Kingston HyperX MAX 3.0 128GB External USB 3.0 Drive Storage   Page 1

Reviewer: RWL Staff Article Publish Date: 6/3/2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

    Yesterday we showcased the differences in performance between the old and somewhat established USB 2.0, eSATA connections and the latest USB 3.0 connection. However much like eSATA we also noticed that USB 3.0 also requires something faster than just a standard HDD in order to show its true potential and the latest HyperX MAX 3.0 128GB external USB 3.0 drive by Kingston is proof of that.

 

 

    Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s independent memory leader. Founded in 1987 with a single product offering, Kingston® now offers more than 2,000 memory products that support nearly every device that uses memory, from computers, servers and printers to MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones. In 2009, the company's sales reached $4.1 billion. With global headquarters in Fountain Valley, California, Kingston employs more than 4,000 people worldwide. Regarded as one of the “Best Companies to Work for in America” by Fortune magazine, Kingston’s tenets of respect, loyalty, flexibility and integrity create an exemplary corporate culture. Kingston believes that investing in its people is essential, and each employee is a vital part of Kingston’s success. Kingston serves an international network of distributors, resellers, retailers and OEM customers on six continents. The company also provides contract manufacturing and supply chain management services for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs.

 

 

    The Kingston HyperX MAX 3.0 128GB external USB 3.0 drive is actually the first external SSD unit ever to pass our test bench and i have to say that we were all quite impressed by it. However this is not really new for Kingston since they have been selling upgrade kits for quite some time now which include not only the SSD units but external USB 2.0 enclosures as well. Certainly using an 200MB/s read/write SSD with an USB 2.0 compatible enclosure doesn't really make sense, never did actually so using USB 3.0 instead is a very efficient improvement. All that remains is to see just how much better USB 3.0 is when used with an SSD instead of a regular everyday HDD.