Mini Review. Corsair Voyager 8 Gig Flash Drive.

[Kunaak]

Flash Drives have come a very very long way since I had my first one... a 32 meg one that cost me about $60 a few years ago, is now dwarfed in comparison to these new "monster" storage drives coming out.

I know Corsair has a 16 gig on the market, and I hear theres a 32 gig version not too far away...
thats literally more space then my first PC just a few short years ago had (about 2001 my first PC had a 20 gig drive in it)

just last summer I got a 512 meg drive, which I thought was incredible.
took me about a week to run out of space on that... then it wasnt so incredible, when I had to constantly try to deciede what I could delete to make space for some file I wanted to keep with me at a given time...

I doubt thats gonna be a problem with this anytime soon. :D

The Package.

Solid Heat Sealed Packaging, with little to no chance of damage during shipping.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53987&stc=1&d=1166560670

What else you get.

Mini Driver CD (not necessary, I just put the drive on my PC and it worked with no need for the CD) USB Extension cable, and a Neck Strap.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53988&stc=1&d=1166560670

Close Up.

Its got a solid rubber shell around the drive itself, and has a solid grip, and with a shell like this, theres not much chance of damage under most circumstances.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53989&stc=1&d=1166560670

The Cap.

The Cap to the drive is solid rubber, and is held into place by tension, and has almost no chance of falling off on its own. its pretty well on there, so its not gonna just disappear one day, unless you plain old forget where you put it or something.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53990&stc=1&d=1166560670

The Drive In Action.

When installed and running, you will see a Blue LED Activity light, that works in much the same way a "think light" on a standard case shows the activity of a hard drive.
its a fairly bright light and rather noticable, but its not distracting at all to me personally, even though with the extension cable, it's only about a foot away from me on my desk when in use.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53991&stc=1&d=1166560670

[Kunaak]

The Space.

when installed into windows, you will find this isnt exactly 8 gigs, but 7.7 gigs.

theres nothing wrong with it, and this is normal.
its the usual 1024/1000 grudge that Microsoft and the entire hardware industry are in a pissing match over.

it goes something like this...

Microsoft thinks 1 meg is 1000 Kb.
the hardware industry calls 1 meg 1024 Kb.

so the entire hardware industry has 1 standard, and microsoft has another.
so what the hardware companies call 8 gigs... microsoft calls 7.7 gigs.

well, it goes something like that... I forget the real details of it, but I know it's petty and I really wish someone would finally agree, so next time I buy a 400 gig hard drive... it's not really 377 gigs, cause thats getting old real quick...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53994&stc=1&d=1166561760

Benchmarks.

Sisoftsandra doesnt really have much for me to compare this drive to, in the database, but as you can see from what they do have... its among the fastest USB Flash Drives out there, and thats all I care about.

from this graph, you can see that its among the top, and has a higher sustained transfer rate then all the other drives shown.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53995&stc=1&d=1166561760

More Benchmarks.

Again, not much to compare against, but for a USB Flash Drive, 30+ meg transfer rates is pretty solid, no matter what brand you look at.
so definatly happy to see its no slouch.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53996&stc=1&d=1166561760

Again....

again, I gotta say... the USB Flash Drive database on Sisoftsandra is pretty skim on drives to compare to.
so take this one as just a shot to show how well newer USB Flash drives compare to older flash drives, showing the evolution of the newest generation of Flash Drives.
definatly something to think about, if you have a older drive and been thinking of getting a new one.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53997&stc=1&d=1166561760

HDTach.

A personal favorite benchmark of mine.
no real database to compare to, so I just left it at its default setting.
this is the Long Test of HDTach.

now, I need to note, you cant fairly compare a USB Flash Drive to a regular SATA or SCSI drive.... USB Flash Drives are meant to be small, and portable... speed is secondary, and they do the best they can with the size.
but you can't compare the two.
so take this shot, as only a second way of showing what kinda speed you can expect from this drive alone.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=53998&stc=1&d=1166561760

My Overall Impression.

