This is a quick review of the Kingston DTSE9 G2 USB 3.0 32GB thumbdrive. Please note that this is a value thumbdrive and will not blow your socks off with the transfer speeds.
Official Specifications from Kingston website
Aesthetics and dimensions
If you are sick of your thumbdrives failing because of physical damage, you will be happy to see that this thumbdrive sports an all-metal housing that makes it very tough to break.
Some that likes a cap to protect the thumbdrive will shy away as there are no caps for this particular model. To be honest, since the contact points are gold plated, the chances of the contact points oxidizing is minimal. I would not worry about that.
However, since the USB male port on the Kingston DTSE9 G2 is the enclosure as well, scratch marks appeared after one insertion. That is unavoidable on any drives but it sure is more obvious on this one as it lacks a cap.
A quick comparison with the other drives that I currently have shows us how small the thumdrive is.
If you have a Macbook or any silver notebooks, it will blend right in. Below is how it looks plugged into a HP Elitebook Folio 9470m. The exact dimensions are 45mm x 12.2mm x 4.6mm.
Thermals
During transfer, the thumdrive does get warm to the touch. Do not be alarmed, as it is normal. Thumbdrives with plastic housing isolates your touch to the heat, but instead contains it in which may result in premature death of the thumbdrive. I prefer this bare metal enclosure.
The passes were done one after another. There were no noticeable drops in transfer speeds.
Speed
Speed test for the thumbdrives are ran using CrystalDiskInfo. The tests are ran at the default settings for 3 passes and the final result is the average reading for the 3 passes.
The Kingston will be compared against the thumdrives that I have on hand:
1. Sandisk Ultra USB3.0 16GB
2. Transcend Jetflash JF-560 USB2.0 8GB
3. Kingston DT101 G2 USB2.0 16GB
With this, we can get a rough idea of how the Kingston DTSE9 G2 compares to the other mainstream thumbdrives. Do not that all of these thumbdrives are value oriented and are by no means the fastest drives on the market.
Test system
Type: Laptop
Brand: HP
Model: Elitebook Folio 9470m
Processor: Intel Core i5-3437U@1.9 Ghz (4C4T)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 SODIMM
Storage: Micron RealSSD C400 SED 256GB (500 MBps read, 260 Mbps write)
OS: Windows 7 Enterprise
USB Port: USB 3.0
Graphs
Overall results for the 4 drives.
For read tests, the Kingston DTSE9 G2 blew every other drive in this test away. It maintained a more than 30% lead on the Sandisk Ultra throughout the 4 tests. The USB 2.0 drives are simply not comparable which is to be expected.
Things are also interesting between the USB 2.0 drives where we can see that the Transcend JF560 almost doubling the performance of the Kingston DT101 G2 in sequential read tests. For random reads, the lead drops but is still a much better than the Kingston GT101 G2.
For write tests, it is a different story where we see the Sandisk Ultra leading in every single test. It beats the Kingston DTSE9 G2 handily even in sequential write tests. I find it most interesting as the Kingston DT101 G2 managed to actually match the faster DTSE9 G2 in terms of write speed in the Seq Q32T1 test.
Conclusion
I see people buying thumbdrives without reading reviews. They seemed to have accepted the fact that value drives will always be slow. But I disagree. From the tests, we can see a huge difference between the two USB2.0 drives. The Transcend JF-560 has a faster read speed, but the Kingston DT101 G2 has better write speeds.
Similarly, the Sandisk Ultra has better write speeds but loses in terms of read speeds to the Kingston DTSE9 G2. So it depends on what is needed more. For my use case, the thumbdrive is for reformatting PCs, so it makes sense to have a higher read speed which the Kingston DTSE9 G2 fits perfectly. But if I am looking for an everyday thumbdrive which involves write and read, I will go for the Sandisk Ultra as it is more balanced between read and write speeds.
I hope this little review helps someone out there. Thank you for reading.
