Transcend 256GB Jetflash 790 USB 3.1 Gen 1 Flash Drive TS256GJF790K,Black

I'm glad I pulled the trigger on this little 2TB Bad Boy. It's super-fast and just works. Depending on your use, you may get different results. First, don't pay any attention to the speed specs of any stick or SSD drives. They all base their exaggerated speed claims on best-case scenarios. That being said, I use mine for storage and playing movie files on my Samsung Smart TV as I no longer use disc drives. It plays a full 2-hour to 3-hour movie without getting very hot and without a hiccup. When transferring movie files to it, I regularly got 200 to 300 MB/s write transfer speed (my Samsung T-5 and T-7 SSD drives write at 30 to 35 GB/s). If I transferred 200 to 500 GB at a time, it would get very hot by the time it wrote 150 GB's or so. If I blew air on it while it was writing, it cooled down considerably. And after a hundred GB or so and hot temp, it would slow down to around 80MB/s speed for a while but pick back up in speed, especially if I blew air on it to cool it down. So, I would recommend transferring about 100GB at a time instead of half a TB at a time. But either way will work fine. Don't let the hot temp bother you. It's designed to operate at the extreme temp. My Patriot 500GB and 1-TB sticks gets super-hot as well and they have never failed me. So, this is not abnormal. I also love the USB "C" connection it has on one end. Now I can finally make use of my "C" connection on my laptop and keep the other 2 USB-3 ports open. I use this Transcend stick to play movie files and my Samsung 2TB T-7 as the backup SSD drive for my movie files. But the Samsung SSD movie file transfer speed is only about 35 GB/s while this Transcend stick writes movie files at 200 to 300GB/s. So, I'm definitely going to get another one of these Transcend 2TB sticks. The hot temps and occasional slow-downs are really not a big deal when you consider the small size, convenience and extreme speed of this stick. And the end caps fit on snug. No issue there. If you've been thinking about this little gem, just get it. You'll be glad and impressed.

I'm giving this the 5 stars it hugely deserves for price and capacity. I'm expecting longevity as well, since so far everything I've purchased from Transcend has been problem-free. If it doesn't last, I'll come back and grumpily remove some stars.I'm not using this for incessant daily transfers, but more as an exceedingly handy all-purpose storage bin. And it definitely requires 3.0 after it starts to fill up, or you'll be waiting longer than you are used to these days. I didn't love it laboring away on a 2.0 connection. But 3.0 is fine for my purposes.And I appreciate that it works without fuss with everything from an antique netbook to several laptops of various vintages and powers. When I do want to share something among my widely varied collection of this and that, it is a pleasure to have this wonderful capacity.Don't fool around with the all-important aspects of learning smooth connection and disconnection practices with this. Take care, don't yank and pull but go slow. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble by noticing precisely how this device wants to be connected and disconnected. (In the last 20 years, every USB device I ever bought was a little different than every other one--- and they all still work well. I'm certain it pays to be faintly obsessive about this part.)I keep all my uncapped USB drives in zipped cases to keep the dust out. Capped, uncapped, somewhat capped: it matters.Some years ago I accidentally sent a Transcend 64 GB flash drive through a washing machine cycle. Because it was securely capped it still works as well as before. So I'm just more careful where I take the slide-in varieties like this one.The real question is: how much in the way of educational material, cultural enjoyment, tech-tools and sheer fun would you like to carry around?

I've always been on the lookout for a high capacity flash drive. Something where I could keep a backup of many project and important files. This fits that very well, not perfect, though well.Pros:+Compatible with Transcend's own SSDScope utility right down to the picture on the main screen.+Has both USB and USB-C ends (unlike another, very similar drive where it only has one option).+The value per TB is incredible.+The size of a regular USB drive.+Great for quick transfers.+5 year warranty.Neutral:*Both ends don't lock and can slide. I put all my high end drives in a storage box when I travel anyway. As others have mentioned, they only sit flush with the case one way as the caps aren't symmetrical.*Has a metal case. Whereas the alternatives have plastic, they are also nearly twice the size with the same controller and NAND memory.*Many SSD controllers will round up the SSD used, so it being 99% health after so few writes is expected. It shouldn't drop to 98% for a long time. Transcend doesn't announce the TBW for this drive, though I would expect when it drops to 98% to compare the TBW from 99% and multiple it by 100.Cons:-The SMART attributes do include a power off retract count, which mine came with 6 from the factory as well as 10GB R/W. In many OSes you can eject the drive but be unable to power it down safely. It shouldn't reduce the life of the drive much, though it is irksome.-I wouldn't use this drive, or even other similar SSDs on a stick, as a full SSD. I normally opt to use USB 2.0, if available, as 20MBps is more than enough for my needs.-Windows, at least the one currently being used, shows the SSD as an HDD. As it's not formatted in a way it can be used by Windows, it should be fine, though do be mindful that if formatted NTFS Windows might attempt to do a normal defragment on it.-This and my other drive idle at around 40C. This one is definitely warm and from what I can tell doesn't power down after a while.My intentions for this drive is to run it alongside a 1TB external HDD and 256GB USB SSD while processing a bunch of video files on a Mac mini. As I don't have a hub on the mini, I have this drive on a USB-C to USB-A adapter and so far I have not encountered any issues (apart from the power off retract going up). Once done I think I'll use it as my primary USB drive, though still will back it up fairly often.