I am currently using a Lacie Iamakey 8gb and absolutely love it except for the write speeds. I asked Lacie if any of their drives were dual channel and the only one was the Xtremekey which is waaaaay too big. What is the thinnest, fastest, and currently available drive? I found some while doing a simple google search but most dual channel drives seem to be massive when what I am looking for is something like the iamakey, thin and fits on a key ring. Any help would be appreciated.
So there are no thin dual channel flash drives? That sucks. Here is to hoping USB 3.0 becomes as ubiquitous.
this is the general rule.
I am not sure what exactly you mean by dual channel. But the idea that some small stick with usb3 interface would be much faster then a normal usb2 stick is misleading.
The problem is not with the interface, it is to big extend with the the chipset used. The memory chips can not be the fastest and big problem is the controller itself which does not only the communication over the usb port, but also the management of the storage work and wear leveling etc.
If this controller would be fast, it would produce lot of heat, the stick will need to be big to be able to dissipate the heat.
This is also why there is no big reason for flash sticks to have usb3 port, they will seldom be able to use even half the speed of usb2.
Smaller sticks can use only slow controllers and flash chips which do not produce so much heat.
It is like asking for small netbook computer to have the same speed as some high power server.
So you are kind of asking for impossible.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
Small isn't always bad. PNY now makes some REALLY good USB flash drives that are only about 2cm when plugged in.
This one's good:
http://www.amazon.com/NEW-v165w-Flash-Drive-P-FD8GBHP165-EF/dp/B007Y6IYT...
However, I prefer the PortableApps.com companion.