Dual Channel Technology

OCZ boasts that their new Rally drives come with dual channel technology. What exactly does that mean?

Simply put, OCZ used two flash memory chips in each of their flash drives. Ostensibly, this allows the flash controller to double the read and write speeds, by reading from and writing to both chips at the same time.

Currently, OCZ uses either Samsung or Micron flash memory chips in their Rally drives. We suppose the choice of flash memory chip depends on availability and price considerations. But drives using either chips should have the same performance as OCZ does not distinguish between their Rally flash drives.

The only thing that is certain is that the three models have the following performance characteristics.

USB 2.0 Support

As expected, the OCZ Rally drives come with full support for USB 2.0. That means it can transfer data via the USB 2.0 port at up to 480Mbits/s (60MB/s). This is a far cry from USB 1.1's maximum throughput of 12Mbits/s (1.5MB/s).

Of course, their actual transfer speed is limited by the performance of the flash memory chips and the flash controller used. The true transfer rate will be a lot lower than USB 2.0's maximum throughput of 480Mbits/s.

In fact, OCZ specified a read speed of 23-28MB/s and a write speed of 15-17MB/s for these drives. So, don't be fooled by claims that USB 2.0 drives are 40 times faster than USB 1.1 drives. USB 2.0 allows these drives to realize their full potential but it won't make them supermen!

With that said, it's still important for you to get drives that support USB 2.0. USB 1.1 is simply passé, especially for USB flash memory drives. With USB 2.0 support, at least you needn't worry about the USB interface becoming the performance bottleneck.

Please note that while the OCZ Rally drives support USB 2.0, you should use it with a USB 2.0 port. Using it with a USB 1.1 port will cripple its performance by limiting its transfer rate to a maximum of 1.5MB/s.

Accessories

The OCZ Rally comes with a USB extension cable. It's 50 cm long, not including the connectors. Very useful if your desktop or notebook only has USB ports at the back.

The package also includes a pack containing the lanyard and a key ring.

This gives you the flexibility of hanging the drive around your neck or attaching it to your keys.