Update:I returned the drive with money reverted back.Seller was cooperative & reverted without hassle or communication.
ABOUT THE BRAND SANDISK :
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SanDisk is an Israeli-American manufacturer of flash memory products, including memory cards and readers, USB flash drives, and solid state drives. As of February 2015, it is the third-largest manufacturer of flash memory.
SanDisk was founded in 1988 by Eli Harari, Sanjay Mehrotra and Jack Yuan with Sanjay mehrotra being the president & the CEO.
On May 12, 2016, SanDisk was acquired by hard drive manufacturer Western Digital in a US$19 billion deal.
WHY A DUAL- DRIVE, WHY 64 GB & WHY SANDISK?
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Before we proceed with the muscle-merits or the key features of the device, let’s have a quick look upon my personal selection process.
Dual Drive : Apart from my need for a basic pen drive with sufficient storage, I chose to go with a dual drive that could work with my mobile devices to offload it of the memory burdens and play some stored media at instant whenever a desire crosses over. I could have gone with a basic pendrive with a USB to OTG adaptor cable but then I realized, in today’s comfort-seeking world, who’s will keep track for the tiny adaptor cable or moreover take the trouble every time to fetch it ,then fit it ,in event of a sudden mood swing for any mobile media requirement.
64 GB : This capacity seemed to offer a decent compromise between storage, price & future proofing as with modern mobile cameras photos and videos shot are mostly of high resolution and larger size.64 GB ensures that you won’t have to empty it out any sooner or on a regular basis.
Sandisk : In the recent few years, Sandisk after becoming a western digital brand has witnessed a tremendous growth in market capitalization, quality and brand image & offers the best value for money deals for an average usage.
Moreover, could not find much, reputed brands in the Storage with OTG feature.
A Note : Speed enthusiasts though should refrain from this version & should try its designated speedier extreme versions or other brands like transcend, Samsung.
ABOUT OUR PRODUCT:
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@ The device comes with the title “SanDisk Ultra - Dual Drive m3.0” and is the newer 2017 version of its previous iteration. Here I need to quote that the term “Ultra” came quite as a surprise to me as I found nothing in lines with a common understanding of Ultra. We will discuss it in detail in upcoming columns of speed.
@ With a micro-USB connector on one end and a USB 3.0 connector on the other, the drive lets you move content easily between your android phones, tablets (with micro USB ports only) or laptops.
Both the connectors are carved out of metal & the USB 3.0 connector is backward-compatible with USB 2.0 ports.
@ SIZE : The size of the USB is quite small which can be good for easy storage in your pockets but might be tedious to find if misplaced.
The USB fares around an inch in perfect closed condition and 1.5”inches when expanded at USB end.
@ CONSTRUCTION: The device has a plastic body & the overall construction of the drive is just average. The retractable plastic column seems to the weakest link of all and would surely break if you accidentally step over it. However the actual drive storage portion is built of a rigid plastic and won’t give up so easily. Both the USB ports are built of metal which again is quite a relief.
@ FIT & FINISH: Being equipped with a retractable mechanism & being too small, the drive is not so smooth to use & slide-in or out in a single shot and needs some getting used to but then most of the OTG drives are designed small and hence have some or the other odd way of conserving size.
The USB ports fit comfortably in devices and pulling it out too is fairly easy.
@ STORAGE FORMAT: Since the previous FAT32 version had a limitation of file transfer size of a maximum of 4 GB for a single file & NTFS was not compatible with mac OS so with increasing file sizes ex FAT format was devised which doesn’t have a size limitation like FAT yet is compatible with Mac as well. So our drive has only ex FAT & NTFS formats to choose & comes in ex FAT by default with 128 KB file allocation size. Increasing the file allocation size may increase the transfer speeds a little but will affect the storage capacity little too. Changing it from 128 to 256 KB increased my write speeds from 13 MB/s to 15 MB/s if that’s a relief to anyone.
The format would surely work well with most of the TVs, tablets and mobiles though check it with the car audio head unit and try to change to NTFS if it doesn’t work.
