OCZ Rally2 4GB Thumb Drive

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by Rob Williams on August 9, 2006 in Storage

So, you are looking for a high-density thumb drive, but don’t want to have the slow speed that usually coincides. OCZ recently launched 4GB versions of their extremely popular Rally2 thumb drives, and they prove to be a winner. Faster than most of it’s competition, and cheaper to boot.

Page 3 – Real World Testing, Final Thoughts


A thumb drive test is not a thumb drive test unless you include real world examples. To gather results, I kept six sets of files handy, and copied them to both the 2GB and 4GB models. I used the Windows clock as a time keeper. Here are the file sets I used, so the graph will make more sense. Obviously, the 4GB tests could not be performed on the 2GB Rally :-)

  • 4GB Solid (One File, 3,882,051,829 Bytes)
  • 4GB Small (1,064 Files & 77 Folders, 3,981,538,497 Bytes)
  • 4GB Large (2,130 Files & 0 Folders, 3,863,853,735 Bytes)
  • 2GB Solid (One File, 1,897,463,690 Bytes)
  • 2GB Small (660 Files & 48 Folders, 1,926,702,490 Bytes)
  • 2GB Large (1,315 Files & 0 Folders, 1,944,448,341 Bytes)


All Results In Seconds

We can see the adding far more files to the drive, regardless of size, will take far longer. That’s natural. What’s interesting though, is that copying a solid file to the 2GB version proved a good deal faster than the 4GB. But when getting into 600+ or 1200+ files, the results proved to be far closer to one another. This goes to show that real world testing gives far more accurate results than any synthetic benchmark.

Final Thoughts

To cut it short… I highly recommend the 4GB Rally2 if you are looking to pick up a new thumb drive. The performance did not seem to differ that great between the 2GB and 4GB, except in the solid file benchmark. If you are copying far more than one file though, which most people who have thumb drives do, then the performance differences certainly do not outweigh the added storage capacity.

The only real downside to the drive as it stands, is that many US retailers are not yet carrying it. I have been told by OCZ that many, including NewEgg, have possession of the drives… they are just dilly dallying before throwing the listings on the site. Some Canadian e-tailers surprisingly do have them in stock though, so I was able to compare some prices. The said site charges $89.99 for the 2GB version, and $103.50 for the 4GB version. So, technically it’s $13.50 for double the space… hardly a bad deal. Looking around the same site and others, it appears that the Rally2 costs up to $15 less then the Corsair Voyager 4GB version. Once Corsair is aware of this competition though, those prices may drop.

This drive is priced right, faster than most of the competition in the same price range and looks great! I am awarding the Rally2 4GB drive a 9 out of 10 and our Editors Choice award. You will do no wrong by picking this one up.

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Rob Williams

Rob founded Techgage in 2005 to be an 'Advocate of the consumer', focusing on fair reviews and keeping people apprised of news in the tech world. Catering to both enthusiasts and businesses alike; from desktop gaming to professional workstations, and all the supporting software.

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