A while ago, I posted about an upcoming
flash drive boasting a
landmark 2TB storage capacity. While that drive hasn’t seem to
have made it to market, Kingston showcased
a similar device at CES this year, offering half the capacity but a
more durable, perhaps more promising physical design compared to that
Transcend Thin-Card. The DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0, as the
company calls it, is so bulky that it may lift up the USB port side
of your UltraBook or MacBook Air slightly while you have it plugged
in.
Aside from that, the Predator 3.0 has,
as hinted by that name, a USB 3.0 interface, and through there
it offers transfer speeds of up to 240MB/s and 160MB/s,
reading and writing respectively, though it is also
backwards-compatible with USB 2.0 ports. One can slide the USB
connector into the drive’s metal case, so there is no cap to lose.
Of course, then there is the capacity – one thousand gigabytes,
purely on flash memory chips, all fitting comfortably in the palm of
your hand has so far been unmatched. Kingston will also offer a tamer
512GB version of the drive for those who don’t need as much
capacity.
Obviously, new technology such as this
never comes cheap. Kingston didn’t quote a price for the 1TB
version, but the 512GB variation has an MSRP of a whopping
$1750! In stark comparison is a typical 2TB portable hard
drive selling right now for just
$150. Those who want more dependable flash memory to store their
project files will probably find the Predator 3.0’s price tag
justifiable; otherwise I’m sure most people will just go for the hard
drive. There is much life in ageing spinning magnetic platter
technology yet.
In any case, Kingston representatives
have said that the DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0 drives will hit
the market sometime during this quarter. (Images via Tom’s
Hardware)
EDITOR’S NOTE: At least the 512GB Predator 3.0 has now come available on Amazon.com, and the online merchant is currently selling them for $885.49, half off the MSRP price.
SECOND EDITOR’S NOTE (August 2013): You can now buy the 1TB model at the same merchant for a couple hundred dollars less than the 512GB version’s MSRP.
