Performance
So we did some bad things to this drive and now, we’re going to test its performance. The question is, will it even turn on? Or better yet, will we even be able to unscrew it from the casing?
Despite being subjected to horribly punishing conditions, and struggling with the tight lid, the Corsair Survivor seemed physically intact. Based on some reasonable numbers, it looks like the drive is also internally well also. Performance highlights include a 2.7ms access time and a 22.7 MB/s max transfer speed. CPU usage was a reasonable (for USB) 12%. This is consistent with the results we got with the Corsair Voyager 32GB drive reviewed earlier, but that isn’t horribly surprising seeing as both drives are the same on the inside.
Final Thoughts
There is no doubt in my mind that the Corsair Survivor 32GB Ultra Rugged USB 2.0 Flash Drive is one tough mother. After enduring things that a regular USB drive would have disintegrated in, it’s safe to say that the Corsair Survivor is really a survivor. This machined chunk of ruggedness is not only sturdy, but the quality of the workmanship is superb. I was surprised to see how perfectly the machining made the two ends line up every time we screwed and unscrewed the barrel. Performance is also fairly decent, but gets faster once you upgrade to the Survivor GT Version if you require speed over storage capacity. While the drive has some noted benefits, it also has some things that I would like to see addressed.
The Corsair Survivor relies heavily on the screw on casing to give it the survival instincts that it has shown us today. If for any reason, the cap were to go missing, this drive would become Clark Kent and no more special than any other environmentally sensitive USB flash drive. Corsair should be thinking about some way to make sure that cap and drive never leaves eachother’s side. Instead of thinking about this, they chucked some useless Corsair branded dog tags into the box and called it a day. It is even cheesier than the lanyard they give us with the Voyagers. As Russel Peters says “Do the right thing” and give us some reassurance that these two pieces never lose eachother.
Despite my grievance regarding the cap (and useless dog tags), the Corsair Survivor really sets the bar for other drives to follow. Despite the dishing that I gave it, the Survivor survived and lived to tell about it. Backed up by a 10 year warranty, and you have all the reassurance you need to trust your valuable data to it. Just NEVER lose the cap.
Pros
- Tough as a hammer!
- Reasonable data transfer performance.
- 10 year warranty.
- Remarkably well made and very high quality.
Cons
- Lose that cap, and this bagel is toast.
- Dog tags? What’s wrong with you guys!
Overall Rating: 9.0 / 10.0
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