SanDisk Extreme 3.0 (64GB)

Ranking USB drives is a question of superlatives. Who is largest? Fastest? Cheapest? In a product category with few features to differentiate one model from another, SanDisk has put forward the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 ($99.99 list), a drive that ticks all the boxes?faster, bigger, cheaper?and does it all with a wicked looking design. That earns it our Editors' Choice for USB flash drives.

Design and Features
The slim black drive features plastic construction, with a matte finish and a glossy finished slider that snaps the USB plug in and out like a stiletto knife. The drive measures 0.54 by 0.8 by 2.75 inches (HWD) and weighs 0.5 ounce, and it's small enough that it won't crowd out neighboring USB ports or weigh down your pocket when attached to a key ring.

The drive boasts a 64GB capacity, which translates to 59.5GB of free space. With FAT32 formatting, the SanDisk Extreme is compatible with both Windows (Windows 7, Vista, and XP) and Mac (OS X 10.5 and up). SanDisk also offers 2GB of free cloud storage through a partner service.

Included on the drive is a copy of SanDisk SecureAccess, a program that offers password protection and a secure partition with 128-bit AES encryption, similar to the software found on the Editors' Choice Kingston DataTravler Locker+ (8GB) ($18 street, 4 stars). The software is Windows only, but Mac users download a Mac-compatible version of the software from SanDisk's website. Also included on the drive is Club SanDisk, which is nothing more than offers for sponsored downloads, like a 60-day trial of McAfee Internet Security, a trial of GoToMyPC, RoboForm Password Manager, and an eBay sidebar tool for Internet Explorer which lets you keep an eye on auctions of interest at all times.

The new 64GB drive sells for $99.99 (list), which comes out to $1.56 per Gigabyte. That puts it in the middle of the pack for high-capacity USB drives?the Verbatim Store 'n' Go Pro USB Flash Drive (64GB) ($117 street, 4 stars) for example, sells for $1.83 per GB?but on the cheaper end of the USB 3.0 price spectrum. For comparison, the the rugged rubberized Corsair Flash Voyager GT (32GB) ($64.99 direct, 4 stars) for $2.03 per GB; the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Generation 2 (32GB) ($80 street, 4 stars) sells for $2.35 per GB. The only USB 3.0 drive we've reviewed with a lower price per GB is the much smaller 16GB Verbatim Store 'n' Go V3 ($1.25 per GB). And did we mention that SanDisk covers the drive with a lifetime warranty?

Performance
SanDisk claims that the Extreme earns its name with blazing USB 3.0 speeds, claiming 170 MBps write speed and 190 MBps read. In timed data transfer tests, the speeds weren't quite as blazing, but still impressive at 110 MBps (write) and 105 MBps (read)?fast enough that we may be bumping up against the limits of our test bed PC. Compare this to other USB 3.0 drives, like the Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 (61.8 MBps write, 99.4 MBps read) or the Flash Voyager GT (36.7 MBps write, 95.6 MBps read), and it's easy to see that the SanDisk Extreme wins on speed, hands-down.

Even when using a slower USB 2.0 connection, the SanDisk Extreme zips past competitors with write speeds of 29.5 MBps and read speeds of 31.7 MBps. The closest competitors, the Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ (9.7 MBps write, 24.0 MBps read) and the Verbatim Store 'n' Go Pro USB Flash Drive (64GB) ($117 street, 4 stars) (12.2 MBps write and 21.9 MBps read), get left in the dust.

The previous Editors' Choice, the Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ is still a smart buy when looking for affordable encryption, but with those same tools available for the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0, it's hard to ignore the myriad ways that the SanDisk Extreme has put all others on notice. With unbeaten performance, an affordable price, and a snappy design, it's not hard to see why the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 gets the nod for our new Editors' Choice for flash drives.

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the SanDisk Extreme 3.0 (64GB) with several other flash drives side by side.

More flash drive reviews:
??? SanDisk Extreme 3.0 (64GB)
??? Duracell Rugged USB Drive (16GB)
??? Verbatim Store 'n' Go V3 USB Drive (16GB)
??? SanDisk Ultra 32GB Flash Drive
??? Verbatim Store 'n' Go Pro USB Flash Drive (64GB)
?? more

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