Kingston creates world's highest-capacity USB flash drive
updated 03:29 pm EST, Mon January 7, 2013
Flash drive with 1TB capacity accompanied by smaller drives
Memory manufacturer Kingston is to release what is claimed to be the world's largest-capacity USB 3.0 flash drive. The high-capacity DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0 will have a version shipping later this quarter with a total storage of 1-terabyte, while others in the range will ship at the same time at more standard capacities.
The certified SuperSpeed USB 3.0 1TB thumb drive will have data transfer speeds of up to 240MB per second for reading and 160MB per second for writing, and so will the 512GB capacity version. The drive is housed in a zinc alloy metal case, and is supplied with a custom Kingston key ring and a HyperX valet keychain. Though a price for the 1TB drive is not currently known, it will certainly be higher than the now-shipping 512GB version at $1750.
A redesigned DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 G3 has also been launched at the same time as the 1TB drive announcement. The retractable design has a solid metal matte finish, which protects the drive more than if it were static and capped. Both the 32GB and 64GB versions have a USB 3.0 speed of up to 150MB/s reading, 70MB/s writing, and are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 systems.
In 2009, Kingston released the world's first 128GB USB flash drive. At the time, the built-to-order drive cost $550.
