The Intel based standard for USB 3.0 was announced nearly 2 years ago and since then, products have slowly trickled in to the market place. Of course there is a cycle to progress…you can’t get peripherals until you have controllers [main stream now] and once you get controllers you expand out to peripherals. That being said, Kingston, one of the largest memory manufacturers on earth, has launched a fairly detailed road map for USB 3.0 products.

Kingston was amongst the first to announce USB 3.0 flash drives into retail under the DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 drive and HyperX MAX 3.0 external USB hard drive – both launched earlier in 2010. And now, as the first product on their roadmap for the year, have introduced the DataTraveler HyperX 3.0, which will serve as their flagship model and be part of the HyperXperience product line, a family of high-performance Kingston Flash products that will include SSDs, USBs and flash memory cards.

Kingston made the announcement at CES but doesn’t expect to release the less expesnive USB 3.0 flash drives until Q2, 2011 under the DataTraveller DTU30 brand and will include capacities ranging from 16GB to 64GB.

I can honestly say, today, no I don’t.  But that doesn’t mean you don’t.  Today we found the Kingston 64GB drive on sale for $147.  That’s about $72 off the regular price.

The company line:

Kingston’s new DataTraveler® 200 USB Flash drive is ideal for storing and transferring digital images and presentations and transporting all kinds of data. With capacities up to 128GB, the DataTraveler 200 features password protection via Password Traveler software, which allows you to create and access a password-protected, secure area of the drive called a “Privacy Zone.”

DataTraveler 200 is ideal for those who need significant storage capacity and data protection in a sleek, durable design. With a capless design and enhanced with Windows ReadyBoost™,** the DataTraveler 200 is perfect for home or business.

DataTraveler 200 is backed by legendary Kingston® reliability plus a five-year warranty and 24/7 tech support.

Grab the GetUSB Dealz now.

Wouldn’t it be nice to get 1GB of data storage for $1 on flash drives?  We are not there yet but getting close.  We are about $2 per GB for this 32GB Kingston DataTraveler.

It doesn’t come with the lifetime warranty we typically see, only a 5 year one…but chances are you’ll lose it before then anyway.

The c10 drive comes in four colors [Red, Yellow, Blue, Green] and has a full cap design to protect the entire stick.  No word on performance, but the typical flash drive has a write speed of 5.5MB/s and a read speed of 15 MB/s, again not official just our experience speaking here.

Just 5 years ago I had a laptop with a 40GB hard drive, now we have flash drives just about as big and much less expensive.  This deal is for a limited time at buy.com and has a normal price of $90.

It’s been all over the blogs the last couple of days regarding Kingston and their security issues.  They have been tight lipped about exactly what makes the device vulnerable and with specific information it’s hard to gauge just how hard it would be for someone to crack it.

I don’t think the typical user who keeps their personal information secure with this drive [in the event it's lost] has much to worry about, but the government has purchased plenty of units and that’s clearly a concern.  The list of drives include Data Traveler BlackBox, the Data Traveler Secure – Privacy Edition, and the Data Traveler Elite – Privacy Edition.  Again, a typical computer user probably doesn’t have the tools or skills to unlock the device, but a professional would.

My guess is the IC controller chip which runs the AES 256 encryption is at fault here and someone has figured out how to hack the machine code and disable the encryption, but that’s just my educated guess being in the industry.

PC World did a good write up about the statement and interesting perspective on the whole situation.

Buy.com has a very good special going right now.  The Kingston 4GB DataTraveler for only $10.  What’s even better – buy in bulk as your limit is 100 units.  Shipping is also free within the US.

Sleek, practical, and attractively designed, the affordable DataTraveler 120 serves the needs of the budget conscious user as well as those looking for significant storage capacity in a lightweight, compact design. DataTraveler 120 features a retractable USB connector for ease of use and safe housing and is available in 4GB (lime green), 8GB (orange), 16GB (light blue), and 32GB (gray). DataTraveler 120 is available for co-logo. Backed by a five-year warranty, 24/7 tech support and legendary Kingston® reliability, DataTraveler 120 is a reliable, inexpensive solution for carrying digital files with you wherever your travels may take you.

Grab your GetUSB Dealz now!

Do you wonder if a USB stick will drop below $2? I don’t think it ever will, and for several reasons. First, the bare cost of the Flash, Controller and case will keep the price much higher than it’s predecessor [CD/DVD] but also consider the millions of dollars needed in equipment just to make these things in bulk.

So let’s find out how a USB stick is made…here is a behind-the-scenes video of the Kingston USB flash memory plant. With step-by-step video it’s an amazing process.

Note: The narration is nothing close to an award winning voice over.

Source: Engadget.

The last time GetUSB.info did a post about the largest USB stick it was for the 64GB Transcend flash drive.  That little guy retailed at near $200, but that was also back in September of 2008.

Two days ago, Kingston released their 128GB USB flash drive.  The Kingstong DataTraveler 200 is “now” the largest USB stick in the market.  128GBs.

This guy retails for $546.  That is a very expensive drive when you compare it to the Western Digital Passports where Terabytes are under $300…but you can’t put a price tag on portability.  Or can you?

There are no special features nor auto-backup software included in the bundle, just a simple drive with a ginormous capacity, a sliding cap, and password utility for extra security. Strangely enough, Kingston will only sell the 128GB version as a made to order process.  Go figure.