If your looking for a new Flash Drive, and need lots of space for whatever your doing, this is definatly a solid drive you might look into.
the price is only "fair" at $152 at Newegg, but all drives of this size, carry a premium price tag, but if you can actually find a need for these drives, this is a good solid choice to look into.
Most USB Flash Drives have very similar speeds and charactoristics if they are from the same generation...

what made this one stand out for me, is the 10 year warranty, and the solid rubber casing, so there was even less chance of me damaging it over time.

overall I am pretty damn impressed with how much they can fit into such a small space, and with how fast I can transfer files to this drive.
my old 512 takes about 3 times longer to transfer the same files, then this drive did... so theres definatly been some changes in the generations of USB Flash Drive, since I got my last drive.
I am glad to finally have a drive I can use without constantly having to delete files from... and I am glad to know theres a solid warranty with it.
I like good long 10 year warranties, none of this 60-90 day crap. :D

[kemo]

I don’t trust any BIG flash memory (above 2GB) a friend of mine got one of those and suddenly the flash refuse to copy folders it only copy files
Oh I forgot to mention something nice review as usual

[Kunaak]

I don’t trust any BIG flash memory (above 2GB) a friend of mine got one of those and suddenly the flash refuse to copy folders it only copy files
Oh I forgot to mention something nice review as usual

with a ten year warranty from a company like Corsair, your coverd.
thats what the warranty covers... failure. :D

[charlie]

very cool... giant thumb drive.

Slightly OT... have you ever left an electronics store after purchasing something in one of those heat sealed blister packs and tried to open it in your car with no knife or scissors?? Grrrrrr... and that plastic is razor sharp as you tear and rip it, lol...

[Kunaak]

Haha... yeah, Heat Seal Packaging is definatly not meant to be torn open or bit open or anything like that.

what I usually do if I am not at home, to use my razor, is just use a sharp Key.

keys work great at opening heat sealed packages.

[higgins]

very cool... giant thumb drive.

Slightly OT... have you ever left an electronics store after purchasing something in one of those heat sealed blister packs and tried to open it in your car with no knife or scissors?? Grrrrrr... and that plastic is razor sharp as you tear and rip it, lol...

haha yeah, they're really a pain to open! why in the name of the lord do they make them so hard to open?

nice review kunaak, that's a huge flash drive, didn't even know there were bigger drives than 2gb out

[[XC]thewildblue]

I used to use blanking plates from cases to do just about everything years ago....lol

Nice review, 16gb sure would be handy.

[alexio]

It offers very good performance, BUT you can get a nice Creative MP3 player with 8GB flash memory for $14 extra from Newegg. See: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16855102215&ATT=55-102-215&CMP=OTC-Froogle

I'd rather combine a music player with a mass storage device. If only performance and size matter, then the Corsair Voyager is probably the best choice though :)

[[XC] leviathan18]

kunak i think its 1024 from MS and 1000 from hdd makers

[syne_24]

They got a 16gb one now too, pretty crazy. I'm using the 4gb one here and I love it. Very convenient for loading apps and drivers when reformating. :)

[lawrywild]

Here's my LG just for comparison to how fast that corsair is :eek:

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/1509/lguy4.png


I wonder if you can get usb to sata convertors and put 2 of these in RAID 0 and run windows?? :D

[[cTx]Philosophy]

Yah i have a 1g also and this one smokes mine with only 10Mb's

Very nice review kunaak

[kemo]

with a ten year warranty from a company like Corsair, your coverd.
thats what the warranty covers... failure. :D
Yes it does cover but not in Africa

[Kunaak]

kunak i think its 1024 from MS and 1000 from hdd makers

if it was that way, then when you buy a 400 gig drive, it would be 420+ gigs when you got into windows wouldnt it?

