German consumer electronics company TrekStor today announced the i.Gear SSD-Stick Prime which is an external SSD with the size of a USB stick and build around an M.2 SSD. The i.Gear SSD-Stick is available in capacities of 64, 128, 256 and 512 GB. TrekStor claims the device is fifteen times faster than conventional USB drives.
The drive measures 72 × 25 × 8.5 mm and weighs 23 grams. Its housing is from silver-grey magnesium alloy with the connector protected by a protective cap. According to TrekStor the SSD-Stick has an M.2 SSD inside, which should ensure higher performance than conventional USB sticks. Obviously also the interface of the stick needs to support high bandwidths as well. This is provided by the USB 3.1 Gen 1 interface of the stick.
TrekStor claims the SSD-Stick is fifteen times faster than conventional USB sticks, but only specifies maximum sequential reads of 420 MB/s and maximum sequential writes of 350 MB/s. The company does not provide any random access performance numbers so it's hard to compare the device with other USB sticks.
The TrekStor i.Gear SSD-Stick Prime is available right now and the package includes a USB A-A extension cable. Suggested retail price is €49.99 ($57) for 64 GB, €69.99 ($79) for 128 GB, €99.99 ($113) for 256 GB and €149.99 ($170) for 512 GB storage capacity. European customers can purchase the device from the webshop, Americans can pre-order it from TigerDirect.
