Samsung’s flash drives don’t get as much attention as the company’s solid state drives or other flash memory products, but they can still be a great option for backing up and moving files. You can now get them in higher capacities, with more options on the way.
The Samsung Bar Plus and Samsung Fit Plus USB flash drives are now available in 512GB capacities, after previously being available in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB sizes. The company also announced a 512GB version of its Type-C flash drive, but that won’t be available until “later this year.”
The Samsung Bar Plus flash drive (pictured above) hasn’t changed since its initial release in 2018, but it still works well enough. It has a sleek metal casing, with a USB 3.1 Type-A plug on one side and a key ring on the other side. The read speed is rated at up to 400 MB/s, with write speeds maxing out at 110 MB/s. Samsung also calls it “waterproof, shock-proof, temperature-proof, magnet-proof, and X-ray-proof.” You still shouldn’t intentionally take a flash drive with you on diving trips, but if you drop it in a puddle and wait for it to try, your files should be fine.
The Samsung Fit Plus (pictured below) is a smaller drive, measuring only 0.93 x 0.74 x 0.29 inches and barely extending from the USB port. However, the more compact design might block other ports on some machines, unlike the longer Bar Plus. It has the same USB 3.1 standard, and the same maximum read and write speeds of 400 MB/s and 110 MB/s, respectively.
These drives are still using typical flash drive memory, so they won’t be nearly as fast as a full-sized portable SSD, such as the Samsung T7 or an NVMe drive in a USB enclosure. The flash drive is still fast enough for most file transfers, though, and it can work well as a bootable USB drive for installing Windows or other operating systems.
It’s unfortunate that Samsung doesn’t currently sell a flash drive with both USB Type-A and Type-C ports, since many newer devices only have USB Type-C and some older computers only have USB Type-A. There are a few drives with both ports, such as the SanDisk Dual Drive Go, but more options in that segment would be appreciated.
You can buy the 512GB Samsung Bar Plus and Samsung Fit Plus starting today on Amazon. Samsung’s online store should also have the Bar Plus and Fit Plus soon.
Source: Samsung