[p0tter]

if it was that way, then when you buy a 400 gig drive, it would be 420+ gigs when you got into windows wouldnt it?


owned by simple math


:)

[G H Z]

No MS uses the correct measurement - 1024MB per GB. Drive makers use 1000mb per GB which is wrong. By their method a 400GB drive holds 400,000MB, when in fact 400GB is really 409,600MB. So that '400GB' drive really only holds 390GB, then you add the space used for partitioning, file system and Volume info and everyone hates MS ;)

Did you try running an OS off this by any chance?

[NickS]

IDK GHZ are you sure? Coders decided to make it simple by using 1000 instead of 1024. Lazy folk.

I learned that tidbit in Java class @ school.

[Kunaak]

ok, so then...

Hardware Industry.


1 meg - 1000 kilobytes.

1 gig - 1000 megabytes.

1 gig - 1,000,000 kilobytes.

1,000,000 x 400 - 400,000,000

400 gigs.

Microsoft.

1 megabyte = 1 024 kilobytes

1 gigabyte = 1 024 megabytes

1 gigabyte = 1 048 576 kilobytes

1,048,576 x 400 = 419,430,400

or 419.4 gigs.

no thats not right...
I just cant figure out how to translate that into a 400 gig drive, turning into a 372 gig drive once in windows.

I did 1000 / 1024 = .9765 x 400 = 390 gigs...
but that still leaves a 18 gig margin of error so I am not close enough yet to understanding this...

(I use a 400 gig drive, cause thats my back up drive size)

[G H Z]

They need that 18Gigs for the big brother stuff ;)

[Kunaak]

that answer is too simple for me to believe.
I find it hard to swallow they would take 18 gigs for little more then being able to see the drive....

[G H Z]

Well the reverse math doesn't do much better does it, and btw that last comment wasn't serious ;)

File allocation doesn't fit neatly into every last micron of the disk(s) storage either but your right 18GB is too much.

[Knight]

MS == 1000

Everyone else == 1024

[lawrywild]

AFAIK you loose that 18 gigs from the MFT, partition table and space for the registry to be stored

[Dani]

Hmm, you can install WinXP+SP2 (nLite) on that USB 2.0 stick :D
How about SuperPI via those sticks?

[Kunaak]

400,000,000,000 bytes / 1024 = 390625000 KBytes / 1024 = 381469 MBytes / 1024 = 372.5 GBytes. There is your 372GB.

with alittle help at the OCforums, heres how to properly get the math on figuring out a hard drives real size once installed into windows.

no insanely huge loss of speed to the registry or anything.

[M.Beier]

Its MS that has:

1 KB = 1024b
1 MB = 1024KB
1 GB = 1024MB
Which is correct in the COMPUTER world..

but according to the latin(I guess) meanin' of Kilo / Mega / Giga, its in 1000's..
Basicly, its the reason for manufactures to make the less and call it the more..

- The flash is: 8.304.717.824 B - which is 8.3GB in the "latin" way, but in the computer-buiss, thats 8304717824/1024^3 = 7,734371185302734375GB

- So basicly, 8GB is just "around" 8GB according to Corsair..

[[XC] leviathan18]

yes hdd manufactures use 1000 system and ms use 1024 thats the whole history...


now kunaak this one works with the vista thing to speed the system up?

[Growly]

Do I complicate things but mentioning that, according to system internationale, that's all wrong?

In truth, unless someone has more recent news...

GB = 1x10^9 = 1000000000 Bytes (Gigabyte)
MB = 1x10^6 = 1000000 Bytes (Megabyte)
kB = 1x10^3 = 1000 Bytes (Kilobyte)

While

GiB = 2^30 = 1073741824 Bytes (Gebibyte)
MiB = 2^20 = 1048576 Bytes (Mebibyte)
kiB = 2^10 = 1024 Bytes (Kebibyte)

Because kilometre is 1000 metres, not 1024.

Of course, since when does the industry care?

[M.Beier]

Do I complicate things but mentioning that, according to system internationale, that's all wrong?

In truth, unless someone has more recent news...

