SuperTalent Rc8 Problems!

[anaron]

Anyone using the Rc8? This is the fastest thumb drive and totally amazing ---- When it works! Bought it back in Sept and was totally blown away. Worked great until January. Became unable to maintain a stable connection then finally died. Rma's and take almost a month to get something done. New one was equally impressive but lasted about a month, it died and now back to rma. Got the 3rd one in about 3 weeks on March 23rd and on the 27th I plugged it in the Usb3 front panel ports and killed the usb connection. Plugged it into the usb2 and killed those ports. Shutdown time - won't shutdown - must kill with power button. Reboot and everything back to normal. Tested connection with my other usb3 drives and no issues. Plug in the Rc8 and kills the connection. Front usb3 ports, rear usb3 ports, front usb2 ports, rear usb2 ports - does not matter as it will kill the connection. Might do this once, twice a day then may not do it for two or three days.

Absolutely love this drive but I cannot depend on it. SuperTalent support is pretty much non-existant. Could rma again but already have $everal bucks invested in shipping costs and it appears this will be an every 2 or 3 month ordeal so I am hesitant to go there. Might just be time to cut my loss and bail out. Jusst don't know.

What could possibly be causing this issue? Is anyone else having problems with the Rc8 and are you have problems with SuperTalent support?

Ron Burnes

 

[samuelc]

Hi Ron,

I'm sorry to hear that - you're probably feeling a bit frustrated. I'm with Super Talent and I, along with our engineers, are here to help you resolve this issue. Could you please send me an email at samuel.chan [at] supertalent.com? Then we'll proceed from there.

Thanks,
Samuel

 

[anaron]

I was more than a little surprise by the above contact after almost 6 months. After contacting Samuel, I received a UPS shipping label and instructions to return the RC8 so that they could research and find what had gone wrong with this one. Oct 29th, SuperTalent returned my RC8 which was repaired and working well. Took a long time but they finally stepped up to the plate. I appreciate what Samuel and his manager have done to remedy this situation. Had the same procedure been conducted to begin with, I would have had no issues with SuperTalent as I understand new technology can be a little buggy! Now I will see how long it continues to operate. As I previously stated, the RC8 is the fastest most amazing thumb drives I have ever experienced. I have used over 15 different brands and currently own 3 of the top brand thumb drives. It is an amazing piece of technology and hopefully it will now also become a dependable technology.

Ron Burnes

 

[anaron]

So much for hope!!! RC8 crashed again yesterday. Device manager sees the drive but the computer cannot communicate with the drive!


Ron Burnes

 

[ghg]

two more Super Talent RC8 failures.

I have two RC8s. One 25GB, one 100GB. Only used each 3 or 4 times/month. Had Windows8-to-go.
They worked very well, and lived up to performance specs on USB3.0. When they were working,
both would be very warm to the touch when plugged into USB3.0, less warm on USB2.0.

I would guess that the 8 Channel interleaved controller uses lots of juice.

The 25GB drive worked for about a year, the 100GB drive worked for about two years. Same failure mode.
There was no "warning", I/O errors, etc. When plugging then in, the windows device manager recognizes them, but does not "mount" the drive. Drive appears to be "zero length". Using a sector editor in an attempt to raw read block 0 of the drive, returns I/O error. Both devices still get warm if left plugged
into a USB3.0 port, the same amount as they did when new. I haven't attempted an RMA yet. I hope the Super Talent engineer is still reading this forum. I have a Kingston DT Traveler "workspace" 64 GB
for two years also. It is slightly slower than the RC8s where, but it has never failed.
Thanks.
--ghg

 

[anaron]

ghg, after the replaced RC8 crashed, SuperTalent would not even respond or discuss the issue. So much for their "stand behind their product"! I purchased 2 Mushkin Ventura Pros in Sept 2012 and use them 24/7/365 without a single issue with either. As with your Travler, the Muskings are a little slower but far more dependable.

 

[Layback Bear]

Thank you Anaron and ghg for your reports.