We tried: Kingston DataTraveler HyperX Predator, a beast in your pocket
So here’s a USB drive on my desk that came out of Kingston’s workshop. It came in a nice, so to speak special metal box, which shows that although it is available and can be purchased, it is not an everyday device.
The Kingston DataTraveler HyperX Predator, with its 512GB capacity, is a real monster, and not only based on its large storage space, but also its external size. Opening the box, we find the drive on a cigarette butt, but we can see that Kingston is packaged with a short USB cable and a keychain. The meaning of the cable is only seen when the Predator is highlighted. It is a huge commodity, its height is essentially the same as its width, so we will hold a large column in our hands.
Nowadays, when a laptop can be just 1-2 inches thick, we can see that a 21mm high USB drive is hard to connect. Of course, its width is not small either, so we may only be able to use the adjacent USB ports using the cable.
Speaking of the connector, it’s important to mention that we can’t find a cap to protect the connector in the case of the Predator. The connector appears when the drive is “compressed”. This method provides reliable protection against breaking the buckle, and there is no risk of leaving the cap on.
As I wrote, we also find a keychain in the box, using this is a bit less of a risk of leaving the expensive gadget.
The Kingston DataTraveler HyperX Predator is not only large, not only high capacity, but also fast. Inside the case is an SSD drive, which, according to the manufacturer, produces a read speed of 240 MB / second and a write speed of 160 MB / second, which enables faster data access via USB 3.0 than any conventional hard drive, especially when built into mobile machines. We are talking about 5400 rpm units.
Speaking of speed, it is important to mention that the manufacturer, Kingston, considers the optimal, ie highest, data transfer speed available for USB 3.0-enabled motherboards and large files. It is also important that the speed can be highly dependent on the speed of the machine or the processor, so we can consider the factory data as a value measured under laboratory conditions, which we have little chance of achieving at home.
If we disassemble the drive, we can see that the 512 GB does not fit on a PCB.
Inside the metal casing we find a plastic casing that hides the three PCBs, one of which has a Phison controller, while the two extreme have eight Toshiba NAND Flash chips made with a 19-nanometer process. A brief countdown reveals that they each have a capacity of 64 GB.
Before embarking on the measurements, familiarize yourself with the parameters of the drive using the factory data!
- Speed USB 3.0: 240 MB / s read and 160 MB / s write speed
- USB 2.0: 30 MB / s read and 30 MB / s write speeds
- Capacity: 512 GB, 1 TB
- Dimensions: without key ring: 72 mm x 26,94 mm x 21 mm, with key ring: 88,53 mm x 26,94 mm x 21 mm
- Operating temperature: 0 ° C to 60 ° C
- Storage temperature: -20 ° C to 85 ° C
- Backward compatibility with USB 2.0 technology
- USB 3.03: the latest USB standard guarantees backward compatibility with USB 2.0 technology
