14 DAY TRIAL // Since the newest USB standard is getting more and more common on motherboards, makers of external storage solutions are definitely not too shy to launch devices compatible with it, and Patriot has just proven this yet again.
As end-users have no doubt guessed by now, Patriot Memory has added a new external storage device or, in this case, a line of storage devices.
This once, the outfit chose the flash drive as its outlet and put together the so-called Supersonic, which stole half of its name from the title of its connectivity standard.
Simply put, the newcomer, or newcomers, makes use of the SuperSpeed USB 3.0 connection, known for having a theoretical maximum transfer speed of about 5 Gbps, which is ten times that of USB 2.0.
In the case of this particular flash drive unit, the reading can be accomplished at up to 100 MB/s, while writing can be achieved at slightly less, 70 MB/s to be more specific.
Of course, it should be mentioned that these data rates were, in fact, possible thanks to the use of a quad-channel design.
"Patriot is one of the first companies to integrate a native single-chip USB 3.0 flash memory controller. By pairing the controller with our Quad-Channel technology, we're able to maximize performance with the Supersonic series," says Les Henry, Patriot Memory's Vice President of Engineering.
"We are able to shrink the physical size of the USB 3.0 flash drives for even greater portability," he added.
As far as outer design goes, Patriot chose to use a metallic casing with a high durability, so that physical endurance could also be part of the product's array of assets.
Finally, the newcomer is expected to become available for mass production and shipment starting in the first quarter of 2011. It will be available in multiple versions, whose capacities will be of between 32 GB and 64 GB, but prices are still unknown.