Official Specifications from Kingston website
Speed2: 8GB–16GB: 100MB/s read
32GB–128GB: 100MB/s read, 15MB/s write
32GB–128GB: 100MB/s read, 15MB/s write
Compact: capless ultra-small form factor to fit any mobile lifestyle
Guaranteed: five-year warranty, free technical support
Customizable: Co-Logo program available3
Dimensions: 45mm x 12.2mm x 4.6mm
Operating Temperature: 0°C to 60°C
Storage Temperature: -20°C to 85°C
Compatible with: Windows® 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7 (SP1), Windows Vista® (SP2), Mac OS X v.10.8.x+, Linux v.2.6.x+, Chrome OS™
Aesthetics and dimensions
If you are sick of your thumbdrives failing because of physical damage, you will be happy to see that this thumbdrive sports an all-metal housing that makes it very tough to break.
Some that likes a cap to protect the thumbdrive will shy away as there are no caps for this particular model. To be honest, since the contact points are gold plated, the chances of the contact points oxidizing is minimal. I would not worry about that.
However, since the USB male port on the Kingston DTSE9 G2 is the enclosure as well, scratch marks appeared after one insertion. That is unavoidable on any drives but it sure is more obvious on this one as it lacks a cap.
A quick comparison with the other drives that I currently have shows us how small the thumdrive is.
If you have a Macbook or any silver notebooks, it will blend right in. Below is how it looks plugged into a HP Elitebook Folio 9470m. The exact dimensions are 45mm x 12.2mm x 4.6mm.
Thermals
During transfer, the thumdrive does get warm to the touch. Do not be alarmed, as it is normal. Thumbdrives with plastic housing isolates your touch to the heat, but instead contains it in which may result in premature death of the thumbdrive. I prefer this bare metal enclosure.
The passes were done one after another. There were no noticeable drops in transfer speeds.
Speed
Speed test for the thumbdrives are ran using CrystalDiskInfo. The tests are ran at the default settings for 3 passes and the final result is the average reading for the 3 passes.
The Kingston will be compared against the thumdrives that I have on hand:
1. Sandisk Ultra USB3.0 16GB
2. Transcend Jetflash JF-560 USB2.0 8GB
3. Kingston DT101 G2 USB2.0 16GB
With this, we can get a rough idea of how the Kingston DTSE9 G2 compares to the other mainstream thumbdrives. Do not that all of these thumbdrives are value oriented and are by no means the fastest drives on the market.
Test system
Type: Laptop
Brand: HP
Model: Elitebook Folio 9470m
Processor: Intel Core i5-3437U@1.9 Ghz (4C4T)
RAM: 8GB DDR3 SODIMM
Storage: Micron RealSSD C400 SED 256GB (500 MBps read, 260 Mbps write)
OS: Windows 7 Enterprise
USB Port: USB 3.0
Graphs
Overall results for the 4 drives.
For read tests, the Kingston DTSE9 G2 blew every other drive in this test away. It maintained a more than 30% lead on the Sandisk Ultra throughout the 4 tests. The USB 2.0 drives are simply not comparable which is to be expected.
Things are also interesting between the USB 2.0 drives where we can see that the Transcend JF560 almost doubling the performance of the Kingston DT101 G2 in sequential read tests. For random reads, the lead drops but is still a much better than the Kingston GT101 G2.
For write tests, it is a different story where we see the Sandisk Ultra leading in every single test. It beats the Kingston DTSE9 G2 handily even in sequential write tests. I find it most interesting as the Kingston DT101 G2 managed to actually match the faster DTSE9 G2 in terms of write speed in the Seq Q32T1 test.
Conclusion
I see people buying thumbdrives without reading reviews. They seemed to have accepted the fact that value drives will always be slow. But I disagree. From the tests, we can see a huge difference between the two USB2.0 drives. The Transcend JF-560 has a faster read speed, but the Kingston DT101 G2 has better write speeds.
Similarly, the Sandisk Ultra has better write speeds but loses in terms of read speeds to the Kingston DTSE9 G2. So it depends on what is needed more. For my use case, the thumbdrive is for reformatting PCs, so it makes sense to have a higher read speed which the Kingston DTSE9 G2 fits perfectly. But if I am looking for an everyday thumbdrive which involves write and read, I will go for the Sandisk Ultra as it is more balanced between read and write speeds.
I hope this little review helps someone out there. Thank you for reading.
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