CES 2017: Kingston Debuts World's Largest USB Flash Drive With 2TB Storage

Tuesday January 3, 2017 9:29 AM PST by Joe Rossignol
Kingston Digital has introduced the DataTraveler Ultimate GT, the world's largest USB flash drive with 2TB of storage space and USB 3.1 Gen 1 speeds.

kingston-2tb-flash-drive
The DataTraveler Ultimate GT has double the capacity of Kingston's DataTraveler HyperX Predator 1TB flash drive released in 2013.

The flash drive is bulkier than average, but it is still much smaller than a full external SSD. The stick is designed with zinc-alloy metal casing for shock resistance.

DataTraveler Ultimate GT ships in February and will be available in 1TB and 2TB capacities. Pricing was not disclosed, but well above $1,000 is likely.

Tag: CES 2017
40 comments

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samcan
38 months ago
In ~2006g I paid $450 for an 8GB USB drive thinking how amazing it was so much data could be stored in such a small space. 3 years later they were $50 and now I'm routinely given 32gb USBs that hold a single promotional PDF.

I look forward to making this same comment in 10 years with slightly different numbers.
Rating: 15 Votes
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soulreaver99
38 months ago
No USB-C version?
Rating: 9 Votes
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ike1707
38 months ago
Better buy an inexpensive laptop if you want to use it without dongles though
Rating: 8 Votes
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2457244
38 months ago
I want 4 of those.. One for each port on my MacBook Pro. Now try to tell me it's not a Pro laptop. ;)
Rating: 5 Votes
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Merode
38 months ago

I want 4 of those.. One for each port on my MacBook Pro. Now try to tell me it's not a Pro laptop. ;)

That's gonna be 4 dongles extra. ;)
Rating: 4 Votes
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AngerDanger
38 months ago

This is pretty impressive.
I wouldn't ever buy one due to the cost, but I look forward to a day that this will be affordable.

I am just curious, has anyone ever tried running thumb drives in a software RAID?

You bet! And as shown in the two minute video below (featuring eight drives at the end), it can actually speed up write times:

[MEDIA=youtube]y85z_-bqOCY[/MEDIA]

But why? In this day and age, where we are locking down our machines for security; where most external devices are blocked by admis; where we have servers and clouds; why would you need something like this and spend that kind of money? What is the use case for this?

You can encrypt flash drives for security, allow external devices on your own computers, and avoid the relatively low data caps, subscription costs, and slooow transfer speeds of cloud storage. With 4K video around the corner, I'm guessing a niche market will find these devices immensely useful for video transfers.
Rating: 4 Votes
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drcre8tive
38 months ago
Thats no moon
Rating: 4 Votes
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Quu
38 months ago
So thick I wouldn't be able to plug it into my laptop without one side of it being lifted up off the desk by half an inch.
Rating: 3 Votes
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tkukoc
38 months ago
Cool to see where technology has gone to allow such massive storage on such a small device.. however the prices are out of this world.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Unami
38 months ago

I will wait for it to drop to under $100 which could take 10 years.


nah, it won't take that long. 10 years ago, a 2gb usb-stick cost as much as 128gb cost today (about 30$) - i now, it's not linear, but i'll bet you'll get around 4tb for that money in 2027 (if it even makes sense to carry around that much data by then - maybe we'll have true 3d-video then. but probably it won't. but the entry model iphone will probably have 128gb by then - the first iphone had 4gb 10 years ago.)
Rating: 1 Votes
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