Corsair Flash Voyager 32GB (Review)

Flash memory is falling in price faster than Michael Jackson’s bank account to a point where you can now economically replace your standard mechanical computer hard drive with solid state drives (SSD).  Flash drives, because they are smaller, will always cost slightly more than their more “desktop” sized counterparts as miniaturized parts require special development and manufacturing.  Thankfully, flash drives (thumb sticks, thumb drive, pen drive, call it what you want) are quickly increasing in capacity while prices are falling.  Just a couple years ago, an 8GB flash drive could set you back $40-$60.  The 32GB Corsair Flash Voyager I just purchased was only $56 after shipping.  Soon we will have multi terabyte flash drives toting around music, movie, and picture collections from our entire lives all in the palm of our hand.  So after that lengthy intro, how does the Flash Voyager fair…?  Come inside for the full reivew!

 

We’ll start with the infamous freshly arrived unopened box picture.  However, I had the package brought to me at school because I wasn’t home when it arrived and I couldn’t wait several hours until after classes to open it.  So, you’ll have to make due with a “pre made” picture.

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The first “wall” that was creeping up on flash memory manufacturers was that single cell technology could only hold so much in a given space.  To get over that hurdle, Multi-Level Cell technology was invented.  With multi-level cell technology came much higher storage spaces, though, at the cost of speed (as there are more “layers” to scan, and lower drive life due to more reads/writes/scans/etc.  The 32GB Flash Voyager is based on multi-level cell technology as to enable you to carry the most amount in the smallest space.  People who need brute speed should look elsewhere as the graph below clearly illustrates the read/write times aren’t by any means “speedy” in flash memory terms.

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*I profusely apologize for the picture of a screen.  I could not for the life of me get the window screenshot to work in Vista on my Macbook Pro*

However, for a multi-level flash drive of this size, the average 20-25MB/s read and 5-12MB/s write aren’t that bad…a far cry from the 600MB/s read and 400MB/s write of the just announced OCZ 1TB PCIe SSD hard drive Again, if you are constantly transferring multi gig files, I wouldn’t recommend this particular drive as you could end up doing a lot of waiting.  However, if you have a tad more time, this drive does exactly what you need while adding some added protection.

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The drive itself is completely wrapped in a soft rubbery material that while unfortunately will attract some dust and dirt (easily wiped off with a damp cloth) provides added shock protection.  It has a soft yet firm somewhat squishy feel.  The drive comes with a lanyard with a clip to attach to the drive as well as a USB extension cable as in some instances you may find the Flash Voyager blocking nearby ports on closely spaced USB ports.  The cap of the Flash Voyager is a completely soft, rubberized piece that fits snuggly.  I advise putting it straight in your pocket when you take it off to avoid losing it or forgetting it somewhere as it is small and can easily happen.

 

The Flash Voyager plays nice with both PC and Macs and even linux meaning no matter what kind of computer person you are at heart, the Flash Voyager will work for you.

Overall, I’m very happy with this product.  Being a computer tech, I have heaps of utility software for both Mac and PC stored on this little flash drive ensuring that no matter where I go I have the software needed to get the job done as well as having extra storage for music, videos, and games.  The 32GB Flash Voyager is a pretty sweet deal!