Choosing a Flash Drive
In this section, we evaluate different brands and models of flash drives. Each model reviewed shows the drive's random IOPS performance with and without MFT, as well as the esimated thoughput that each drive is capable of. It is our hope that these comparison tables will give you a sound sense of value both among different models of flash drives themselves as well as between Flash drives and Hard Disks.
We also provide what we think are the essential manufacturer's specifications. In doing so, we omit others such as shock resistance, temperature range, and so forth. Generally commercial grade flash drives can handle a hundred g drop test and operate between 0 and 70 degrees Celsius (32 to 156 Fahrenheit). Similarly, most flash drives consume about 2 watts of power when active, and throttle back to a fraction of a watt when idle (which is often a good portion of the day when used with MFT). Finally, all flash media, unlike Hard Disks, can operate in low pressure environments such as might be found in an unpressurized aircraft. Conversely, hard disks need the "lift" of airpressure to avoid a head crash.
Most importantly, we provide you both a general shopping search for the drives of your choice, as well as specific links to any of our Internet distributors who distribute the drive bundled with either the MFT Workstation edition or the MFT Server edition.
If you want us to test a specific drive or several different drives, simply contact us and arrange to send us the drive(s) to be tested. We will be happy to do so and add a report like those you see to the list shown here.
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