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Corsair Flash Voyager


Date
: 02/3/05 – 06:50:49 AM

Author
:

Category
: Storage

Page 1 : Introduction

Manufacturer
: Corsair Memory

Price
: Varies

Corsair is definitely not a small name company. When it comes to memory solution, Corsair is way at the top.
Starting in 1994, Corsair has blossomed to one of the industry leaders in designing and manufacturing high-speed modules for not only your desktop but for your servers and laptops. Since their beginning, they have slowly started expanding their product line, many of you may have heard of the Corsair Hydrocool.
Just prior to the new year, Corsair released their line of Flash Memory. One of the more notable ones, and also an instant hit, was the Flash Voyager.

Today, I'll be putting a 512MB model through the gauntlet. Water resistant eh? Only time will really tell how resistant this rubber casing will be.

Page 2 : Packaging

The Corsair Flash Voyager arrived via Fedex. There was no fancy packaging, just a simple, sleek looking plastic casing with the unit and key information easily visible to the buyer.

Clearly visible is the Flash Voyager, the rated size and some key selling points: 10Yr warranty, water resistance and multiple platform support.

The flip side gives a little blurb about Corsair and some relevant contact information. You can also see an included USB extension cable and Lanyard inside a separate pocket. Hidden from sight is the CD carrying Win98 drivers, software and a manual.

Opening up the package is pretty simple. I grabbed my Swiss Army Knife and cut the edge open. There are other alternatives and what you use is your preference.

The key shots of the product lie in the next few shots.

As you can immediately see, the rubber covering of the Flash Voyager is a dust magnet. It picks up bits of dust/lint/dirt/eraser bits etc. A good wiping with a damp cloth seemed to remedy this problem.

Looking at the unit, there are a number of advertising features – product name, company name and company website are all printed on the casing. Your friends won't have to ask you where you got that memory stick, they can read it for themselves.

Two not so noticeable features are a serial number imprinted on the USB head and the drive capacity printed on the LED.

Page 3 : Specifications

Here are the specs from Corsair Memory:

While some retailers offer a "Lifetime Limited Warranty", Corsair has opted for the complete "Ten Year Warranty". Whether you think this is an advantage or disadvantage will be based on your personal preference. On a side note, I think 10 years is more than enough. In the next ten years, technology will mostly likely change so rapidly that 2GB drives will be considered obsolete. But that's just my 2 cents.

The prices range depending on size. You can find them anywhere from 21USD (128MB stick) to 173USD (2GB stick) at NewEgg.

The unit measures 74mm long, 24mm at the widest part and about 13mm deep.

The Flash Voyager is a tiny bit larger than other USB drives I've worked with. Part of this is because of the thick rubber coating. The actual depth may pose a problem if you plan on using it against adjacent USB ports. If it does block another port, just pull out the USB extension cord and it'll solve that problem.

Page 4 : Installation

Installing the Corsair Flash Voyager is a breeze. With modern computers having anywhere from 2 to 8 USB ports, all you need to do if find a free one. If you want easy access to your USB drive, you can use the USB extension cable. My preference is to have 1 USB extension cable lying on my desk, and when I need to use a USB drive I just plug it into the extension. I eliminate having to go to the back of my case and I don't have a clutter of wires coming out from the front.

Always gently push in the USB drive; they only go in 1 way!

Once you plug the USB drive in, Windows will detect it, load the drivers and it will appear as a local drive listed as "Corsair".

If your operating system has detected the USB drive, then you're all done and ready to read and write on it!

I test the Flash Voyager on several Windows platforms, and it worked perfectly fine on WinXP and Win2K machines without asking for any drivers. However, on an old Win98 I found at the University of Toronto's laboratory (it seems my tuition goes a long way for new computers :)), I was prompted for the drivers.

Corsair has one of the easiest Lanyard attachments that I've ever seen. Pretty much you clip and go, it's much simpler than some of the competitors around where you need to loop a tiny string through an even smaller hole to connect the Lanyard. However, the real question is whether or not it'll be able to support any real load. Find out in a few pages!

Page 5 : Features

The Corsair Flash Voyager is similar to some of the other USB drives that I've worked with. Located on the CD is some software provided by Corsair that will allow you to set up security passwords as well as formatting and partitioning the drive.

Once you install the software, the Corsair icon appears in your taskbar.

Upon double clicking the taskbar icon, a window pops up giving you 8 different options.

If you click on the options button you can choose to remove the taskbar icon or prompt for the password once the device is plugged in.

If you decide to partition the device, a new window opens and it lets you decide how to split the drive up. You're allowed only allowed to have 2 disks, one being standard and the other being secured. The maximum security disk is 488MB with an 8MB standard partition.
I set it for that option and formatting took only a few seconds! Afterwards, it'll prompt you to replug the device.

