Best USB-C Flash Drives with USB-A Now Reach SSD Speeds
September 2024 Ian Chiu
We tested six dual flash drives from Lexar, PNY, Sandisk, SSK, TeamGroup, and Transcend. These drives serve as a bridge between USB-C and legacy USB-A ports. With both connectors available, there’s no need for multiple drives or adapters, making it easier to transfer files across devices of different platforms.
Contents
Our Picks
The Transcend ESD310 stands out as the best dual-headed flash drive we’ve tested on the market. Its speed is unmatched, breezing through our benchmarks effortlessly. Overall, the performance is impressive, as the ESD310 is essentially a mid-range SSD in the form of a thumb drive. Additionally, it offers a generous five-year warranty and comes in three color options: black, silver, and pink.
In our March 2025 update, we removed the Silicon Power DS72 from our list due to availability issues. Although we previously recommended it for its durability and performance, it has, however, become increasingly difficult to find online. In its place, we’ve added TeamGroup X1 Max.
What are Dual Flash Drives?
Dual flash drives – having USB Type-A and USB-C connectors on opposite ends – are becoming more relevant as more computers and smartphones ship with the reversible USB port exclusively. They make sure you have readily access to your data on your future-proof USB-C devices as well as giving you backward compatibility on PCs with good old USB Type-A. For this reason, it will never hurt to have at least one of these dual-headed flash drives in case you need a quick and easy file transfer solution.
Feature Comparison
 Lexar JumpDrive D400 $24.88 for 256GB |  PNY Duo Link $25.99 for 256GB |  Sandisk Ultra Dual Luxe $22.74 for 256GB |  SSK Dual USB-C Drive $36.99 for 256GB |  TeamGroup X1 Max $27.99 for 256GB |  Transcend ESD310 $29.99 for 256GB |
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| Storage: | 64 - 512GB | 128 - 256GB | 32GB - 1TB | 128GB - 2TB | 256GB - 2TB | 256GB - 2TB |
| Interface(s): | USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C | USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C | USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C | USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C | USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C | USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C |
| UASP? | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dimensions: | 60.6 x 16.2 x 9.7mm | 42.7 x 7.62 x 1.27mm | 44.5 x 12.2 x 8.6mm | 78 x 20.5 x 8.6mm | 63 x 20 x 8mm | 71.3 x 20 x 7.8mm |
| Weight: | 17.4g | 9g | 17g | 37g | 12g | 11g |
| Build Material: | Metal | Metal | Metal | Metal | Plastic body, plastic caps | Metal body, plastic caps |
| Keychain Loophole? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| USB Plug Protection? | Rotating cap | Rotating cap | Rotating cap | One removable cap and one rotating cap | Two removable caps on opposite ends | Two removable caps on opposite ends |
| Activity Light? | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Color(s): | Gray | Silver | Silver | Gray | Black | Black, silver & pink |
| Android File Manager? | No | No | Sandisk Memory Zone | None | None | Transcend Elite data management |
| Release Date: | March 2023 | Feb 2023 | Oct 2023 | April 2023 | June 2024 | April 2023 |
| Warranty: | 5 years | 1 year | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years |
Pricing is last updated by Amazon on 2025-03-25 at 06:16. When you buy through Amazon affiliate links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Benchmark Analysis
We carried out our drive benchmarks on two different platforms – Windows 10 Pro running on MacBook Pro (2019) and iPadOS 17.6.1 running on Apple iPad Pro (2021). For our PC benchmark, our testing with the USB-C interface involved transferring a 9GB MP4 file back and forth between our MacBook Pro and the drives. We then repeated the process with a 5GB folder containing 1000 JPEGs. Tests were carried out on Nodesoft’s DiskBench.
From the graph above, both the TeamGroup X1 Max and Transcend ESD310 have an overwhelming lead over their competitors in performance. Both are essentially USB 3.2 Gen 2 UFDs equipped with SSD controllers. The two were neck-to-neck in performance. While the X1 Max even hit 800MB/s mark in large file reads, the ESD310 was quite a bit faster in small file write operations – 237MB/s (TeamGroup) versus 341MB/s (Transcend). Being SSDs, they inherently have a speed advantage over “dumb” drives equipped with less sophisticated flash controllers. The ESD310, for instance, employs the Silicon Motion SM2320 native USB flash controller – the same one found in Kingston’s DataTraveler Max and XS2000.
