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The 32GB Samsung MUF-32BA ($15.99) is a simple USB 3.0 flash drive that sports a stylish design and an attractively low price. It’s sleek and compact, and can easily be slipped on a keychain or a lanyard. Unfortunately, it didn’t hold up well in our tests against other, similarly priced drives, and the design, while unique, makes the MUF-32BA slippery and sometimes difficult to pull out of ports on a computer.
Design and Features
The MUF-32BA sports a cool, sleek-looking design, encased in a silver-colored metal chassis. It measures 0.43 by 1.57 by 0.48 inches (HWD) and weighs a scant 0.3 ounce. This is quite small compared with other flash drives, such as the Editors’ Choice 64GB SanDisk Extreme 3.0 , which is 2.75 inches long and weighs 0.5 ounces, but it’s not as miniscule as the coin-sized 64GB Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3.0 ($14.85 at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) . On one end of the MUF-32BA is a USB 3.0 plug, and on the other, built into the body of the drive, is a hole where you can attach the MUF-32BA to a lanyard or keychain. There is no cover for the USB port, or sliding mechanism to hide the port when not in use.
Although the drive is water-, dust-, and shock-proof, it isn’t MIL-SPEC-certified. The chassis is a little slippery to the touch, making it difficult to get a solid grip on the device. Pulling it out of a tight USB port during testing took a little extra elbow grease. In contrast, most USB flash drives have a more ruggedized exterior, like the SanDisk Extreme 3.0, or are made of plastic that’s easier to get a grip.
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On the top of the MUF-32BA is the Samsung logo; on the opposite side is the memory capacity. The drive is formatted to FAT32, so it should work on Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, and Linux. There are no security features or software included. Other flash drives, like the 32GB LaCie XtremKey USB 3.0 , come with extra security features, but those tend to be more expensive than blank drives like the MUF-32BA.
Price and Performance
The MUF-32BA costs $15.99 for 32GB, which works out to $0.50 per gigabyte. It is also sold in 16GB and 64GB capacities, which cost $12.99 and $27.99, respectively. Other drives in the MUF-32BA’s price range have a higher cost-to-capacity ratio, like the 32GB Lexar JumpDrive M20 Mobile USB 3.0 ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , which costs $1.15 per gigabyte, and the 16GB ADATA DashDrive Elite UE700 ( at Amazon)(Opens in a new window) , which costs $1.68 per gigabyte.
In testing, the MUF-32BA offered middling performance, even for for a budget flash drive. Over a USB 3.0 connection, the MUF-32BA displayed a read speed of 36 megabytes per second (MBps) and a write speed of 15MBps. This is notably slower than the Lexar M20 Mobile (92MBps read; 36MBps write) and the DashDrive Elite UE1700 (92MBps read; 36MBps write), and about even with the Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3.0 (38MBps read; 12MBps write). It also beats out a few other budget drives that have smaller form factors, like the Leef Bridge 3.0 (16GB) ($29.99 at ThinkGeek)(Opens in a new window) (35MBps read; 8MBps write).
Performance over the slower USB 2.0 connection is equally middle of the road. The MUF-32BA registered a read speed of 36MBps and a write speed of 8MBps. It’s better than the Lexar M20 Mobile in terms of read speed (32MBps), though slower in write speed (11MBps). It’s pretty much even with the Kingston Micro Duo 3.0 in both read and write speeds, at 31MBps and 7MBps, respectively.
Conclusion
The Samsung MUF-32BA USB 3.0 Flash Drive sacrifices a little ease-of-use for style points, which is most evident when you’re trying to pull it out of a tight USB port. It’s a sleek, aesthetically pleasing device, with an attractively low price. Performance is merely adequate, however, and it lacks the extra micro USB connection of the Editors’ Choice Kingston DataTraveler microDuo 3.0. If you have light file-transfer needs and are on a tight budget, however, the MUF-32BA can do the trick.
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The Samsung MUF-32BA is a stylish USB 3.0 flash drive at a good price, but its performance is middling, and its metallic chassis can be slippery to handle.
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Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/samsung-muf-32ba-usb-30-flash-drive