Once you go back to the Corsair utility software, you are now allowed to set a password for your security drive.

I set a password and all the options are now available in the program. If you plan on using the USB drive in its secure mode, you need to install the Corsair Utility Software on every machine. My suggestion is to copy the software onto the 8MB partition so you always have access to it.

"Check Password" allows you to see if the password is correct. If it's wrong, it gives you a little error. "Clear Password" does exactly that, you enter your current password and Corsair removes the password.

Unfortunately, there is no master reset option for end users. If you forget your password and the hint doesn't help, the only option left is to return the drive back to Corsair so they can reset the configuration!

Page 6 : Testing

To test out the performance of the Corsair Flash Voyager, I will be using three pieces of software: Sisoft SANDRA 2005, HD Tach 3.0 and HD Tune 2.1.

The tests were conducted on my desktop machine. The environment I tested it in resembles a typical workstation. I decided not to format my system and make it completely clean. In the real world application, you won't be formatting and defragging your system every time you want to copy a 10MB file over.

Flash Memory:

Sisoft Sandra File System Benchmark

Sisoft Sandra Removable Storage Benchmark

HD Tach

Some very consistent results regardless of using the 8MB or 32Mb process. The only difference is a small CPU usage increase, from 5% to 8%.

HD Tune

The results pretty much speak for themselves. The Corsair Flash Voyager simply rocked against the competitors! It's essentially twice as fast in both reading and writing compared to the SanDisk and VisonTek models. There's also a significant increase in the number of operations per second.

The last test will be me tossing a truck load of files to the Corsair Flash Voyager via Windows Explorer.

I made 3 transfers of 100 MBs of MP3S totaling 500MB until the drive said it was full. The average time (clocked by Windows date and time program) was
44 seconds
with range of 1 to 2 seconds.

The next transfer I made, under the same process, was 2 larger files. My downloads of 3D Mark 2003 and 2005. The combined size is 461MB. The average time was only
37 seconds!

The results were pretty close to the theoretical maximum, there's really too much error in this process for it to be accurate. However, it gives you an idea of what type of real-world performance you'll have.

That concludes all the basic testing. The next thing to do is subject it to some torture loads!

Page 7 : Physical Assault

Corsair essentially says this thing is robust. To see how well it really is, I've decided to put it under some extreme conditions you normally shouldn't do! If you do purposely try and destroy your Flash Voyager, neither O² or Corsair can be held responsible for your actions.

Test #1:
You just have to love Canadian weather. It's -33degrees Celsius, with the wind and I just got home from school after dunking the Corsair Flash Voyager in the snow.
Operation Result: No problems. Clearly within the operating specs of the Flash Voyager.

Test #2:
I'll now proceed with a wet test. I put the cap of the Flash Voyager back on and dropped it into a cup of luke warm water. I swirled it around in the cup and then pulled it out a few minutes later.

I left the Corsair Flash Voyager to dry on my desk with a lamp overtop.

Result: No problems either. So far it looks like Corsair is 2 for 2.

Test #3:
The last test I'll do is to stretch the rubber. With the cap off it's pretty easy to peel back the covering and see the electronics. This means it is possible for water to seep in. As we saw in Test #2 it wasn't an issue as the Corsaid Flash Voyager still worked.
I was tempted to use a Tensile Tester in my Mechanics of Solids lab to stretch the rubber loop. But on a second thought, I realized how unwise this would be. A tensile test would keep applying a load until the specimen breaks, or until it reaches 10KN. For those who don't know what 10KN is, think of a 1000Kg block, and hang that wait off the rubber loop. A hell of a lot of force. Instead, I'll simply stretch the piece myself and see how much elasticity it has.

Result: No material failing or permanent deformation.

Any further deformation requires a fair amount of force what would not generally be applied. In short, you could probably yank the Flash Voyager from the Lanyard off the USB connector if you didn't care about damaging the components.

Page 8 : Conclusion

It appears another review has come to an end. Overall this new toy has proven to be a great success. It ranges 128MB up to 2GB. Essentially ensuring that your capacity needs will be met. The prices range depending on your vendor but are rather reasonable for the product you'll be buying – 21USD for 12MB and 172USD for 2GB. I think it's almost essential for any worker in the industry or student in school to pick up one of these and make good use of it. The days of floppies are gone. With the Corsair Flash Voyager, you can make the drive bootable and carry along all your key software. Give a few more years and we may have complete operating systems on these drives.
The performance hasn't been matched by any other competitor and the stakes have once again been raised. For that, the innovative Corsair Flash Voyager has earned itself the
Overclockers Online POWER Award

Advantages

- Superior performance
- Water resistant
- Durable rubber coating

Disadvantages

- Gets dirty easily

Overclockers Online would like to thank Corsair Memory for this evaluation sample.