Kingston unveils 256GB thumb drive for well-heeled memory fiends
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Jul 20th 2009 10:56AM
posted Jul 20th 2009 10:56AM
We're sure that it's only a matter of moments before a 256GB thumb drive this bulky is something of a joke -- hell, it wasn't so terribly long ago that cramming 256MB into something this size was an accomplishment. That said, if you're a netbook user looking for a storage bump, it looks like Kingston's got your back: this guy boasts transfer rates of up to 20 MB/sec. read and 10 MB/sec. write, and for all of you Vista fans, supports Windows ReadyBoost. Now, for the bad news: only available in Europe and the UK, and custom made upon your order (presumably after the check clears) this modern technological marvel will run you £565.67 ($924).
[Via TBreak]
[Via TBreak]
Wow that's some really slow transfer rates....
Most High Speed USB drives aren't much faster then that...most USB drives ive seen read at about 200-300Mb/s and write at about 150-200Mb/s maybe you are confusing MB with Mb?
@dan2600
Even with the MB to Mb conversion, this thing is slower than your figures. 160Mb/s is below the low end of the read speed range, and 80 Mb/s is just over half of the lowest write speed you quoted.
Now a thumbdrive worth stealing.
And they could've at least put an MP3 player.
I could store so much porn on that...
if only it had a lotion dispenser.
Yeh well USB 3.0 is starting to become available (see: en gadgets post on the Asus mobo).. Perhaps if this thing still had 256gb of storage but had USB3.0 it would be better considered at its current price point.
Tthat costs more than my computer. It does have more storage space though. haha
Are you still on that Atari? o_O
Nope, im just poor....
Too young for atari aswell.
you should hire some labor to store your data
Spies would buy one, keep all the top secret files there and store it in a bank vault. No one would know where to look.
chuching! in no time everyone will have 2 or 3 of these laying on there desks.
That's right you are! Atari is rated M for Mature. Your fragile, young mind is best the way it is, uncorrupted from the pixelated horrors of Haunted House.
not a Terabyte?
Yeaaahh! still waiting for the Tb pen.. and cheap! Mabe in 2020.
1tb pen drives should be out by 2012, if moore's law is anything to go by.
Jesus though, 1tb pen drives
Perhaps because it would cost as much as a used car?
I just can't wait for the 2 centimeter diameter CD-R/W with storage up to 1.7TB. Now all you need is to sew one onto your shirt as a button, and install a new CD drive in your computer.
Kind of a dumb idea really. Why not just get a portable laptop hard drive? Sure,this will fit in your front pocket. But some laptop drives will fit in your back pocket. You could always just buy a bigger hard drive too.
Why don't we all just stick to our computers from 10 years ago... Pentium 2... 300mhz. 8GB hard drives... Let's refuse to progress technologically and keep thinking "why would I need to upgrade to faster, bigger, better ?"
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't sit on any hard drive. Those aluminum covers don't leave much space, and they're fairly flexible. They weren't designed to hold any weight.
These things are still much more breakable, HD's that is, I'd certainly not keep one in my backpocket and rely on the data to be safe beyond let's say 2 months max before an accident had happened.
And I'm not even mentioning accidentally leaving them in the wash, which flashdrives have been known to survive.
might as well buy an SSD.
and that comment wasn't for you.. stupid comment system
Odd my comment also ended up in the wrong place, seems its gremlin day.
In the UK that would be (presumably after the cheque clears)
Just what I was going to say!
Geez! o_O A $1000, well, I guess, if you need 256GB of storage, but don't want to go the 2.5" HDD way, why not...
Overkill much?
$924!!
For that money, I'll just pay my ball-washer to carry around a $60 external.
you don't wash your own balls...? you've got too much money.
hahhhahahahahaa
@Chris Are
Best. Reply. Ever.
Crappiest RCA MP3 player yet!
e ai
Blzinha :P
Kingston Thought Process
- So... What's next guys
- Iono; what do you want to do?
- Let's make a 256GB Thumb Drive!
- We can't do that, it won't fit in a case.
- We will just stack two 128GB and double the case size!
- But it will be SO ugly that no one would want it. And it would cost almost $1000 by the time we turn it; why would we do all of that?
- ...Because we can!
So you see boys and girls. Sometimes; we spend all our time trying to be on the bleeding edge of technology that we loose ALL sight of practicality. So the moral of the story is; don't do stupid things.
And yet, if it sells the meager few required to turn a profit, it will be a success.
To say nothing about the value of free publicity like this.
*worked up
oops... replied to wrong comment. :)
It's 16times the size of my Netbook's SSD... which is 3 times as fast and only half full... i have an FTP server for everything else that i could ever need. NEXT!
That money would be better spent on booze and porn.
But where would you put the porn?
There's no way in hell I'd spend that much for a USB flash drive with 256GB. Make it a terabyte, then maybe we'll talk. I'd rather just carry a HDD or SSD with me and save a bunch of money, all while having easily twice the capacity.
And technology marches on, giving mankind an increasingly vast number of ways to store pornography.
This comment is underrated.
Isnt UK part of Europe? I dont think my geography lessons from high school are that antiquated.
Technically, the UK is part of Europe. Socially, politically, financially, the UK is not really part of Europe. Many of these things that are released in Europe aren't released in the UK, and vice versa.
The UK is part of Europe in name only. Noone really considers the UK part of Europe, we're not on the Euro, we speak the dreaded English, and we are on our own island.