ADATA Superior Series C905 USB Flash Drive Review

Other by stefan @ 2010-08-10

The Superior Series C905 USB Flash drive from ADATA has an eye catching look, is provided with some optional useful software and can deliver good read/write performance compared with the other devices tested in the past.

Introduction

Introduction

The Superior Series C905 USB Flash drive from ADATA has an eye catching look, is provided with some optional useful software and can deliver good read/write performance compared with the other devices tested in the past.

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At first I would like to thank ADATA for making this review possible of their C905 USB Flash Drive.

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About ADATA:

The Leading Memory Brand with the Most Award-Winning Product Designs

Founded in May, 2001 by Chairman and CEO Mr. Simon Chen, ADATA Technology Co., Ltd. is committed to providing the ultimate memory solutions that enrich customers’ digital life with strong belief in integrity and professionalism. With DRAM modules as its initial product focus, ADATA soon recognized the market’s trend and diversified its product portfolio to include Flash application and data storage solutions. Backed by its technical expertise, state-of-the art manufacturing facilities, and premium customer services, ADATA offers complete memory solutions including DRAM Module, USB Flash Drive, Memory Card, Solid State Drive and Portable Hard Drive; and has quickly risen to become the world’s leading provider of memory modules and Flash application products with a 2nd largest share in DRAM modules and 3rd in Flash Application products (iSupply, May 2010).

ADATA understands that professionalism and innovation drive a company’s competitiveness as well as the value of its products and services in the market. ADATA’s strict execution requires performing at the highest standards as it relates to ID design, purchasing and supply chain management (raw materials), manufacturing processes and quality control and testing. Through constant innovation and development of products that exceed customer expectations, ADATA has won many of the most recognized international awards including the National Silver Award of Excellence in Taiwan, Japan’s G-MARK (Good Design Award), CES Innovations Award in the US and iF Design award and reddot design award in Germany.

A Young Enterprise with Remarkable Growth

Although ADATA started with twenty employees only in 2001, the founder, Mr. Simon Chen and the senior management team have extensive memory-related industry experience in manufacturing and global sales, as well as the passion and energy to instill extraordinary corporate values as the foundation of the company. These values consist of integrity, fairness, honesty, perseverance, ingenuity, harmony, love and innovation. All these factors help contribute to remarkable and consistent year-on-year revenue and profit growth, allowing ADATA to achieve 1 billion sales turnover within the first ten year.

When ADATA first started in 2001, there were only 20 employees. But ADATA was a small company with big dreams. Committed to become a world leading provider in DRAM memory and Flash application products, ADATA soon distinguished itself from the competition by its profession, industry know-how, and eye-catching product design.

Perfection through Non-stop Improvement

Despite its impressive achievement, ADATA is determined to outperform itself. In 2010, ADATA began the process of rebuilding brand, and adopted the hummingbird as its corporate icon and an auxiliary symbol of ADATA’s corporate culture, in order to effectively enhance its competitiveness in the international marketplace as well as to prepare the company for the next decade.
The new logo conveys a more modern design that represents consistency, while retaining the foundation of ADATA’s technical background with the traditional corporate color in blue.

The hummingbird incorporates key design elements that reflect our culture, vision for the future and our commitment to become a global brand. The Hummingbird’s agility suggests that ADATA is highly responsive to market and consumer demands; its swiftness demonstrates leading innovation and productivity in the industry; its exploring nature signifies our determination to pursue all possibilities; and the color and modern design reflects the exciting and dynamic characteristics of ADATA’s brand.

Strong Commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility

Realizing its social responsibility, ADATA takes extra care in the selection of key memory components, complies with stringent manufacturing specifications and quality inspection processes, and has passed the ISO14001 certification on environmental management, as well as the EU Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, thus providing stable, compatible and high-performance memory products. This allows ADATA to fulfill its corporate social responsibility (CSR) at a time the company is pursuing rapid growth, putting emphasis on both protecting our earth and sustaining a green enterprise.”

Features, Specifications

Features:

‧Unique arc-shaped and grooved contour
‧Aluminum body with metallic texture
‧Snap-on cap design on rear end of device
‧Compatible with Windows 7 OS
‧Free download value-added applications: OStoGO, UFDtoGO, Norton Internet Security 2010 (60-day trial)

Specifications:

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Packaging

Packaging:

The little USB flash drive from ADATA comes in blister packaging; on the frontal part, we can see the ADATA large logo, the full name of the drive (here we can find out that it takes part from the “Superior” series), its capacity, the “Compatible with Windows 7” logo, along with other two small icons that inform us about the lifetime warranty of the product and the free download value-added applications:

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On the back, we get to see some product specifications in multiple languages, the system requirements and the product serial number:

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Inside, we can also find some information regarding the warranty (the manufacturer explains us when the warranty can be void), some words regarding the online customer service, but also from where we can download the value-added software:

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The C905 flash drive body has a nice black/metallic grey combination, with the ADATA logo drawn along with the model number:

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In the back of the flash drives’ body, we can attach a lanyard in the provided hole or we can put the frontal cap when the drive is in use, so we won’t lose it:

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The flash drive cap does have a black color and maintains the same design as the rest of the body:

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On the flash drive USB connector, we can see a serial number and the capacity of the device, written with the help of a laser:

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The tests & Additional Info

The Tests

The testbench is composed from the ASUS X55SV laptop, the one that I have used for all the Flash Drive tests I have done before and the operating system was Windows 7 x64.

The drive comes completely empty, formatted FAT32:

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To determine the flash drive read speeds, I have used the HD Tune 2.55 utility, which is freeware:

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Summary Graph (Read Performance)


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To measure the real life performance, I 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, when they have stabilized.

File Copy


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File Read


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Summary Graph(Real-life performance)


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One of the optional applications you can download is OStoGo, which helps us transfer the Windows 7 kit from the original DVD to the flash drive and install it from there:

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Another application that ADATA offers us to download is NIS 2010 OEM, the 60-day trial version:

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UFDtoGo is another application that can be downloaded and has the following features:

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The application can be started only if the USB Flash Drive is inserted; after the app is initialized, we can see its interface, with the menu on the left part:

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One interesting feature that I have found when checking out this software is that you can use your Flash Drive to lock the computer you are working with, when you are away:

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Another interesting feature is that we can password protect the data present on the flash drive:

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If the device is lost, we can enter out personal information so the person that finds it would know where to look:

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Conclusive Thoughts

Conclusive Thoughts

The C905 USB Flash Drive from ADATA has an interesting arc-shaped and grooved contour design and its aluminum body is coated with vivid colors to catch people's attention. The device does have in the back a hole for attaching a lanyard which is not included and for not losing the cap by mistake after using the product, we can put it in the rear end of the device.

The extra optional utilities are completely free and really offer some interesting options while using the flash drive. Registration is not required to download them, we only have to browse to the indicated web link in the manual.

Regarding the drives' performance, we have a product with a good overall read/write performance, not being able to outperform the drives with top performance like the Patriot Xporter Magnum 64GB or the APOGEE AstroDrive 16GB.

Priced between $8 and $40 depending on storage size, makes for an interesting deal.

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I would like to thank ADATA for making this review possible.
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