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View Full Version : USB flash drives: what to buy? differences?



m4lte
March 14th, 2010, 11:28 AM
Hey,

Nowadays you get usb pen drives everywhere and I'm wondering what the differences are, except for the capacity.
I got this old 2GB usb stick, and sometimes, when writing on it from windows machines it's extremely slow. I don't even know if that has something to do with the pc or with the pen drive.

Are there "quality" (i.e. transfer rates) differences? And how do I know if a USB stick is good or bad? On the package it usually doesn't say anything except for the capacity

What do you use? Any recommendations?

imjafo
March 14th, 2010, 12:35 PM
m4lte: If you're in the US or Canada, check newegg.com They carry a brand called Patriot Xporter. I find those to be the fastest usb drives I have ever used. They also come with a lifetime warranty. I have even loaded the os on them and used them to boot from, and they are still fast. Hope this helps.

az
March 14th, 2010, 01:43 PM
I buy the cheapest ones available. I usually can find something on sale on the dell.ca website.

I don't pay attention to transfer rates and such because I can't guarantee that the same make and model of a usb pen drive will be made with the same components. I wouldn't want to pay five times as much for another drive that doesn't end up performing any better than the $10 dollar one.

Chris_cur
March 14th, 2010, 02:49 PM
I buy the cheapest ones available. I usually can find something on sale on the dell.ca website.

I don't pay attention to transfer rates and such because I can't guarantee that the same make and model of a usb pen drive will be made with the same components. I wouldn't want to pay five times as much for another drive that doesn't end up performing any better than the $10 dollar one.

Ditto. I use a Kingston travelmate 512mb and I just got a Verbatim 2Gig. I have only used the Verbatim to boot from and it handled UbuntuStudio perfectly.

Brv
March 14th, 2010, 02:56 PM
I use a Pretec i-Disk Bulletproof 16GB. its perfectly. ;)

Странник
March 14th, 2010, 03:03 PM
I buy the cheap kingstons, works great.
There's no point of buying expensive usb sticks imho, external 2,5 hdd's are quite cheap nowadays

dragos240
March 14th, 2010, 03:27 PM
I own a corsair 32gb flash voyager, works perfect, my only complaint is the case. The case is rubber, the cap slips off very easily, it's not designed very well, I'm going to see if I can make a better case. Very fast write time, and even faster read time.

CharlesA
March 14th, 2010, 03:36 PM
I've got a multiboot usb key running from a San Disk Cruzer Contour. Metal case, looks nice.

Other then that, I usually stick with Cruzers, not having to worry about losing caps is a nice thing.

blueshiftoverwatch
March 14th, 2010, 05:25 PM
I would think that there wouldn't be any differences in transfer rates between brands. If something says that it's USB 2.0 compliant than I would assume that it will read/write as fast as the USB 2.0 standard allows.

Lightstar
March 14th, 2010, 05:47 PM
m4lte: If you're in the US or Canada, check newegg.com They carry a brand called Patriot Xporter. I find those to be the fastest usb drives I have ever used. They also come with a lifetime warranty. I have even loaded the os on them and used them to boot from, and they are still fast. Hope this helps.

I'm with imjafo on this one. I also got a Patriot Xporter (XT) after doing some research before buying. Patriot seems to have the best speed, and it's very durable, mine is actually covered in rubber and it's waterproof. There's plenty of reviews on USB flash drives.

Barriehie
March 14th, 2010, 05:54 PM
I've got 2, a PNY 2 Gbyte and an HP 4 Gbyte, both work well. I recall an issue with the PNY under 8.04 in that it wouldn't automount when plugged in, that's why I got the HP. Since my backup relies on it I had to have it automount so I could 'plug and forget'.

kmsalex
March 15th, 2010, 04:32 AM
I would think that there wouldn't be any differences in transfer rates between brands. If something says that it's USB 2.0 compliant than I would assume that it will read/write as fast as the USB 2.0 standard allows.

well you know what they say about assuming.;)

mamamia88
March 15th, 2010, 05:31 AM
they are all basically the same try to avoid the ones that have that certain software preinstalled on them though forget what its called

blueshiftoverwatch
March 15th, 2010, 05:55 AM
they are all basically the same try to avoid the ones that have that certain software preinstalled on them though forget what its called
Like SanDisk Cruzer's.

user1397
March 15th, 2010, 06:31 AM
I recently bought a SanDisk Cruzer 8GB (yup, the kind that has the U3 thingie on it) and it works great. I figured out that if you just format it (this is in windows), and uncheck the 'quick format' option, then it erases the U3 thing completely.

oh and it was $25 (the other ones I saw were going for $40 or more for the same capacity)

drooze
March 15th, 2010, 11:48 AM
another vote here for the sandisk cruzer. You can just take the U3 crap off. I have the 2gb one and the 16gb one.

The 2gb drive has been through hell and back, and still works perfectly. it's even been in the laundry, twice...

M1ke
March 15th, 2010, 12:33 PM
another vote here for the sandisk cruzer. You can just take the U3 crap off. I have the 2gb one and the 16gb one.

The 2gb drive has been through hell and back, and still works perfectly. it's even been in the laundry, twice...

Mine too! Stuck an 8GB one through the wash in my jeans a couple weeks ago; still working flawlessly... :D

cascade9
March 15th, 2010, 01:00 PM
I would think that there wouldn't be any differences in transfer rates between brands. If something says that it's USB 2.0 compliant than I would assume that it will read/write as fast as the USB 2.0 standard allows.

Nope. I'm yet to see anythign that goes up to USB 2.0 bandwidth limits...most USB flash drives (and HDDs for that matter) top out at about 30-32MB/sec on USB 2.0.

The same drives should go faster on USB 3.0 from the tests I've seen.

There is also eSATA/USB flash drives out now...if I was going to get a new flash drive thats what I would get. USB for compatibility, eSATA for speed.

t0p
March 15th, 2010, 01:01 PM
In the past I have bought 2GB or 4GB sticks of myriad cheapo brands and they have all performed fine. Never noticed any real difference in their transfer speeds.

I understand that the majority of the sticks you'll see are made by 2 or 3 companies, regardless of price. The "better quality" flash material manufactured is put aside to be branded with one of the "good" brandnames, but flash quality isn't hugely variable anyway. Often you pay more just for a nicer exterior material. The cheapest stick I bought so far was a "Crucial"-branded stick from crucial.com - it feels really cheap and plasticky, but it performs just as well as any other I've used. And who really cares what a stick looks like anyway? Unless you're at school and want to appear "cool" by having a Nike or Audi branded stick, or you want to get a novelty one in the shape of a rooster or something.