14 DAY TRIAL // While the “fellowship of the USB 3.0” grows larger and larger these days, with more and more storage devices employing this super-fast interface, we also come across some rather strange creations that comply to the SuperSpeed standards, one of the latest being LaCie's FastKey USB flash drive, that actually combines the advantages of a SSD (solid-state drive) with the ultra-fast speeds enabled by the aforementioned interface.
Available in 30, 60 and 120GB capacities (just the 30GB model is currently in stock, though), the LaCie FastKey can reach speeds of up to up to 5Gb/s (600MB/s) when connected to a suitable USB 3.0 interface.
Nevertheless, similar to most other storage products of this type available out there, this thing will also work quite well with the older USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 interfaces (albeit at significantly lower speeds).
The fact that it packs a SSD module makes the LaCie FastKey slightly larger than some of the other flash drives available out there, the device measuring 27 x 104 x 9 mm / 1.1 x 4.1 x 0.4 in. and weighing roughly 33 g / 1.164 oz.
Moreover, the company points out that AES 256-bit encryption is included in the FastKey, along with LaCie's Private-Public software, which allows users to create a private partition on the key, while the OS compatibility list includes the Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 / Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6 systems.
The topic of pricing might be a slightly delicate one in the case of the LaCie FastKey, simply because this thing is a tad expensive, given its size and ultra-fast speeds it enables, meaning that you'll have to pay roughly 150 US dollars for the 30GB version, 250 US dollars for the 60GB model and a whopping 475 US dollars for the 120GB flavor.