Super Talent 8GBs Flash Drive

With flash drives becoming more and more common place it is hard to find one that is not only good looking, we want one that is small enough to hide any where on our persons, and have a large enough of capacity to handle an large amount of Data. Super Talent answers this call with the Pico 8 Gig flash drive.

INTRODUCTION

These days, flash drives are a common place. I cannot think of anyone not having one on them or near their computer. They’re just as common as knives and forks we have in our kitchens, and our wallets or purses that we use in our day to day lives. We use flash drives for just about everything computer related. They have even gotten so popular that even HDTV’s and Car Stereos are now including the use of these wonderful devices.

Flash drives have become smaller in physical size, cheap, faster, and have higher capacities. Also, they require no extra software to use these wonderful little devices on our computers, car stereos, and HDTV’s (I am sure there’s a few more uses, but I can’t think of any right off hand). Super Talent has come up with a flash drive that is fast, small (so small it’s not much bigger than a quarter), and has a large capacity of 8 GBs of data storage. Super Talent also made it very appealing in looks too. So let’s look at Super Talents Pico Chrome flash drive.

About Super Talent

 Corporate Overview Super Talent Technology, headquartered in San Jose, California, designs and manufactures a full range of DDR, DDR2, and DDR3 memory modules and Flash based storage devices for computers and consumer electronics. An ISO 9001 certified company, Super Talent utilzes its state-of-the art factory and leading-edge components to produce award winning products with outstanding reliability. Super Talent is an active member of JEDEC and ONFI standards bodies, and holds over 200 patents in Flash and DRAM technology.

 Engineered in Silicon Valley Super Talent’s Silicon Valley based electrical, mechanical, and software Engineering teams develop leading-edge DRAM and Flash memory solutions for a multitude of applications. Our US-based engineering enables Super Talent to bring advanced new products and technologies to market well ahead of the competition. A leading innovator, Super Talent holds over 200 patents on DRAM and Flash module design and manufacturing processes, making Super Talent one of the world’s chief patent holders in memory device categories. Super Talent is an active member of JEDEC, the association that defines future memory standards. The company is a technical leader in producing industry standard memory modules as well as in developing custom memory solutions.

 Engineered in Silicon Valley Super Talent’s Silicon Valley based electrical, mechanical, and software Engineering teams develop leading-edge DRAM and Flash memory solutions for a multitude of applications. Our US-based engineering enables Super Talent to bring advanced new products and technologies to market well ahead of the competition. A leading innovator, Super Talent holds over 200 patents on DRAM and Flash module design and manufacturing processes, making Super Talent one of the world’s chief patent holders in memory device categories. Super Talent is an active member of JEDEC, the association that defines future memory standards. The company is a technical leader in producing industry standard memory modules as well as in developing custom memory solutions.

Super Talent is also an active member of the JEDEC and ONFI standards bodies that define future industry standards for memory and Flash. JEDEC is the leading developer of standards for the solid-state industry, especially for DRAM components and modules. The mission of ONFI (Open NAND Flash Interface) is to develop a standardized NAND Flash interface that allows interoperability between NAND devices.

 Service and Support SuperTalent products are backed with excellent service and support through our website and through service professionals in our USA headquarters. Our memory modules and USB drives come with a limited lifetime warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS

Specifications
Capacities:	1GB – 8GB
Technical Details:	Weight – less than 6g • Up to 30MB/s (200X) data transfer rate • Fully compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1 • Water resistant • Powered by USB bus – no external power is required • Durable solid-state storage – 10 years data retention • Hot Plug & Play – enable you to install and uninstall Pico anytime • PICO-A: Swivel • PICO-B: Retractable • PICO-C: Capless; rugged * This model also comes in Nickel plating * Special Limited Edition: 24k gold plated PICO-C • PICO-D: Swivel • PICO-E: Sliding Lid
Size	Not Much Bigger than a Quarter

PACKAGING

The front of the package is shown here. We have the Super Talent Name on the upper portion of the little insert and right below that is USB flash drive. In the center is the Pico flash drive, written in gold lettering on the bottom is its capacity of 8 GB. As we can also tell, the flash drive is chrome.

