Conclusion

The Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 is designed to be a lower-cost version of the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Gen. 2 flash drive and it shows. Not only is its rated performance lower - 70 MBs instead of 100 MB/s (read) and 30 MB/s instead of 70 MB/s (write), it also comes with an all-plastic case and no extras like a lanyard.

Our tests using IO Meter showed that the DataTraveler Elite 3.0 flash drive is actually capable of delivering a read speed of 85 MB/s and a write speed of almost 39 MB/s. That's 21% and 30% faster than the rated read and write speeds.

In our real-world file transfer test though, the Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 was only capable of a sustained read speed of 38 MB/s and a sustained write speed of 22 MB/s. At those speeds, it would just over 12 minutes to completely fill out this 16 GB flash drive, and 7 minutes to copy out its entire contents. In other words, this is a pretty fast USB flash drive.

Even when used with the far more common USB 2.0 ports, the Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 was much faster than the USB 2.0 flash drives we tested. It managed to deliver a peak read speed of 35 MB/s and a peak write speed of 28.5 MB/s - far above what USB 2.0 flash drives are capable of.

The only issue we had with the DataTraveler Elite 3.0 was its high thermal output. It was the hottest USB flash drive in our comparison. Even when it idled, it was almost as hot as the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Gen. 2 at full load. Perhaps this is due to its more compact size.

We should point out that the DataTraveler Elite 3.0 is rather slow at random writes, both small and large. If you intend to run an operating system off this drive though, then the poor random write performance is going to hurt. It may be a USB 3.0 flash drive, but the fast USB 3.0 interface isn't going to help with its poor random write performance. This is not what the DataTraveler Elite 3.0 is designed for.

Overall, the Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0 is a good choice if you are looking for a low-cost USB 3.0 flash drive to copy and share large files. Even when used with USB 2.0 ports, it proved to be much faster than USB 2.0 flash drives. Once you have seen how fast it can transfer files, you can never go back to USB 2.0 flash drives. It's that fast.

For the lowest current prices on the Kingston DataTraveler Elite 3.0, click here!

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