- Brand: Leef
- Model: Supra 3.0 16GB
- RRP: £16.99 (16GB), £29.99 (32GB), £59.99 (64GB)
In the age of information we are finding ourselves having to move increasing amounts data around, Â thus with file sizes increasing exponentially and the time it takes to transfer them from one device to another, it is become more important for us to have portable, fast storage devices at hand for when we are on the move. Leef, founded in 2010, is a small company that has just the one philosophy: to create products that people want to own. With this in mind, Leef have created what is dubbed “the world’s smallest USB 3.0 flash drive”, the Leef Supra 3.0. Coming in at just 10mm deep (when plugged into a USB port), it could really be the smallest USB 3.0 flash drive I have ever seen, but the important point to consider is: how well does it perform?
Leef state the specs are as follows:
Capacities: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB
USB Standard: High-speed USB 3.0 Compliant, USB 2.0 Backwards Compatible
Color(s): Charcoal, Silver
Dimensions: 14.97 x 21.60 x 7.58 mm
System Requirements: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP1, SP2), Windows 2000, Apple Mac OS X or later
Warranty: 5-year limited warranty
Country of Origin: Made in China
They boast read speeds of up to 90MB/s and write speeds of 30MB/s, but before I put this to the test, let’s take a quick look at the Leef Supra 3.0:
The Supra 3.0 is incredibly small as you can see, which would mean it is easy to lose if you take it about with you. The end of it is a clear plastic, with a silver base.
The flash drive is illuminated in white when it is connected to your computer, which flickers when in use.
As you would expect, there isn’t a great deal to see about a flash drive, except for its tiny size. What is important is the capacity and transfer speeds, with the former being 16GB (15GB usable space). To determine the transfer speeds, I put the USB drive through the CrystalDiskMark benchmark program – a small utility for measuring sequential and random read/write speeds. The test bench is a Gigabyte Z87 Sniper G1, Core i5 4670K, 16GB Samsung Green LV RAM, running Windows 7. The results using CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 64 x are as follows for 5 passes of 1000MB:
The speeds are fairly typical for a USB 3.0 device, although it is fairly impressive for something of this size – considering that the rating is “up to 90MB/s”, so it’s great to see it giving it a bit more.
AS SSD Benchmark 1.7.4 displays slightly faster sequential read speeds but almost half as much write speed
Overall the Supra is a decent little flash drive, however why would a flash drive be designed to be very inconspicuous yet flash like an 80’s disco? It doesn’t really make much sense to me, especially as you cannot disable it. That said, the speeds are decent for the size and I can definitely see myself leaving it in a laptop for that extra bit of space and at £16.99 RRP for the 16GB model, it’s not something to shy from.
