tach to test the Extreme's read, write and burst speeds as well as its seek times and CPU usage.

When connected to the computer's USB 3.0 port, the Extreme PRO had average read and write speeds of 172.9 MB/s and 181.3 MB/s, respectively, as well as a burst speed of 180.7 MB/s. As you'd expect, the drive wasn't nearly as fast when using USB 2.0. Compared to what we saw with USB 3.0, the Extreme PRO's read speed dropped by more than 135 MB/s.

ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:

I also used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the Extreme PRO's sequential read and write speeds. The test was run using blocks ranging in size from 0.5KB to 8192KB and the total length set to 256MB.

SanDisk Extreme PRO - USB 3.0

SanDisk Extreme PRO - USB 2.0

When tested with ATTO, the Extreme PRO's read speeds topped out at about 251 MB/s and its write speeds at 228 MB/s.

SiSoft Sandra File System Benchmark:

While I am not a big fan of SiSoftware Sandra's optical drive benchmarks, it is a great tool if you want to test a system's performance quickly and easily. One of Sandra's more useful tests is the File System benchmark. This benchmark gives each drive an overall score, or "Drive Index," based on the results of its read and write tests.

SiSoftware Sandra Removable Storage/Flash Devices Benchmark:

Designed with removable storage and flash devices in mind, this benchmark tests a drive's read, write and delete performance using six different file sizes (4kB, 64kB, 1MB, 16MB and 256MB).  The results are then given in both operations per minute and the corresponding net transfer rate in MB/second. This benchmark also computes an "Endurance Factor," representing the wear and life expectancy of flash devices.

The Extreme also performed fairly well when writing. While there were a few cases where it lagged behind the Supersonic, it had a clear advantage when writing larger files.

As I mentioned above, Sandra also expresses performance in operations per minute. To keep things simple, I've limited the results to the combined index and the total number of read/write/delete operations for each file size. I should also point out that the latest version of Sandra rounds off the number of IOPS to the nearest hundred when it gets above 1000.

The Endurance Factor represents the wear and life expectancy of a flash device. According to SiSoft, this number is computed by "dividing the average performance (normal condition, i.e. sequential write) to the lowest performance (high-stress condition, i.e. same block re-write)."

"Real World" Benchmark:

To test the "real world" performance of SanDisk's new flash drive, I copied and pasted 500 MB worth of randomly generated files and directories. All of the files are between 10 bytes and 32MB in size and no more than four directories deep.

The Extreme PRO performed very well here, taking 6 seconds to write our test data and 6 seconds to read it back.

Final Thoughts:

SanDisk set the bar pretty high when they introduced the Extreme nearly two years ago. At the time, it was one of the better, if not best, USB 3.0 flash drives we had tested. With the Extreme PRO, SanDisk has raised the bar even further, delivering a drive with a sophisticated, yet durable, design and even better performance. Like the original Extreme, the Extreme PRO performed very well in our tests, reading at speeds as high as 251 MB/s and writing at speeds in excess of 222 MB/s. The drive's speeds dropped considerably when plugged into a USB 2.0 port. However, it was still faster than many of the flash drives we've tested. The Extreme PRO is also covered by a lifetime limited warranty and ships with SanDisk's SecureAccess software which protects your files against unauthorized access by storing them in an encrypted, password-protected "vault" on the drive.

The Extreme PRO is only available as a 128GB capacity drive with a suggested retail price of $199.99. Even for a professional or enthusiast, this is a pretty sizable investment for a USB flash drive. However, the drive can be picked up for less than $143 from Amazon or through some of the merchants on PriceGrabber.

Highs:

• Massive 128GB capacity
• Excellent read and write speeds
• Durable aluminum metal casing
• Retractable USB connector
• Backwards compatible with USB 2.0
• Compatible with Windows XP/Vista/7/8 and Mac
• Includes SanDisk SecureAccess software
• Limited lifetime warranty

Lows:

• Pricey