Kingston HyperX Max USB 3.0 SSD Review

While I certainly have seen numerous fast USB 3.0 storage in various shapes and forms, none have had insane write speeds to go along with those crazy read speeds. Well, Kingston definitely feels my need for speed, and has coupled one of their flagship internal SSDs to a USB 3.0 controller. On paper, the Kingston HyperX Max USB 3.0 SSD is a portable drive that should offer great write as well as great read speeds, but is the reality the same as the theory? Read on to find out.

Great Performance
Good looks
Durable all metal design
Good, powerful controller built in
Very Portable

Price, while decent is still a lot
No power On/Off switch for drive
Does not come with any software

Form Factor & Design
At first glance, you could easily be forgiven for thinking the Kingston HyperX Max 3.0 was an internal 2.5" Solid State Drive, and to be honest you wouldn't be far off the mark. Basically, the HyperX Max 3.0 is a SSDNow V+100 Solid State Drive that has been slightly modified. In what is a very brilliant move Kingston took their new mid-level Solid State Drive, attached a small secondary PCB with USB 3.0 bridge to the SATA data and power port of the V+100's PCB and stuck this conglomeration inside a slightly longer than normal case with only a mini USB 3.0 port sticking out the end!

Kingston USB 3.0 SSD size comparison with other drives

From left, Super Talent SuperCrypt USB 3.0 flash drive, a Seagate 2.5" internal drive, Kingston HyperX Max USB 3.0 SSD and Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Portable.

What makes this a brilliant move is that it not only allows the HyperX Max USB 3.0 SSD 128GB to be a real speed demon, but it also allows it to be pretty reasonably priced. At about $300 it is not exactly cheap, but for a 128GB flash based external storage solution with performance to burn it actually is very reasonable. The other great thing about modifying an internal Solid State Drive is that unlike most flash based external devices, this bad boy has a real high performance controller backed up with 128MB of RAM to help keep the drive from getting "slow" or "stuttering".

Kingston HyperX Max USB 3.0 size compared to a deck of cards

The fact of the matter is, the internal SSDs consumer niche is extremely demanding and even a "mid level" model literally is eons faster than what is typically found in USB 3.0 "flash drives". Heck, if my hunch is correct the HyperX Max USB 3.0 SSD will not only be extremely fast at large sequential file writes but will out and out dominate even a Super Talent SuperCrypt at small file write speeds! Best of all, this bad boy should be able to keep itself in tip top performance via internal self-maintenance routines (what is colloquially referred to as "ITGC" or "Idle Time Garbage Collection"). What this means is if you leave it plugged in and idle from time to time it will stay near as fast after years of use as the day you bought it.

If all that is not impressive enough, what is even more impressive is the fact that this flash drive also has NAND that wont wear out as fast; (and costs a heck of a lot more than what is usually found in USB 3.0 "flash drives") as the NAND used is built to higher standards that can handle the rigorous demands placed on a computers' operating system drive. This level of durability in both its speed and MTBF really does place the HyperX Max USB 3.0 SSD in a league all its own. When you add in a durable all metal case, with sexy blue and silver color scheme to all that performance the end result almost has to be good.