Introduction:

Flash drives are the standard when it comes to portable storage nowadays. Gone are the days of carrying big bulky media such as CDs/DVDs for quickly transferring data. Instead, flash drives, the size of lighters, can be toted around as easily as a keychain adornment and are much easier to use. While flash drives can't beat portable HDDs in terms of storage capacity, it's very hard to beat the convenience, price and durability offered by flash drives.

OCZ has always been known for their memory products and they already have an extensive line of USB flash drives. Today, we'll be looking at one of their newest, the Rally2 Turbo, which has a claimed read speed of "up to 35 MB/s". Speed can be very important for portable media, especially with flash drives getting into the multi-GB range; people are transferring large files and they want access fast. Let's see if OCZ can deliver on its promise.

Specifications:

The OCZ Rally2 Turbo is fairly standard when it comes to its design. It's available in 4 and 8 GB capacities (the 4 GB version is reviewed here) and comes in a slick black aluminum case. It has a specified read/write speed of 35/30 MB/s, respectively.

• Full Specifications

The 4/8 GB capacities aren't market leading, but are more than enough for most people. Furthermore, flash drive capacities beyond this come with exorbitant costs; with the way flash memory prices are falling, you'd be best advised to wait before going for something with 32 GB+.

Probably the first thing you notice about the Rally2 is how slim and sleek it is. This is probably one of the thinnest and smaller flash drives I've seen. It's barely the width of the USB port itself and so it doesn't occupy much more than that footprint when connected. This has the advantage of the drive not blocking adjacent USB ports when plugged in.

The Rally2 Turbo.

Back.

What's included.

Besides the drive itself, you also get the requisite lanyard cable and a short USB extension cable in case your case's USB ports are out of reach. Upon further inspection it was nice to see that the loop for the lanyard cable was actually on the USB drive itself and not on the cap. This is obviously the right way, since most people probably wouldn't be too happy to have lost the drive but kept the cap.

Compared to a standard AA battery.

Roughly same width.

Lanyard loop on drive itself.

Since it's so thin, it carries very nicely in your pocket. You could attach it to your keychain and it wouldn't add very much bulk, which is good, since I hate carrying around too much "extra weight". It makes things uncomfortable.

Thinner than a AA battery.

Sleek.

Orange LED when connected.

There is unfortunately no write-protect switch on the Rally2 Turbo. I personally have little use for such a feature, though it could be worthwhile for some people, to decrease the likelihood of accidental data loss. When connected, the Rally2 Turbo has an orange LED at the end that lights up and flashes during activity. Again, this isn't necessary but it's a feature that we've come to expect and it's nice to have the feedback that it's actually working. Thankfully, the LED is neither super bright nor distracting.

Testing:

I tested this drive by using it to transfer files around work when a network connection wasn't available. It was obviously much more convenient and fast to use the Rally2 Turbo than to burn a CD-RW or remember the bits by hand. In this respect, it worked flawlessly. Carrying out some benchmarks with HD Tune and SiSoft Sandra yielded the following results:

Average Transfer Rate: 31.2 MB/s.

Sandra: 8847 ops/min.

With an average transfer rate of 31.2 MB/s, the Rally2 Turbo was one of the fastest USB drives I've seen. With these speeds, the Rally2 Turbo comes close to the "ceiling" of around 33 MB/s seen on some USB 2.0 HDD enclosures. Access times and CPU usage were about on par with other flash drives.

During some real-world write tests, the Rally2 fared very well. Copying 127 files totaling 140 MB took just under 10 seconds, for an average write speed of 14 MB/s. Copying a single 729 MB took 28 seconds, for an average write speed of 26 MB/s for the single file write. This was very close to the claimed maximum write speed of 30 MB/s.

Conclusion:

The Rally2 Turbo lived up to the caliber of performance we've come to expect from OCZ. This isn't just a sleek-looking drive; it's a sleek-looking drive with the transfer rates to match. With fast read and write transfer rates and a minimalist look/design, the Rally2 Turbo stands out among a crowd of "flashy" drives that don't deliver on performance. The small size and aluminum case make it a valuable device for any professional.

With the falling prices of flash memory nowadays, there's no reason not to get one of these. With the Rally2 Turbo, you know that you're getting one of the best performers, backed by OCZ's lifetime warranty.

Pros:

• Sleek and small design

• Fast transfer rates

• Doesn't look like a kid's toy

Cons:

• None

Thanks to OCZ Technology for making this review possible.

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