Smallest USB drive 128GB?

[jamesjingyi]

I have an 11" MacBook Air as my main machine with only 128GB of storage. I have definitely run out of space and am looking for a small 'nub' drive like the Kingston DataTraveler Micro to stick into the side of the computer to act like a small internal drive. Alternatively, a tiny Micro SD card reader would be good (since they now offer 128GB Micro SD cards). I am just looking for something that will expand my storage and (hopefully) not be too costly as I want to just save up for a new MacBook Pro and keep this as a mobile machine, therefore have discounted the idea of upgrading the SSD through OWC etc.

Could someone help me out here??

Thanks very much

James

EDIT: Just thought to also say that I would prefer another 128GB to go along with my current amount of storage. I have found a 64GB drive and will probably go for this if you guys can't help

 

[Dweez]

I've got a couple of these 128 gig PNY StorEDGE SD cards, one is inserted into my mid-2013 MBA all of the time. Performance is acceptable, I keep a media library and documents on mine.

It's not a flush fit like some others, but that wasn't a concern for me.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

I know of a 64Gb USB that has speeds that are around the SSD mark.

----------

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDC...d=1396369551&sr=1-10&keywords=sandisk+extreme

On Sandisks site, it says it has speeds of upto 245Mbps.

 

[DeltaMac]

The OP has an 11-inch MBAir, so no card slot.

 

[weckart]

Might be cheapest to go for the Crucial M500 mSATA drive, which is pretty cheap right now (about £55 in the UK) and just put in any USB3 mSATA case.

Alternatively, Verbatim offers something similar out of the box

http://www.verbatim.com/prod/solid-state-drives/external/store-n-go-usb-3.0-external-ssd-sku-47622/

 

[ctyrider]

Here's the USB3 drive I use in my MacBook. Yes it's only 64GB and it's pricey, but the industrial design cannot be beat:

http://pkparis.surinternet.com/epag...iewObjectPath=/Shops/box23967/Products/100304

 

[No-Me]

Here's the USB3 drive I use in my MacBook. Yes it's only 64GB and it's pricey, but the industrial design cannot be beat:

http://pkparis.surinternet.com/epag...iewObjectPath=/Shops/box23967/Products/100304

Nice, is it fast?

 

[ctyrider]

Nice, is it fast?

It's USB3, so yes it's very fast.

 

[Altemose]

I have an 11" MacBook Air as my main machine with only 128GB of storage. I have definitely run out of space and am looking for a small 'nub' drive like the Kingston DataTraveler Micro to stick into the side of the computer to act like a small internal drive. Alternatively, a tiny Micro SD card reader would be good (since they now offer 128GB Micro SD cards). I am just looking for something that will expand my storage and (hopefully) not be too costly as I want to just save up for a new MacBook Pro and keep this as a mobile machine, therefore have discounted the idea of upgrading the SSD through OWC etc.

Could someone help me out here??

Thanks very much

James

EDIT: Just thought to also say that I would prefer another 128GB to go along with my current amount of storage. I have found a 64GB drive and will probably go for this if you guys can't help

I have used these and they are very reliable and speedy enough!

http://theniftyminidrive.com/

 

[flowrider]

^^^^Again, the OP has an 11" MBA, as do I. The 11" MBA has no SD Card Slot.

Lou

 

[Altemose]

Smallest USB drive 128GB?

^^^^Again, the OP has an 11" MBA, as do I. The 11" MBA has no SD Card Slot.



Lou

Ah. My mistake then. I would go for the USB 3 dongle then. One thing to note is to make sure that none of it sticks out on the actual part you plug in. The base of the dongle should touch the MacBook!

 

[No-Me]

It's USB3, so yes it's very fast.

I know a lot of slow USB3 drives, so I guess my question should be, how fast is it?

 

[flowrider]

^^^^From the link posted:

Ultra fast up to 140 MB/s

Lou

 

[AirMonty]

I just received this USB 3.0 64GB PKParis low profile drive. Below are the benchmarks (see attached) and personal tests I ran today. It cost $67 Euros or $105 US dollars

Single 4GB mp4 file -
MBA to PK USB drive - 5:08 minutes
PK USB drive to MBA - 31 seconds

7GB directory containing 7,167 files -
MBA to PK USB Drive - 6:49 minutes
PK USB drive to MBA - 46 seconds

The attached benchmark file was created by using Xbench v 1.3 disk analyzer

 

[AirMonty]

This is what it looks like attached to the MBA. Matches the aluminum case

 

[coldjeanzzz]

I just received this USB 3.0 64GB PKParis low profile drive. Below are the benchmarks (see attached) and personal tests I ran today. It cost $67 Euros or $105 US dollars

Single 4GB mp4 file -
MBA to PK USB drive - 5:08 minutes
PK USB drive to MBA - 31 seconds

7GB directory containing 7,167 files -
MBA to PK USB Drive - 6:49 minutes
PK USB drive to MBA - 46 seconds

The attached benchmark file was created by using Xbench v 1.3 disk analyzer

is that considered fast or slow?

 

[AirMonty]

If I figured it correctly I experienced 132 - 135mb/s file transfer from the USB drive to the MBA

However, the transfer rate from MBA to USB drive is only around 16 - 17mb/s or around a gigabyte per minute. Much slower. These manufacturers pick the fastest number in the benchmark and use it to advertise. They sometimes omit the slower rates going the other direction.

The Sandisk UHS-2 SD card is available but much more expensive ($245) for the same 64GB size. The micro-SD largest size is only 16GB ($39). The SD card attains read AND write speeds over 200mb/s (280/250) according to the manufacturer. The Micro-SD is UHS-1 and limited to 95mb/s. Unfortunately the card reader in the MBA may not be compatible with UHS-2 cards since they have a second row of pins that the MBA can't read. This requires a USB 3.0 card reader / adapter to realize the advertised UHS-2 speeds.

Toshiba just announced a new UHS-2 micro-SD card that will, also attain 260/240 mb/s read write speeds for the 32GB capacity but only 145/130mb/s for the 64GB capacity. You may still need the UHS-2 card reader / adapter for those as well.

 

[AirMonty]

To compare my USB 2.0 SanDisk external drive got these results with same files . . .

Single 4GB mp4 file -
MBA to SanDisk USB drive - 7:13 minutes
SanDisk USB drive to MBA - 2:26 minutes

7GB directory containing 7,167 files -
MBA to SanDisk USB Drive - 13:01 minutes
SanDisk USB drive to MBA - 4:32 minutes

. . . so USB is faster than USB 2.0 by quite a bit but full size USB 3.0 drives are faster than this PK low profile. The SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB full size disk obtains 260/240mb/s speeds according to the manufacturer but is much larger than the low profile PK drive. You definitely trade speed for small size.