SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive 3.0 32GB OTG for Android Flash Drive Review

TweakTown's Rating: 85%

The Bottom Line

SanDisk's Ultra Dual is one of the quickest drives in our charts, and carries one of the lowest price points we have seen to date in the 32GB OTG capacity.

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With many vendors already in the OTG (USB On-The-Go) market, we knew it was just a matter of time before our first product from SanDisk would arrive. As the need for data on our devices expands, flash drives have quickly become the preferred method of transferring data between devices, including PCs.

The Ultra Dual USB Drive 3.0 from SanDisk is the second revision, as the first unit was a USB 2.0 unit. This new solution comes in capacities ranging from 16GB to 64GB with the model we have being the 32GB solution. Compatibility ranges from Windows Vista to Windows 8, along with OS X 10.6+ support. Smartphone compatibility extends to phones with Android OS with OTG support. Marketing specifications say the Ultra Dual is capable of 130MB/s transfers and is supported by the SanDisk Memory Zone app allowing you to manage your content from your smart device.

MSRP for the 32GB SanDisk Ultra Dual 3.0 is listed at $19.99 with a five-year warranty.

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Packaging for the Ultra Dual 3.0 carries capacity in the top right with performance numbers towards the center. Below that you will find the drive hiding behind a plastic cover.

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The backside of the packaging gives compatibility information for the drive in several languages.

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Looking over the drive, we find a full size USB 3.0 connector on one end. The center of the drive has a metal rind that allows you to attach a lanyard if needed.

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Switching the drive over to the OTG connection, we find no tricks here either with a full size micro USB connection ready to go.

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The SanDisk Ultra Dual is factory formatted with the FAT32 file system. This will limit file size to under 4GB, but does offer 28.9GB of capacity.

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Starting off testing, we connected the Ultra Dual to our Windows test system. Within Windows 8.1, the drive was capable of 143 MB/s read, followed by 38 MB/s write.

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Switching over to our MacBook Pro, the Ultra Dual came in at 135 MB/s read and 40 MB/s write.

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With performance that matched the Lexar M20, the SanDisk Ultra Dual 3.0 took over the top spot with price/performance being nearly seven dollars cheaper.

With so many OTG solutions now flooding the market, it will begin to become increasingly difficult to find one that carries both the reliability and performance you are looking for. With the SanDisk Ultra Dual now in the USB 3.0 flavor, performance is quite good. We reached nearly 143 MB/s read which transfers to your device will be quick, however, the write performance touched just 40 MB/s, so there may be a slight wait while loading your drive up. With that said, build quality seems to be typical of SanDisk, a solid drive with freely moving mechanism making the swap between PC and OTG effortless.

As with most solutions that are OTG capable, the SanDisk Ultra Dual has access to an app (Memory Zone) and it allows you to manage your storage devices, along with transfer files between them. With that overall, the SanDisk solution does currently hold top marks in our charts including price/performance where it just nudged past our previous best, the Lexar M20.

PRICING: You can find the SanDisk Ultra 32GB USB 3.0 OTG Flash Drive With micro USB connector For Android Mobile Devices for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The SanDisk Ultra 32GB USB 3.0 OTG Flash Drive With micro USB connector For Android Mobile Devices retails for $19.98 at Amazon.

Australia: The SanDisk Ultra 32GB USB 3.0 OTG Flash Drive With micro USB connector For Android Mobile Devices retails for $37.00 at PLE Computers.