GB = 1x10^9 = 1000000000 Bytes (Gigabyte)
MB = 1x10^6 = 1000000 Bytes (Megabyte)
kB = 1x10^3 = 1000 Bytes (Kilobyte)

While

GiB = 2^30 = 1073741824 Bytes (Gebibyte)
MiB = 2^20 = 1048576 Bytes (Mebibyte)
kiB = 2^10 = 1024 Bytes (Kebibyte)

Because kilometre is 1000 metres, not 1024.

Of course, since when does the industry care?
Dont remember the exact story, but I belive its since the smallest file is 4.096bytes..

[Skyline GT-R]

I think the answer is already given, but let's take a 400GB drive as example.

For HDD makers: (1GB=1000MB... and so on)
400GB=400.000MB=400.000.000kB=400.000.000.000bytes

For Microsoft (and thus your OS): (1GB=1024MB... and so on)
400GB=409600MB=419430400kB=429496729600bytes

BUT, and this is why your 400GB isn't 400GB in windows, your OS sees the 400GB drive as beeing 400.000.000.000bytes and then it start using it's 1024bytes = 1kB. So it start calculating:
400.000.000.000bytes / 1024= 390625000kB
390625000kB / 1024 = 381470MB
381470MB / 1024 = 372GB

400.000.000.000bytes = 390625000kB = 381470MB = 372GB

Got it now Kunaak? ;)

[Kunaak]

much simpler formula.

0.9765*0.9765*0.9765=0.9311
0.9311 * 400 = 372.44 GB

or .9311 x hard drive size.

1024/1024/1024 = 0.9311

[bjp999]

In the computer industry, "Kb" has always meant 1024b, becuase we're dealing with powers of 2. "Mb" and "Gb" have similarly been their nearest power of 2 equivalent. So if you buy 2Gb of memory, you are getting 2^31 = 2,147,483,648 bytes of memory. Not 2,000,000,000 bytes.

I think that the hard drive manufacturers decided to break ranks because the marketing depts got involved. If they redefined the meaning of "Kb" and "Mb" and "Gb", then they could claim that their drives were bigger than they really were! And every math teacher teaching the metric system will back them up. Once one of them got this brilliant idea, the others had to do it also so they didn't lose out of sales. Since there is overhead in formatting the drives, and the sizes are rounded anyway, most people would just blame the loss on that, not the advertising ploy that it really is.

I side with MS. 1Kb = 1024b!

[elec999]

Damn nice, lots of space and fast.
Thanks

[Cupcake]

Thats one hell of a Mini Review

Nice work, I have always liked those corsair flash drives :D

[rob[GL]]

noobs
hardware = 1000
software = 1024

[Kunaak]

']noobs
hardware = 1000
software = 1024

yeah, we kinda established all that about a week ago, sooooo how about we let that topic die already since theres been about 59 people who already posted that.

[ewitte]

Now all we need is for them to throw out a SATA drive with at least 36GB and 100MB/s+ sustained at 1ms access time. Without a much larger size limit these things could become pretty good performers now. BTW I just ordered two days ago a 1GB Corsair Xtreme that only costs $24. I'm going to be trying readyboost on it.

[Victorshen]

MS == 1000

Everyone else == 1024


you sure?

i think its the other way around

[dinges]

lol.. its not that hard, all computer related things/company's (so not just ms ;)) use 1024, cept for hd manufactures, because if they use 1000 the hd seems bigger. and they hide behind the fact that "kilo" represents 1k..
maybe not the best choice of words, but forgive me, im a bit to tired.

back on topic, kunaak since you formatted the drive fat32, could u try and put a file on there bigger then 2gb (2048mb ;)) ?
there's something in my head telling me back in the win95/98 days i had lots of probs with files bigger then 2gb because of some fat32 limitation.. (fat 16 was even worse iirc).
a stick like this would be ideal for carrying dvd "backups", but these are useally 4.4gb+..
thanks in advance.