Suggestions For a Reliable 16GB Flash Drive With Good Performance/Cost


  1. baumgrenze
    Posts : 187
    Windows 10 Pro 64 bit Ver. 22H2 Build 19045.3448
       New #1

    Suggestions For a Reliable 16GB Flash Drive With Good Performance/Cost


    My wife just took delivery of a new Dell laptop. The first hurdle is to create a backup on a 16GB USB flash drive.

    I searched for reviews of USB 3.0 drives. An early hit suggested a drive by well known maker. I think I found the recommended product on Amazon. More than one negative review appeared to come from a qualified user who tested it and found it to be very slow.

    This is a reliable community. What can other other members suggest is a decent product for the task?

    Thanks,
    baumgrenze
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  3. ignatzatsonic
    Posts : 2,487
    Windows 10 Home, 64-bit
       New #2

    I assume your primary interest is speed.

    I haven't investigated speed in a few years, but at that time the Sandisk "Extreme" series was quite fast--and more costly, as you might expect.

    I'd urge you to back up to a hard drive instead if at all possible. Probably external.

    USB drives are flimsy and slow compared to hard drives.

    And it may well be that your backup (whatever it is) won't fit on 16 GB drive---not many system backups would fit on such a small device.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  4. Steve C
    Posts : 7,903
    Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
       New #3

    I have a number of Kingston Data Traveler G4 USB 3.1 USB drives which I selected based on good reviews on Amazon and price. They are mainly used as recovery drives for various PCs and have worked fine to date.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

  6. Pejole2165
    Posts : 920
    Windows 10 Pro
       New #4

    Generally when it comes to USB flash drives you really do get what you pay for, avoid the dirt cheap variety, Kingston, Sandisk, Samsung, Integral, other name brands will tend to be more reliable over a longer period.
    I personally have a 13 year old Integral 1Gb flash drive I still use for some files and as a Macrium boot disk and several Kingston DataTraveller drives of 16Gb - 128Gb from about 6 years to a year old I use for personal files.
    Speed will always be an issue with flash drives, even USB3.1 drives will be frustratingly slow compared to external HDD's.
    I would not try to backup a whole system to a flash drive, they are ok for holding small files, documents, pictures etc, and of course are ideal for Windows setup disks and rescue disks.
    Flash drives need refreshing from time to time (best method is format them and then copy files back to them) this also allows you to check the state of the flash drive, don't just put files on them then forget them in a drawer somewhere.
    I would suggest buying a 1Tb or larger external USB HDD (USB 3.0 drives are a lot quicker than flash drives) for storing backups of a working system (preferably disk images using Macrium Free or similar programs) and longer term backups of personal files.
    But bear in mind that any storage medium can fail at anytime and WILL fail at some time, so backup to a couple of media types and access backups regularly to check the media state.
      My Computer
    Quote Quote

  7. CountMike
    Posts : 19,518
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       New #5

    Steve C said:
    I have a number of Kingston Data Traveler G4 USB 3.1 USB drives which I selected based on good reviews on Amazon and price. They are mainly used as recovery drives for various PCs and have worked fine to date.

    For higher capacity I use several SSDs with USB3.1 adapter, almost as fast as inbuilt SATA SSDs. and much faster than sticks with comparable prices.
      My Computers
    Quote Quote

 

  Related Discussions
USB 3.0 flash drive performance
in Performance & Maintenance

What is a good USB 3.0 flash driver performance (read/write speed)? I just picked up a pack of 5 USB 3.0 Kexin (no-name) flash drives, and I'm very unhappy with them. They seem extremely slow, not much, if any, better that a USB 2.0 drive. At less...
Friends I have used Search Everything for years, blissfully ignorant of the fact that it misses, fails to find, all files meeting the given criteria/filters. It is no secret that Windows 10/8/7 search function isn't reliable in that regard either -...
Anyone have any suggestions about a good quality color laser printer? I'm looking for something that is reliable, can print (laser) photo paper, high DPI, and doesn't run out of toner "over night" like some printers seem to do when just printing...
Hello,I have a 2nd tablet I wanted to upgrade to Windows 10, it was a really cheap one for 70Euros it is a Odys Wintab 8 with Windows 8.1 Bind Edition and it just has a 16gb flash storage.The problem is, that I just have about 2GB of free storage on...
Whats a Good, Low Cost Case for My Desktop?
in PC Custom Builds and Overclocking

Could you guys recommend a good, low cost computer case for my build? Here's the link to my build: Intel Core i5-6500, MSI GeForce GTX 970, DIYPC P48-BK - Lighter Rig - xlooks Saved Part List - PCPartPicker
Our Sites
Site Links
About Us
Windows 10 Forums is an independent web site and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation. "Windows 10" and related materials are trademarks of Microsoft Corp.

 © Designer Media Ltd
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:29.
Find Us




Windows 10 Forums