Lexar JumpDrive P10 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

Lexar turns up the heat on the USB 3.0 flash drive market with the P10 pen drive. We have it in house for testing.

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Manufacturer: Lexar
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Lexar JumpDrive P10 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review 99

Shortly after CES 2013 concluded, I contacted Lexar in regards to sampling their latest flash drive, the P10. At that time they were still working a few kinks out of the mechanical design, but here today the drive is ready and we have the 64GB in for testing.

The P10 carries on from where the JumpDrive Triton left off. Where the Triton used an Innostor controller paired with SLC NAND flash, the JumpDrive P10 uses MLC NAND and a much faster controller that we will look at shortly. Marketing specifications for the P10 offer us 265MB/s read and 245MB/s write, if this comes to fruition then this could very well be the quickest flash drive we have tested to date.

Compatibility of the P10 follows the Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and Mac OS X standard. Of course being a top-tier product from Lexar, it does have a lifetime warranty.

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At first glance you may think you have seen this drive before. Of course then I would tell you have, because the P10 shares the same design as the Triton we reviewed previously.

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The P10, like the Triton uses a sliding design. This along with its metal shell should keep the drive protected during travel.

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Sliding the USB 3.0 connection out we find the blue coloring that is standard for drive compatible with the latest SuperSpeed USB 3.0 specification.

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Here I have put the Triton we reviewed a few months back (32GB), next to the latest from Lexar; the P10 (64GB).

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Opening up the drive we found the NAND packaged in a 2 x 32GB configuration. Each of the modules are Micron MLC.

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The controller used in the P10 comes from Etron Technology. Labelled EV266LH, we were unable to find any information on it, but it does appear to have more channels than the EV266H, which we found in the Corsair Survivor Stealth.

One of the lesser known features of running Microsoft's new operating system Windows 8 is the native capability of USB Attached SCSI or UASP. Benchmarking flash drives, we utilize ATTO Disk Benchmark followed by Crystal Disk Mark. Our last bench incorporates DiskBench and our custom set of real-world data, and is by far the most important comparison when looking for a flash drive for everyday use.

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The Lexar JumpDrive P10 is factory formatted with the FAT32 file system, insuring compatibility between Windows and Macintosh computers. The usable capacity after formatting is 59.6GB.

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Running the P10 through our ATTO Disk Benchmark, we found the drive to peak at 244MB/s read and 226MB/s write. This falls just short of marketing specifications of 265/245.

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In CDM, we found the P10 reaching 242MB/s in sequential read and 243MB/s in seq write.4K read with a QD of 32 was quite impressive as well.

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Taking a look at the chart above, you will find the Lexar P10 has claimed the performance crown in our DiskBench testing. We were able to transfer our set of photos at 148MB/s, followed by video and ISO at 178MB/s and 215MB/s, respectively.

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To compute the number seen above which I call the performance index, I take the average MB/s from our three DiskBench tests and divide it by the price per GB. All pricing information is taken from Newegg at the time of writing.

In terms of price vs. performance, you will find the JumpDrive P10 at the top of the list here as well, trailing the Supersonic Magnum from Patriot and Extreme from SanDisk.

Lexar has done quite well with the JumpDrive P10, successfully carrying on where the Triton left off. Looking back the only thing we were missing when we reviewed the Triton was performance and the P10 really excels in this area. So then, is this the perfect flash drive?

Aesthetically I thought Lexar could have changed the design, even changing the plastics would help differ this drive from the Triton, but as it sits, I could see where there will be some confusion. I do, however, enjoy the design - the aluminium cradle that holds all the plastics is quite thick and durable, the plastics feel strong and the slide mechanism has very little play, if any at all.

Performance, as we have spoken of many times, is excellent. Honestly, 245MB/s for a flash drive is superb, when only a handful of drives are truly capable of such speeds.

Pricing at this time for the 64GB capacity is set at $159.99 putting this drive in the $2 per GB arena, but as you saw in our chart above, the performance is enough to make this drive a must have in my book.

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Lexar JumpDrive P10 64GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review 100

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Tyler joined the TweakTown team in 2013 and has since reviewed 100s of new techy items. Growing up in a small farm town, tech wasn't around, unless it was in a tractor. At an early age, Tyler's parents brought home their first PC. Tyler was hooked and learned what it meant to format a HDD, spending many nights reinstalling Windows 95. Tyler's love and enthusiast nature always kept his PC nearby. Eager to get deeper into tech, he started reviewing.

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