PNY 512GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Seems to Only Work at USB 2.0

[Rubycon]

I have one of these:

https://www.pny.com/pro-elite-usb3?sku=P-FD512PRO-GE

I've tried it on my Dell XPS 9550 and Macbook Pro late 2016 model using a thunderbolt hub that's USB 3/3.1 cable. Results are the same. Max R/W performance is < 40MB/S. About 10% of what the drive is capable of!

On both machines my Samsung T3 2TB portable SSD achieves max speeds in excess of 400MB/S both ways so I know the ports are working as designed.

It's definitely an authentic drive and came right from the manufacturer in retail (card) packaging.

Could it just be defective? I only have this one on hand to test.

 

[UsandThem]

Here's a similar post to look at, as some of the lower cost flash drives simply don't that great of a controller, and come nowhere near the claimed "up to" speeds.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/usb-3-0-3-1-flash-drive-write-speeds.2497087/

If it's not showing errors/corruption, that is probably your issue. Although their are steps in the post I linked to where you can verify your system is configured correctly (,but it sounds like that isn't your issue).

 

[mxnerd]

Could be defective.

Amazon buyers have great reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B01E17LOL6

 

[Rubycon]

It's a $180 flash drive so it does reach those speeds.
HOWEVER I have been told to try pushing it to see if it throttles or shuts down because its controller has thermal issues apparently and this is reflected in several user reviews.

I have several 256GB drives that are much cheaper and these will reach about 200MB/S reads and 100MB/S writes.

 

[UsandThem]

It's a $180 flash drive so it does reach those speeds.
HOWEVER I have been told to try pushing it to see if it throttles or shuts down because its controller has thermal issues apparently and this is reflected in several user reviews.

I have several 256GB drives that are much cheaper and these will reach about 200MB/S reads and 100MB/S writes.

Then you can eliminate the possible issue being on your end by testing it in the port and not the hub, doing the Microsoft checklist I linked to earlier, or replace it with another unit to see if the first one is simply defective.

 

[Rubycon]

I glanced through that checklist and it seems very basic and first things to check when faced with this issue. Both systems are completely up to date and have no issues with any other USB 3/3.1 devices whatsoever.

As far as replacement, that's not possible as I was handed this to test and the person that did so probably had the same problem! So back on their desk it goes. If they want to procure another/more I'd be glad to give it a whirl. My T3 works great but having similar speeds in a truly pocketable solution would be nice.

 

[UsandThem]

I've always personally found PNY products to be hit or miss on quality control. They are from my first choice when it comes to USB flash drives.

 

[Rubycon]

Ok so this this story has a conclusion and it's not a good one.
I did get another drive and it worked at USB 3.0 speeds. Reads close to 400, writes around 315. (MB/S)
However, when copying lots of data that rate tanked and often would sit at ZERO for 10 seconds, sometimes more. The drive housing (metal) became quite warm.
I suspect this behavior is due to some kind of throttling. At the end of the day, its performance is no better than your typical run of the mill USB 3.0 flash drives that cost $50 for 256GB.

That's too bad because I was looking forward to SSD like performance in something truly pocket-able and non intrusive. I guess we're just not there - yet.

For now the Samsung T3 will do. I have a few including the 2TB one and they are solid performers and just work.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I had a PNY Attache (2?) USB2.0 drive, I think that it might have been 32GB in size. Anyways, I was using it for backup, so I was bulk-copying lots of files to it, and after like 2-3GB worth of files, it would just "drop out" and disappear from the PC. I had to unplug and plug it in again to get it to re-detect. I'm guessing that it was overheating. Too bad. Flash drives are so unreliable. At least some of them are.

Had been using Adata UV128 Yellow and Blue flash drives, mostly 16GB, some 8GB some 32GB sizes, and they've always been reliable for me.

Got in a new batch months ago, and only recently opened a few of them (three of them, to be exact). NONE of them will properly detect in Win10, on different PCs, all running up-to-date Win10 1607 64-bit. But when I installed Win7 Pro 64-bit, for my triple-boot rig, they all WORKED in Win7. Go figure.

Yet, my older batched of the same model drives, that have data on them, are detected fine in the Win10 machines as well.

Some Newegg reviews complained about firmware issues. I'm not really sure what to believe, whether the problem is Win10, the flash drives, or what. Maybe there was a production change, and they switched controller chips on them, and now they're not compatible with Win10? I don't really know, but until such time as Microsoft or Adata provide a fix, I'm going to have to search out an alternative supplier for flash drives. (Been using some Emtec USB2.0 drives for now.)