OCZ Throttle 32Gb eSATA and USB Memory Stick Review

Storage/Other by jmke @ 2010-01-21

The fastest memory stick on the face of the earth? OCZ is definitely gunning for the title with their Throttle eSATA 32Gb unit, we measured read speeds up to 85.9Mb/s, almost three times as fast compared to your standard USB variation. More performance numbers and stress testing inside.

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Looks and Usage

Looks and Usage

The Throttle features and integrated eSATA connector, which is wider than an USB port, so the overall design package is a bit bulkier.

When first looking at the drive you’ll only notice one connection, the mini-USB:

Madshrimps (c)


At the other end you’ll have to remove the cap the expose the eSATA connector:

Madshrimps (c)


The drive is small enough to slip in your pocket, hanging it on your keyring is not possible, we’ve checked with OCZ if we could maybe drill a small hole in the plastic where no PCB is underneath, but that was strongly discouraged:

It is not advised to drill a small hook for a chain. The layout is a little too tight, therefore increasing the risk of damage.


Madshrimps (c)


Performance tests up next ->
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Comment from geoffrey @ 2010/11/05
Messing around with HTPC & XBMC lately, I stumbled upon the task of finding a proper data holder which:
1) boots super fast
2) is fast enough in main XBMC usage

USB keys are large enough to cary XBMC Live, cheap and bootable, but unfortunately "insanely slow" to boot from. But then there is the OCZ Throttle key!

NOTE: the Throttle key needs power from the eSATA/SATA port of your mainboard if using that interface. If your mainboard doesn't offer you that option you can perfectly connect the miniUSB port from the OCZ key to your pc USB port or USB hub, in that way you'll be powering the OCZ Throttle through USB whilest using eSATA for data transport.

XBMC install afterwards went smoothly and 5 minutes later the system went onlince for the first time. Check it out:



System used:
E8600 @ 2GHz
MSI P35 Platinum
NV 8800GT
2GB OCZ DDR2 PC1000
OCZ Throttle 32GB eSATA interface

Top notch performance, hot boot in 20s and smooth XBMC usage just as I required. Sale price for the 8gb unit is 30~40 euro, pretty much beats many mechanical hard drives and blows away all USB keys.

 

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