Kingston DataTraveler Max Review: Great PS5 Companion

The PlayStation 5 is a great all-in-all console, with its next generation graphics performance, amazing DualSense and extremely fast storage. Even if that custom storage isn’t enough, they have an extra PCIe Gen 4 slot for you to expand. Good news: you can buy these said SSD drives. Bad news: they are way too expensive. So, your last resort is getting an external drive and USB-C standards have come so far that they are capable of some ridiculous speed. Kingston DataTraveler Max is exactly that and it just might be the drive you are looking forward to expand your game library.

Look and Feel

Unlike other drives you find that consist of storage capacity beyond a certain limit, the Kingston DataTraveler Max comes in an extremely small, pocket-size form factor that can fit into almost any kind of space. This looks like any other flash drive, except its longer due to the fact that it carries more flash memory chips on it than your average USB Drive.

1/5

The plastic enclosure is neat and with this texture on top for you to hold and grip the drive nicely, as you open and close it. At the end, it has a hole for you to tie a lanyard or to a keychain.

Specification

It’s safe to say that the DataTraveler Max has the right kind of specification to take advantage of our current systems. That said, we received the 1TB capacity drive which has the following:

• USB C 3.2 Gen 2
• 1000MB/s read, and 900MB/s write speeds

And that’s about it. Now if you do want a lower capacity, Kingston is offering it in 256GB and 512GB as well but if you ask me, getting the 512GB or the 1TB would make more sense as you are already forking out good money for this, might as well get more capacity. Since this is a USB-C drive, for those who lack a USB-C port in their system, you will have issues using it. So, make sure if you have one on your device, and then proceed with the purchase.

Rather than using this drive for the usual PC tasks, Kingston said that this is an excellent choice of a drive for the PlayStation 5. Given that we have a PlayStation 5 at hand, we decided to use the drive for it. Now, remember: the PS5 has a USB C port on the front and none on the back. So, when you connect it, make sure that the drive doesn’t get knocked or hit.

How to Setup

To make the Kingston DataTraveler work, you will have to follow the instructions the PS5 shows on screen. Once you head to the Settings > Storage, you’ll see the installation location for PS5 and PS4 games on it and by default it should say Console Storage.

1/9

Once you connect the drive, the USB Extended Storage will show the drive and it will require you to format it to a different format which the system knows how to manage. Give it about 5-10 minutes, and the complete process is done. It’s now formatted as a USB extended Storage. Unlike adding a PCIe Gen 4 drive into the PS5’s extra slot, the USB Storage comes with its set of limitations.

PS5 Limitations

If you remember, when Sony announced the PlayStation 5, they emphasized next generation speeds with faster game loading time, responsiveness and so on. The PlayStation 5 games are optimized for that experience. So, if you move your PS5 games to the DataTraveler Max, you won’t be able to play as it doesn’t have the right speeds to do so. If you do want to play, you will have to move the game back to the internal storage and launch. But that’s not the case for PS4 games on PS5.

PlayStation 4 was running on HDD and consumers ended up Jerry Rigging the console for SSD which improves the experience. But these are SATA SSD which has maximum speeds of 500MB/s at most. So, games that was made for PlayStation 4 had only that as a requirement. Given that the DataTraveler Max matches or surpasses PS4’s Drive, I personally think it’s a good drive for you to store your PS4 library and play on it and leave the internal Drive for PS5 titles.

How’s the Experience then?

Now, we played some PS4 titles on the PS5, as the console is backwards compatible for select titles. We chose two games in particular: God of War and Ratchet and Clank. Then, we proceeded to play the game from the internal storage and from the DataTraveler Max. What happens next is something you need to see with your very eyes.

Conclusion

The reason we ended up focusing on the PS5 aspect for the DataTraveler Max is because it is a potential drive you can get for your console to expand your game library, which can lead to less time spent downloading if you want to replay and have more time playing game than waiting. In that way, the Kingston DataTraveler Max is a good choice.

You might ask us, why not get an external HDD then? You can but chances are you will get into some sort of hiccup. PlayStation has even listed the requirements for a USB extended storage to use on PS5 – so make sure that the drive you get checks all that box. At least we can tell this drive we review here, does check all the box.

As for those who are looking at this drive as a potential USB Drive for work and play, it is a nice purchase for a few reasons: the petite form factor, huge storage, and trustable reliability. It does come at a cost by the way: which you can click here to purchase from their official store.

Special thanks to Kingston for sending us the DataTraveler Max for us to make this review happen.