While most of us do back up to the cloud, whether it be iCloud, Google, One Drive, or another service, there are times you may want to offload files from your smartphone to your computer. Sure, you can easily connect a USB cable to your computer, but you might not always have one handy.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Our PNY Duo Link review looks at a USB flash drive with a USB-A and a USB-C end, perfect for transferring files from your mobile device to your computer and vice versa. Read on for our full review!
Table of contents
Quick Take
The PNY Duo Link USB 3.2 Type-C Dual Flash Drive is a handy gadget to keep nearby. With a swivelling USB-C/USB-A end on it, you can use it to transfer files between your smartphone, PC, and other devices with a USB-C or USB-A port.
Specifications
The PNY Duo Link USB 3.2 Type-C Dual Flash Drive we reviewed has the following features and specifications:
| Capacity | 64GB, 128GB, 256GB |
| Interface 1 | USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C |
| Interface 2 | USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A |
| Max Read Speed | Up to 200MB/s |
| Transfer Speed | Up to 10x faster than standard USB 2.0 |
| Compatibility | USB 3.2 Gen 1/USB 3.0 equipped host devices, backwards compatible with USB 2.0 |
| Device Compatibility | Type-C equipped mobile devices such as smartphones & tablets and PC & Mac laptop & desktop computers |
| Operating System Compatibility | Windows® 7/Windows® 8/Windows® 10/Windows® 11 MacOS® 10.0 and later Android™ 5.0 and later |
| Environmental Conditions | Operating Temperature: 0° to 60° C, Storage Temperature: -25° to 85° C |
What’s in the box
- PNY Duo Link USB 3.2 Type-C Dual Flash Drive
Design
At first glance, there’s not much to the PNY Duo Link OTG USB Flash Drive. Silver in colour and crafted from what appears to be aluminum, it is light and very strong looking. The top of the drive has a hollowed-out loop in which you could feed a small string to attach it to, or directly attach it to, a keyring. Unfortunately, this is not included with the drive. On the opposite end sites a USB-C connector. When pushed to the side, this section spins and you can then access the USB-A connector.
The PNY logo is etched into the flash drive on one side with the words USB 3.2 and 64 (in this case) specifying the USB speed and storage size.
The entire unit is about 2″ long, 1/2″ wide, and about 3/8″ in height.
Ease of Use
The PNY Duo Link is easy to use. Simply flip to the connector you need and plug it into your phone or computer. Once connected, you should be able to easily copy files to and from the drive and your phone or computer. I had no issues using it with a Pixel 7 smartphone and on a Windows 11 PC I encountered no issues as the computer recognizes it as an external drive, as it should.
Performance
According to PNY, the Duo Link USB 3.2 Type-C Dual Flash Drive is capable of read speeds of up to 200MB/s with no mention of write speed. As with any other drive we review, I ran it through a few programs on a computer to check read/write speeds while using the USB-C connector.
| AS SSD Seq Read | 241.97 MB/s |
| AS SSD Seq Write | 27.56 MB/s |
| ATTO Disk Benchmark Seq Read (max) | 233.09 MB/s |
| ATTO Disk Benchmark Seq Write (max) | 18.85 MB/s |
| CrystalDiskMark Seq Read (Q8T1) | 40.70 MB/s |
| CrystalDiskMark Seq Write (Q8T1) | 89.96 MB/s |
During real-world testing, I transferred 71 DNG files (a total of 932 MB) from my phone to the drive and then to the computer, both using the USB-C connector. I also repeated the same test with a single 2GB file.
| 830MB | 2GB | |
| Phone > Duo Link | 35s | 2m 20s |
| Duo Link > Phone | 11s | 30s |
| Duo Link > PC | 4s | 18s |
| PC > Duo Link | 38s | 1m 56s |
As you can extrapolate, the drive handles smaller file write speeds better than larger files. That being said, this drive is acceptable when it comes to read speeds but pretty slow when it comes to write speeds.
Price/Value
The PNY Duo Link OTG USB Flash Drive has an MSRP of US$9.99 for the 64GB version, $15.99 for the 128GB version, and $21.99 for the 256GB version. At regular price, the value is definitely there, pretty solidly in impulse buy territory. If you have an iPhone, the company also makes a version with a Lightning and USB-A connector pair.
Wrap-up
Even though the PNY Duo Link has slow write speeds, it does come in handy when you want to transfer files from your Android smartphone to your computer. Sure, you can use a cable, but this USB flash drive is small, sturdy, and compact, making it easy to take with you while on the go. Just don’t lose it due to its small size!
PNY Duo Link USB 3.2 Type-C Dual Flash Drive
$9.99+
Nailed it
- Solid, sturdy design
- USB-C and USB-A connector
- Super affordable
Needs work
- Sluggish write speeds
- Small size could make it easy to lose
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Last Updated on March 13, 2024.
