At first we would like to thank Lexar for sending out a sample of their latest Jumpdrive S45 USB 3.0 Flash Drive for testing and reviewing.

 

 

 

About Lexar:

 

“Lexar. A world leader in reliable, award-winning memory solutions.

 

Whether shooting photos, capturing video, watching movies on a tablet, or simply transferring and sharing files on the go, Lexar® memory solutions provide the performance and reliability needed to get the most from your digital device.

 

As our award-winning lineup and 15 years in the memory business will attest, we know memory. Our strong retail, e-tail, and OEM presence make Lexar a global player in every major customer channel, including value-added resellers, system builders, and e-commerce. And we’ve built a name synonymous with quality, innovation, and customer service.

 

With a comprehensive portfolio of high-performance, award-winning products in every major memory category, including memory cards, card readers, and USB flash drives, Lexar products are backed by outstanding customer support, industry-leading warranties, and an ever-expanding selection of products that are designed to meet the growing needs of our customers. What’s more, all Lexar product designs undergo extensive testing in the Lexar Quality Labs, facilities with more than 800 digital devices, to ensure performance, quality, compatibility, and reliability.

 

Lexar is a leading global brand of Micron Consumer Products Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Micron Technology, Inc. Micron is one of the largest memory manufacturers in the world, and our relationship allows us to leverage more than 30 years of experience and expertise to offer industry-leading technology.

 

Lexar. When Memory Matters.™”

 

Small size. Big performance

 

Easily expand the storage capabilities of your devices with the low-profile, plug-and-stay Lexar® JumpDrive® S45 USB 3.0 flash drive. Quickly and securely store and transfer photos, videos, and files at USB 3.0 speeds—up to 150MB/s read and 45MB/s write.* The drive includes advanced security software for peace of mind, and it’s available in a range of colorful capacity options (16GB-128GB) to reflect your style.

 

Plug-and stay storage for your favorite devices

 

Easily expand the storage capabilities of your laptop, TV, or car stereo system with JumpDrive S45. Its compact, low-profile design means you can plug it in and forget it—it’s always at the ready for storing and accessing files.

 

Store and transfer content at USB 3.0 speeds

 

Who wants to spend extra time waiting for files to transfer? JumpDrive S45 provides speeds up to 150MB/s read and 45MB/s write.* Quickly transfer a 3GB HD video clip in less than 90 seconds, compared to more than 4 minutes using a standard USB 2.0 drive.** And for added versatility, the drive is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices.

 

Securely protect your files

 

JumpDrive S45 includes EncryptStick™ Lite software, an advanced security solution with 256-bit AES encryption to help protect your essential files against corruption, loss, and deletion. Easily create a password-protected vault that automatically encrypts data. And for peace of mind, files that are deleted from the vault are securely erased and can’t be recovered.

 

Showcase your style with colorful capacity options

 

Available in a range of colorful capacities—16GB in orange, 32GB in blue, 64GB in teal, and 128GB in black—it’s easy to pick one that reflects your style and personality.

 

When memory matters, the choice is Lexar

 

With a long history in the industry, we know memory. We move quickly with technology to design the solutions you need, and work with device manufacturers to make sure our products are compatible. Then we stand behind them with outstanding warranties and helpful customer service. We’re dedicated to performance, reliability, and expert support, so when it comes to storing the memories that matter, trust Lexar.

