PNY's New Duo Link V3 USB Drive Hits A Blistering 1GB/s For Fast Portable Storage

by Paul Lilly — Friday, June 13, 2025, 10:07 AM EDT

PNY Duo Link V3 USB flash drive on a blue background.

PNY is expanding its portable storage lineup with its new Duo Link V3, a blazing-fast flash drive that you can plug into both USB Type-A and USB Type-C ports. All you have to do is swivel the connector port to select whichever USB connector type you need, making this a versatile portable storage solution. It's also incredibly fast, depending on where you're plugging it into.

Engineered to the USB 3.2 Gen 2 standard, PNY says its Duo Link V3 can toss files around at up to 1,000MB/s (1GB/s) for sequential reads and up to 800MB/s for sequential writes. Compared to your crusty old USB 2.0 flash drive (if that's what you're still using), you're looking at a massive 265x performance uplift. The top speed is comparable to Seagate's Genshin Impact SSD that we recently reviewed.

The caveat is that in order to come anywhere close to those maximum speeds, you need a system that supports USB 3.2 Gen 2. That said, many modern systems do, including both desktop and laptop configurations. Additionally, USB 3.2 Gen 2 is found on both USB Type-A and Type-C interfaces.

"Whether high-quality photos/videos, music files, or larger business assets, the Duo LInk V3 makes multimedia easily accessible and portable. Crafted from premium components and featuring a durable, sleek metal design with a convenient key loop, this drive offers exceptional durability and portability, ensuring that important data remains secure," PNY says.

Two PNY Duo Link V3 USB flash drives, one with a USB-C end showing and the other with the USB-A end showing, on a gray gradient background.

PNY is offering the Duo Link V3 in four capacities, including 2TB, 1TB, 512GB, and 256GB. All four models are available now on Amazon at the following price points...

As is often the case, the value proposition increases at higher capacities. In this instance, you're looking at around $0.14 per gigabyte for the 256GB model, $0.10 per gigabyte for the 512GB model, and $0.08 for both the 1TB and 2TB models (all of which are slightly rounded values).

Those prices are roughly on par with name-brand competitors at the same speed grade, some of which do not offer multiple connection interfaces. For example, Kingston's 256GB DataTraveler Max is on sale for $32.95 (versus $37.99), which is a couple of bucks cheaper but is is USB-A only.

PNY backs its Duo Link V3 with a 2-year warranty.

Tags: Storage, Flash Drive, USB, pny, duo link v3

Paul Lilly

Paul is a seasoned geek who cut this teeth on the Commodore 64. When he's not geeking out to tech, he's out riding his Harley and collecting stray cats.