Dec 17, 2010 08:41 GMT  ·  By

Since USB 3.0 is gaining quite a lot of momentum right now and the number of SuperSpeed – enabled portable storage solutions available on the market is still limited (when compared to the existing demand), Sharkoon has decided to join the fray with a USB 3.0 flash drive of its own, namely the Flexi-Drive Extreme Duo. As you might remember, after reviewing one of Kingston's USB 3.0 Flash Drives, we've jumped on the SuperSpeed bandwagon ourselves, being fully convinced that the popularity of such storage solutions will boom in the near future, and for this reason, we're pretty sure that the first companies to actually roll out such products (including Sharkoon) will manage to get a very serious foothold on this market segment.

Anyway, back to the Flexi-Drive Extreme Duo, we'll have to mention that it really manages to leverage both the USB 3.0 interface and USB 3.0 single chip controller (1.2 V low power consumption) it comes equipped with and the SLC NAND Flash modules found within, given the fact that reading and writing speeds go as high as 130 MB/s.

Moreover, the device delivers quite an OK amount of storage space (16 GB), while also working quite fine with most of the operating systems around, including Windows XP/Vista/7 (32- and 64-bit), Mac OS 10, Linux.

Additionally, we'll also have to mention that carrying this thing around shouldn't prove to be much of an effort, given the fact that it measures 68 x 21 x 9 (L x W x H) mm and weighs 12.4 g, probably due to the fact that it sports a black aluminum enclosure.

Pricing for the Sharkoon Flexi-Drive Extreme Duo USB 3.0 Flash Drive has been set at around 49.70 Euro, which is quite OK, when taking a look at some of the other competing solutions available out there.