It’s worth mentioning there is now an updated model of SanDisk’s Ultra Dual Luxe, which shows a significant speed boost, especially in read performance, compared to the previous version. It is approximately two to five times faster than the PNY Duo Link and Lexar JumpDrive D400, depending on the benchmark settings. However, the Ultra Dual Luxe still doesn’t match the performance of SSD-grade drives from Silicon Power and Transcend.
Since half of the selected drives are SSDs, we also checked out their respective pseudo-SLC cache sizes and post-cache write speeds. Transcend ESD310 has allocated 70GB as its pseudo-SLC cache, while TeamGroup X1 Max and SSK Dual Drive have approximately 25GB and 30GB cache respectively. According to our endurance tests, once their cache are exhausted, the post-cache write speeds for ESD310 would drop to 70MB/s from 580MB/s and the X1 Max would also drop to 360MB/s from 562MB/s. SSK Dual Drive suffered from the same performance hit, dropping to 60MB/s from 350MB/s as soon as running out of its 25GB cache.
Next, we looked into the kind of performance you can expect if you plan on using these dual flash drives for regular photo backups and large video imports on an Apple iPad Pro. The 2021-model iPad Pro is equipped with USB-C capable of delivering 10Gbps through USB 3.2 Gen 2 and 40Gbps through USB4. That said, Lexar JumpDrive D400, PNY Duo Link, and Sandisk Ultra Dual Luxe, and SSK Dual Drive are limited to 5Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2 Gen 1) whereas TeamGroup X1 Max and Transcend ESD310 connect at 10Gbps (USB 3.2 Gen 2). For this set of benchmarks, we repeated the same copying process with the same files we used on the MacBook Pro earlier.
Again, both the TeamGroup X1 Max and Transcend ESD310 consistently outperformed other drives on our iPad Pro. Read and write performance across the board was significantly faster with these two, making them the clear choice for photo and video backup on smartphones and tablets with USB-C.
Beginning with iPadOS 15, a progress bar was introduced in iPadOS’ Files app to indicate the amount of data being copied and the remaining time needed for the file transfer to complete. Apple also has made significant improvements to USB drive performance on iPadOS, bringing it up to par with that of Windows. Before the much-needed overhaul, there was definitely something wrong with how Apple handled write operations on UFDs. It’s good to hear the issue has now been resolved.
Lastly, content creators might be interested to know that the TeamGroup X1 Max and Transcend ESD310 are fast enough for 4K Apple 10-bit ProRes recording on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. They also meet the iPhone’s maximum power draw requirement of 4.5W. At 4k, ProRes 422 HQ mode consumes about 12GB per minute at 60fps or 6GB per minute at 30fps. External storage is also necessary for 60fps recording, which requires drives with at least 220MB/s sequential write speed.
Drive Build & Design
Lexar JumpDrive D400, PNY Duo Link, and Sandisk Ultra Dual Luxe all feature the same swiveling cap design and a durable all-metal body. The build helps dissipate heat effectively, but we had to wait half a minute or so before unplugging the drive as it can become too hot to handle after several minutes of intense I/O operations.
The SSK Dual Drive features a flip cap for its USB-C connector and a removable cap on the opposite end for its USB-A connector. In comparison, TeamGroup X1 Max and Transcend ESD310 both come with two removable caps for plug protection as well as preventing the drive’s sharp edges from puncturing jean pockets.
By now, you have probably realized there are two groups of dual flash drives: one prioritizing in performance and the other focusing on design and practicality. The SSD-grade drives from SSK, TeamGroup, and Transcend are about twice as large as the much slower alternatives from Lexar, PNY, and Sandisk. So, there is definitely trade-offs between size and speed.
Lastly, there’s the matter of warranty. All tested drives — except for PNY — include a reassuring five-year warranty, providing peace of mind in case of failure. While flash drives are generally reliable, a longer warranty can be an added advantage if you plan to use the drive for years to come.
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Pricing is last updated by Amazon on 2025-03-25 at 06:16. When you buy through Amazon affiliate links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Nexcopy manufactures a variety of PC-based and standalone USB duplicator solutions.
PC based systems support advanced USB functions such as write protection, CD-ROM partition and multi-partition creation, while standalone systems are ultra-fast, high speed USB copiers duplicating gigabytes of data quickly and accurately.