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While it was not all that long ago we took a look at the Super Talent SuperCrypt and were blown away by its speeds, it was a tad on the bulky side for every day carry. It seems that if you wanted "Solid State Drive" levels of speed from a flash drive, you needed to be willing to give up some portability to get it. Well, that is about to change with the release of the all new Super Talent RC8 flash drive.

The RC8’s sleek all metal chassis makes it look very similar to the Express or Express RAM Cache, but inside lurks something special: a SandForce 1222 controller. When this controller is coupled with 8 dual package 25nm NAND chips the end result is near breathtaking for a "mere" flash drive. Under optimum conditions, we have seen ATTO benchmark numbers in excess of 265MB/s reads posted for the RC8. While it is a shame that new Super Talent didnt opt for the latest SF2181 controller (as it would have netted 550+MB/s speeds), the slightly older first gen new SandForce is still one fine controller that should easily be able to satisfy all but the most hardcore speed junky.As an added benefit, since SandForce controller compress all data written to the NAND, so the NAND inside the R8 will last longer than your typical flash drive (i.e. the cells wont wear out as fast as they otherwise would) and with its built in over-provisioning even when some cells do die, there will plenty of "spare" cells to take their place. Super Talent is planning on offering the RC8 in 25GB, 50GB and 100GB capacities and they should be available mid June. Expect to pay about $110 for the 50GB model with no word on pricing of the other capacities available at this time. [www.everythingusb.com]