Flipping the Package over to the back side in this picture we see some of the products features written, and looking down we see a very small carrying loop with a ring attached on one end.

TESTING METHODOLOGY

Test Setup &Testing Methodology
CPU	Core i7 920
Motherboard	MSI X58 Platinum
Case	Open Bench Testing Case
Memory	Crucial DDR3 1333 MHz
Video Card	Sapphire 4870×2/4870
Hard Drives	3 x 160 Gig Sata2 Western Digital, 2 in raid 0, 1 back up
Cdrom Drive	Lite On Sata1 Dvd Burner
Power Supply	Coolermaster U.C.P. 900watt 80+ Silver
Type Of Coolers Used	DD MC-TDX , Koolance VID-487X2 (Dual Loop)
CPU Speeds Used	3.990GHz
Operating System Used	Microsoft Windows Vista 64 bit Ultimate
Type of Software Used During Testing	Sisoft, HD Tune, HD Tach, WIndows Vista (install)

While testing this little flash drive I ran the above programs twice to ensure that no erronous readings were in place. I used a 512 meg Lexar flash drive for a comparison. Now you are probably wondering, a Windows Vista install? Yes, I did a Vista install from the Super Talent 8 gig flash drive, to show you that these little devices can be used for other purposes. The guide I used is located HERE. This is a great guide to follow and is very easy to understand. Now, unfortunately, the 512 meg Lexar was not big enough to handle a 4.5 Gig disk, so I decided to compare the flash drive install to a DVD Drive. The terms of this testing is simple. After I formatted the drives and clicked install was when the time started. Formatting and setting up partitions varies greatly because some HDD’s take longer to format than others. Also, size is a big influence on how long the format will be. As soon as Windows loaded, the counter stops. I used a stopwatch to give me my time, and again, this is not an exact science, so please allow for a margin of error on this test. I should mention I did not install Vista twice, it was only installed once per device. I made Windows Vista a standalone install where I did not have to type in anything during the install. Also, Vista has SP1 Slipstreamed on to it as well.

TESTING RESULTS

HD Tune

 

 Higher is Better, Measured in MBs 

 Lower is Better, Measured in ns

 Higher is Better, Measured in MBs

With HD Tune we see that the Super Talent Pico 8 gig flash drive smashed the Lexar 512 meg in Transfer rates, and in burst rates. Well, let’s face it, the Lexar 512 meg flash drive did not stand a chance against the Super Talent Pico flash drive. When dealing with the Acess Times, The Lexar is just a tad faster.

 HD Tach

 Higher is Better, Measured in MBs

Lower is Better, Measured in ns

With HD Tach, with read and sequential speeds the Super Talent terrorizes the Lexar drive. Once again in access times, the Lexar takes the win here.

 SiSoft

Higher is Better, Measured in MBs

SiSoft testing, and here we see the Super Talent Pico once again reclaims its rightful place as leader.

Vista Install

Lower is Better, Measured in Minutes

Time for the Vista SP1 install test. I started the count after I allready formatted the HDD and clicked the install button. We see the Flash Drive smoke the DVD drive on the VISTA install time. Well, that’s because the flash drive does not have to rely on moving parts for it to seek for the information contained on it. By including this test, I just wanted to show you another unique capability that flash drives have.

CONCLUSIONS

The Super Talent Pcio 8 GB flash drive is small enough for us to hide anywhere on our persons, in our purses and wallets, or even put it on our key chains. The overall looks and design to it is very appealing. And has a large enough capacity to store our pictures, music files, or whatever our needs are for a flash drive for that particular day. The one thing I did like about this flash drive was that, when I hooked up into my computer, it did not install any unnecessary B.S. onto Windows like we see on some of the other flash drives out there. I just plugged it in, Windows picked it right up, and I was able to use it right away. Having a price point of around $26 USD makes this a bargin price for a good looking flash drive with plenty of space for us to use.

Pros:

+Small size

+Looks good

+Easy to use

+Flexibility of uses

Cons:

–It is so small it may get misplaced easily (not really a con but I needed to say something)

Final score of 9 of 10 The Super Talent, receives the Bjorn3D Golden Bear Award.