Transcend JetFlash 790C – Apparently a USB 3.2 flash drive, but with USB 2 speeds?
Having decided to upgrade my 2017 iMac to a new Mac mini M4 with an Apple Studio Display (because Apple thought in its infinite wisdom that suddenly nobody wanted a 27-inch all-in-one anymore), I realised I would no longer have access to an SD card slot or USB-A ports. That's because Apple decided that the Mac Studio (2025) needs USB-A ports, but not the new Mac mini (2024). #CaliforniaLogic
Technically, I didn't need a USB-C flash drive, as I do have a heavily-scratched-but-still-functional Anker-branded USB-C hub which I use with my 2019 MacBook Pro when travelling:
The hub has two USB-A ports and some other I/O, so I could use that with my new Mac mini. But honestly, I think these hubs are not all that reliable. Sometimes, the USB-A ports just don't work unless I unplug the hub and plug it back in again. Maybe it's Anker, maybe it's the Mac, but I have had problems with this hub on both my 2017 iMac and 2019 MacBook Pro. OK, it's probably the hub, but anyway, given the cost of these hubs, I decided to forego this option and buy a few USB-C to USB-A adapters, and a USB-C flash drive instead.
I came across the Transcend JetFlash 790C, a flash drive with a whopping 256 GB of storage for just BBD $59 (USD $29.50). Not a bad price, I thought – at least for Barbados – so I went ahead and ordered one, along with the USB-C to USB-A adapters. Here's a photo of the flash drive:
I need the flash drive for storing documents and project files that I need both at home and while travelling, so I don't need incredible speeds, but given that it is a USB 3.2 flash drive (over USB-C), transfer speeds ought to be fairly decent, right? Well, as soon as I started transferring 11 GB of data from the internal SSD to the flash drive, and seeing that macOS was reporting that it would take "12 hours", my only thought was... "what the fuck?"
Fortunately, it didn't take 12 hours, but it did take a few hours to complete, and I've since learned why the estimated completion time was all over the place. After taking it back to the store where I bought it from, they tested the flash drive and could see that it was randomly jumping from 2 MB/s to 70 MB/s. Utter garbage. Anyway, they (eventually) agreed to accept a return for a refund.
Prior to returning it to the store, I tested the speed of the flash drive against Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, and I could barely get anything above 5 MB/s.
I guess I won't be buying Transcend products again.