Flash Voyager awfully slow (especially on small files)

[mab5555]

A few days ago, I bought a 1GB Corsair Flash Voyager stick.

 

I decided to go for Corsair because it's a brand name with excellent reputation, which always provided me with excellent PC RAM.

 

Well, so far I'm seriously disappointed, unless there is something I'm missing.

 

First, the transfer rates announced by Corsair (19MB/s) -without mentioning any difference between their models- are true ONLY on 2GB sticks and more, because they use two memory banks. On a 1GB stick, you won't go beyond 9MB/s.

 

Here is what Tom's hardware site says (I found it when i investigated to know why my Flash Voyager was performing so poorly):

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/16/summer_2006_memory_stick_fashion_show/page4.html

 

"...according to Corsair, transfer rates max out at 19 MB/s. However, these high performance numbers only apply for the 2 GB and 4 GB versions [and above likely], because they run two Flash memory banks; smaller drives cannot deliver more than 9 MB/s."

 

There is something wrong with Corsair's ads, I'm afraid.

 

HD Tach confirms this statement and the performance is at 8.9MB/s (on both available tests: 8 or 32 Mb zones)

 

 

Sisoft Sandra gave me the following results on Read tests. As you see, we are at 8MB/s.

 

Drive Index : 8 MB/s
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.
Random Access Time : 3 ms
Results Interpretation : Lower index values are better.

Processor Affinity : No
System Timer : 3.6MHz
Use Overlapped I/O : Yes
IO Queue Depth : 4 request(s)
Block Size : 1MB

Volume Information
Capacity : 968MB

Benchmark Breakdown
Speed at position 0% : 7699kB/s (89%)
Speed at position 3% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 6% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 10% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 13% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 16% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 20% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 23% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 26% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 30% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 33% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 36% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 40% : 8MB/s (97%)
Speed at position 43% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 46% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 50% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 53% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 56% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 60% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 63% : 8MB/s (97%)
Speed at position 66% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 70% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 73% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 76% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 80% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 83% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 86% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 90% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 93% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 96% : 8MB/s (100%)
Speed at position 100% : 8MB/s (100%)
Random Access Time : 3 ms (estimated)
Full Stroke Access Time : 2 ms (estimated)

 

Worse: I tried to copy some files to the stick and got the following results.

 

A 267MB file from my HD to the Flash Voyager: 1mn 55s (approx.) so not really 8MB/s (and not at all the 19MB/s of course) and closer to 2.3MB/s, quite disappointing

 

Then I tried to copy 3.7MB only but with many sub-folders and many very small files (like 1KB). It took more than 29 minutes! Deleting the files from the stick was almost as long.

 

Then I tried to copy several folders like the one above (with sub folders and small files) for a total of roughly 7 MB and the remaining time displayed was 70 minutes. (I stopped the operation.)

 

I just read on these forums that several people are complaining about slowness problems. For example:

http://www.houseofhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=128

 

I'd like to hear an answer from Corsair about the facts above, and if something can be done or if it's just like that. Thanks a lot in advance.

[RAM GUY]

That is about normal for that size of Drive.

 

Taken from the link you provided.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/16/summer_2006_memory_stick_fashion_show/page4.html

Corsair, transfer rates max out at 19 MB/s. However, these high performance numbers only apply for the 2 GB and 4 GB versions, because they run two Flash memory banks; smaller drives cannot deliver more than 9 MB/s

 

And its not uncommon for a lot of small files to take more time than one or two large files.

But to be sure I would suggest formatting the F/V with Fat32 and test with HD Tac to be sure.

[mab5555]

Thank you for replying RAM GUY. You don't have an easy job and I appreciate.

 

Now to pretend the situation is "normal" you are you quoting what I already quoted myself in my post.

 

Anyhow if you (Corsair, nothing personal) consider that the values I found are "normal" and admit that this kind of key is not made the same way as the 2GB and bigger ones, all that without any relevant information provided to the customer and even with wrong information provided, then Corsair is just making false advertising.

 

(Note that the time for 3.7 MB of small files is 15 times the time spent on a single 267MB file, something that certainly needs to be mentioned in Corsair's ads and documents.)

 

I'll reformat the stick and have a new test "just in case" but at the moment I'm seriously afraid that I and my company are done with your brand.

 

Thank you again for your reply.

[RAM GUY]

Thank you and I do appreciate your frustration, but with what you have posted this is not out of line a bit slow perhaps but not unrealistic. However, I have now problem replacing the drive if you want to try that. But the performance of a USB Flash drive can be affected by the system as well and in general there are other things that will contribute to this that have to be considered and from what you have stated I would suspect another brand of the same size and class to perform close to the same under these circumstances. If you want to try replacing the unit, please use the On Line RMA Request Form and we will be happy to replace them or it.