In this article we will concentrate upon another USB Flash Drive from Lexar, the JumpDrive S45 which operates on the USB 3.0 bus and features a very compact housing. The product is available in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, each sporting a different chassis color for an easier identification. The product is shipped inside a cardboard/plastic slim enclosure, which allows us to see how the drive really looks like, instead of having a photo shown in front. The packaging also features an indicator of read performances, along with some of the drives’ main features:

 

 

 

The back side of the packaging does come with some words regarding the product warranty, written in different languages:

 

 

After removing the JumpDrive S45 from its original packaging, we will see how small it really is; with this design, Lexar has opted for a “plug it and forget it” usage type (we can travel or move our laptop/convertible without the need of unplugging the drive from the USB 3.0 port, unless we need it for other purposes). The USB 3.0 connector is also protected by a transparent plastic cover:

 

 

The protective cover holds onto the connector with a certain amount of force, which is good because this way we won’t lose it during travel:

 

 

While the frontal area of the drive had the Lexar logo printed, along with the total storage capacity, its back do does not feature any additional inscriptions:

 

 

The teal outer layer is complemented by a white inner layer, which helps distribute the activity LED light inside even better:

 

 

In the frontal area of the USB connector we will be able to see two layers of differently-colored plastic (black and blue):

 

 

For keeping the product even more portable, Lexar has provided a small lanyard hole on the transparent top cover:

 

 

After plugging the JumpDrive S45 in a spare USB port, we will get to see the activity LED light blinking in a blue color:

 

 

The testbench was composed from the following hardware:

 

CPU: Intel I5 4690K Retail @ stock

Motherboard: BIOSTAR GAMING Z97X

RAM: GeIL Black Dragon 4x4GB DDR2133 (@1600)

Video: Sparkle GTX 470 with stock and OMNI A.L.C.

Power Supply: Nexus RX-8500 850W modular

HDD: OCZ Vertex 4 240GB SSD

Case: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS, stock cooling

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 x64

The Lexar JumpDrive S45 USB 3.0 Flash Drive has arrived formatted FAT32:

 

 

To determine the flash drive read speeds, the HD Tune v5 utility was used; the read speeds are quite good with this particular model, while the writes are decent (when transferring data from mobile devices) as well for the 16GB variant:

 

 

HD Tune File Benchmark

 

 

Summary Graph (Read Performance)

 

To measure the real life performance, we have used the Total Commander application to copy to the flash drive and from the flash drive the same file and recorded the transfer speeds, after they have stabilized.

 

File Copy

File Read

Summary Graph (Real-life performance)

 

 

We have also performed some extra tests with this drive and the results can be checked out right here:

ATTO

 

Anvil

The JumpDrive S45 USB Flash Drive does also come with the EncryptStick Lite utility preloaded on it; this software we have also checked out on the P20 and M10 models and sports the same functionality. This software is able to encrypt anything we copy inside its “vault”, but if we do purchase the full version, we will also benefit of a Password Manager along with a Privacy Web Browser:

 

 

 

In order to set the encryption, we will have to first define a password; the password hint is optional:

 

 

 

The main application interface will show up afterwards, with the “vault” section on the top area; after we have transferred all which is needed, we simply have to press on the Lock button:

 

 

 

 

By pressing this button, we will practically lock the “vault” and the defined password will be asked in order to unlock its contents:

 

 

 

The “vault” does have its own folder created on the drive, with files and folders but these are encrypted:

 

 

 

 

While still in the application, here are some actions we can perform on the “vault”:

 

 

 

With a wide selection of capacities and a diminutive size, the JumpDrive S45 is recommended for the frequent traveler in order to supply additional storage to his/her laptop/convertible or simply moving data around to other devices with ease. The additional security layer is appreciated and allows the user to unlock the files from the vault by simply specifying the necessary password. The utility also checks from time to time if it is updated to the latest revision and no annoying banners are involved, even if we are talking about the “Lite” version.

 

The product is able to perform decent in the “writes” department, while the “reads” are quite good, hovering around 140MB/s.

 

The JumpDrive S45 64GB model, as reviewed can be found online for about 17.5 Euros, the 32GB version for about 10.84 Euros, while the 16GB one can be had for about 7.19 Euros. If we need more storage space, we can always go for the 128GB one, which can be purchased for about 29.84 Euros.

Lexar JumpDrive S45 USB 3.0 Flash Drive is Recommended for:

 

 

We would like to thank again to Lexar for making this review possible!