Kingston DataTraveler 310 256GB

Full Review

The Kingston DataTraveler 310 is a USB 2.0 flash drive with a gargantuan 256GB of storage. This is the highest capacity pendrive currently available on the market. This puts it in the same league as some entry-level external hard drives. Not bad for a device that's smaller than a tube of lipstick, eh? If you require lots of storage in an ultra-portable format, the Kingston DataTraveler 310 is hard to beat.

The Kingston DataTraveler 310 is slightly more bulky than most USB pen drives you’d see around you – hey, all that memory has to fit somewhere! That said it is still small enough to slip inside your purse or jeans pocket, so the size is not a big deal. The casing is both attractive and durable - the metallic red finish is a nice change from the typical shades of silver. In addition to red, it is available in black color as well. Unfortunately, Kingston has opted for a traditional lid for the DataTraveler 310 (as opposed to the retractable USB connector seen with the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 16GB). Consequently, losing the lid forever is a distinct possibility.

It comes equipped with PasswordTraveler, a security application that protects important files in a secure zone.

The Kingston DataTraveller 310 also comes equipped with PasswordTraveler, a security application that protects important files in a secure zone. It is Windows ReadyBoost compatible, consumes very little power and offers 238.4 GB of available storage space. It uses NAND Flash, much like SSDs (Solid State Drives). On the downside, it definitely isn’t a cheap device. Data transfer speeds may not be as high as 'proper' external hard drives, but then it is not expected to compete with an external HDD and it does perform as you’d expect a very decent USB 2.0 pendrive to.

We run synthetic benchmarks and real world tests on a high-end testbench to eliminate bottlenecks. We measured a read and write speed average of 30.2 MB/s and 14 MB/s respectively. Real world file read/write speeds for a single large file (6.42 GB) stood at 28.7 MB/s and 13.8 MB/s respectively. It fell as expected to 22.5 MB/s and 7.2 MB/s for read and write speed respectively, when copying multiple smaller files (1287 files totaling up to 2.33 GB). Transferring these small files from one folder to another on the pen drive (simultaneous read/write) was at a lower speed of 5.5 MB/s and is normal. Read and write access times averaged 0.49 ms, with a CPU usage of 5 per cent. This is a pretty good performance for a USB thumb drive.

Despite being tagged with the ‘DataTraveler’ moniker, the DT310 is equally suited to use in the home. Its small size and massive capacity make it an ideal accompaniment to a media player with a USB input, such as the Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ or the Western Digital WD TV Live. At Rs. 51,000 the DT310 is priced high of course, but that was only to be expected for a high-end product with very little competition, in time the price would drop as always. Kingston offers a warranty of 5 years upon the Kingston DataTraveler 310 (256GB) USB pen drive.

Bottom Line

The Kingston DataTraveler 310 256GB is currently the highest capacity USB flash drive on the market – it is almost like having an external HDD in your pocket. You have to pay the price for the privilege, but if you require lots of storage on-the-go, this is the pen drive to get.

If you are looking for a lower-priced 16GB pen drive that is much more portable than an external hard disk drive, take a look at our Top 5 Flash Drives.