@ SPEED ( The de-merit detail ) : I have been a flagship gadgets freak all my life & Preliminary to my purchase I had doubts regarding its speed as quoted by fellow buyers but then I did not have speed in my mind as a primary motive for this & there were not many options for dual OTG device, So I took a leap of faith and went ahead with purchase.
My basic intent was to load bulk movies from my laptop into it and watch it over my TV or mobile, However when I was transferring 6 movies of a total size 8.1 GB , it started showing 15 minutes which kept on getting higher & it felt like waiting forever for it to happen.
Even for a single movie of 1.8 GB it took 2 minutes 30 sec by stopwatch to transfer. The write speeds started with 13 MB/sec and went down & down to 10-11 MB/sec. Even with my older Kingston DT elite 3.0 16GB,the write speeds were in excess of 21 MB/Sec.
I admit I have a USB 2.0 port at my laptop yet I was never used to such low speeds ever. The tagline “Ultra” and mentioned speeds of 130 MB/sec (which I suppose is the rated max. speeds at USB 3.0 ports) felt like a dream and beyond exaggeration.
Finally with every passing minute it became all the more unbearable and annoying. Even in NTFS format speeds were the same.
I had never expected it to be this slow in this modern era of 2018, thus finally I decided to return it but I suppose I will only get a replacement & not reversal.
I know that read-write speeds depend upon a lot of factors including transferred file type, format configuration of drive, configuration of host & destination device etc.
Benchmark Crystal Disk mark scores for a file transfer of 500 MB size were 34 MB/s -Read & 19 MB/s – write which looked like a mere consolation. Transfer between my Samsung S7 mobile & S2 tablet too was not fast.
Verdict : Yes my friends , all other reviews about this being slow to the point of being unbearable are absolutely right and maybe San disk should retag it as “Ultra-slow”.
@ STORAGE : Out of the total name plate rating of 64 GB , the actual allocated space for usage is around 57 GB which is ok enough.
@ WARRANTY : The product comes with a 5 year limited warranty which is one of the segment best offers.
@ PRICE : I bought the device for 1530 bucks which was reasonable to me given the storage size, Dual drive & brand image. MRP over the pack was printed 2190 bucks & it was tagged made in Malaysia. Only if, it was a bit faster.
FINAL VERDICT:
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All in all, in my personal opinion given the brand image, Ultra-tagline & modern day technology advancements, even if you try to be too generous or lenient upon the transfer speeds yet its hard to spare such a low Read Write rates.
Even for routine tasks it will keep on reminding you of the compromise you made for a full price. It could have been a great all-rounder device coupled with the good brand reputation of Sandisk & 5 years of warranty, had its speed been any better.
| Read Speed | 150 Megabytes Per Second |
|---|---|
| Connectivity Technology | USB |
| Colour | Gold |
| Model Name | Ultra Dual |
| Flash Memory Type | Micro SDHC |
| Manufacturer | Sandisk Storage Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Plot 301A Persiaran Cassia Selatan 1 Taman Perindustrian Batu Kawan, MK13 Batu Kawan Seberang Perai Selatan 14100 Penang Malaysia |
| Model | SDDD3-064G-I35GW |
| Product Dimensions | 1.18 x 2.55 x 3.02 cm; 5 Grams |
| Item model number | SDDD3-064G-I35GW |
| RAM Size | 64 GB |
| Flash memory type | Micro SDHC |
| Digital storage capacity | 64 GB |
| Hardware Platform | PC |
| Special Features | Lightweight |
| Mounting Hardware | Flash Drive |
| Standing screen display size | 7 Inches |
| Batteries Included | No |
| Batteries Required | No |
| Data Transfer Rate | 64 Megabytes Per Second |
| Includes Rechargeable Battery | No |
| Is there a timer? | No |
| Includes AC Adapter | No |
| Manufacturer | Sandisk Storage Malaysia Sdn Bhd |
| Country of Origin | Malaysia |
| Imported By | RASHI PERIPHERALS PVT LTD.,RASHI COMPLEX A BLDG, SURVEY 186, DONGARIPADA, POMAN, VASAI-E,THANE, MAHARASHTRA-401208 |
| Item Weight | 5 g |
