Seeking Flash Drive Recommendations

Ghot · 15 Aug 2021

emcee2 said:

32GB, USB 3.0 (or higher), USB 2.0 (backwards compatible), Fast read speed, Decent write speed. ~$10us or ???

The complaints on Amazon are the same for every drive... Slow. Starts fast and becomes slow. Stops transfers for long periods of time. Unusable for making large transfers all at once. Write speeds too slow to use. Lost data...

Some reviews love each drive and someone hates on every single one, and not just in the normal hit and miss of Amazon reviews.

Do you have any experience with a 'good' flash drive? Please share opinions and speeds.

To tell the truth, I think all of the ones I've ever had were hand-me-downs. Never put large files on them. I don't think I've even owed one more than 4gb, or 8 at the most. Don't remember them getting hot, put who knows if they did or not.

Thanks, emcee2

Melchior said:

hey Ghot,
I purchased the 64GB version of that one back in June reformatted it as NTFS file system and it has been running great for me...
33MB/s fast enough for me... as I only have USB 3.0/2.0 ports on my case..
my motherboard I think has a USB 3.1 header but could not use it...

Amazon.com - Samsung-BAR-Plus-32GB-Champagne

There's much faster flash drives... but the price and size...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...1?ie=UTF8&th=1

Fast little USB thumb drive.

bobkn · 15 Aug 2021

I wonder about these: USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB Flash Drives | Newegg.com

I own none of them. They seem to be mostly quite new.

cereberus · 15 Aug 2021

San Cruzer Extreme are fast and reliable.

RickC · 15 Aug 2021

Do you have any experience with a 'good' flash drive? Please share opinions and speeds.

Why not have a look at the speed results for 32GB USB Flash Disks on the NirSoft website?

teots · 15 Aug 2021

I have sandisk ultra 128gb and glide 256gb usb 3.0 flash drives, fast, reliable and affordable. But slow with
multible un compress files.

hdmi · 16 Aug 2021

Fabler2 · 16 Aug 2021

Just an alternative perhaps, Crucial MX500 500 GB CT500MX500SSD1-Up to 560 MB/s (3D NAND, SATA, 2.5 Inch, Internal SSD) @ £45 and a long lead USB 3.1 to SATA adapter cable for around £12. Con is it's bigger but still portable, pro is everything else.

MisterEd · 16 Aug 2021

Berton said:

I still have a full set of MS-DOS 6 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11, haven't counted them in awhile but probably about 15. But I also have a Toshiba Tecra Notebook that works.

You could fits all that on one flash drive with room to spare.

Seeking Flash Drive Recommendations-2021-08-16-04_42_21-results.docx-compatibility-mode-word-2a.jpg

Seagate Expansion+ 2.5-in 1TB hard drive (SATA/USB 3.0)
Tested on laptop's USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports

Seeking Flash Drive Recommendations-2021-08-16-04_42_21-results.docx-compatibility-mode-word-2b.jpg

Micron 1100 256GB SSD M.2 SATA mounted in StarTech (M.2 SATA/USB-C 3.1) enclosure
Tested on laptop's USB 3.1 and USB 3.0 ports.

Seeking Flash Drive Recommendations-2021-08-16-04_45_06-results.docx-compatibility-mode-word-2.jpg

Intel 660P 2TB SSD M.2 NVME mounted in Plugable (M.2 NVME/USB-C 3.1) enclosure
Tested on laptop's USB 3.1 and USB 3.0 ports.

Seeking Flash Drive Recommendations-2021-08-16-04_57_32-results.docx-compatibility-mode-word-2.jpg

EdTittel · 18 Aug 2021

You can buy a PNY Elite-X 64 GB drive right now for US$10.99 at Amazon. It offers better USB flash drive speeds shown above in CrystalDiskMark on my aging i7-6700 desktop PC. Plenty of deals out there. The 128 GB version is a mere US$19.99.
HTH,
--Ed--

MisterEd · 18 Aug 2021

bobkn said:

I wonder about these: USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB Flash Drives | Newegg.com
I own none of them. They seem to be mostly quite new.

From Sandisk website

SanDisk Extreme Go USB Drive
64 GB | 128 GB | 256 GB
USB 3.2 Gen 1

SanDisk Extreme Go USB 3.1 Flash Drive
64 GB | 128 GB
USB 3.1 Gen 1

From Wikipedia:
USB 3.0 = USB 3.1 Gen 1 = USB 3.2 Gen 1x1 = 5 Gbit/s
USB 3.1 = USB 3.1 Gen 2 = USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 = 10 Gbit/s

If you read the specs the new SanDisk Extreme Go USB Drives are the same speed as the old ones. Both of these drives are actually just USB 3.0 drives. That is because USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1, and USB 3.2 Gen 1 are just different names for the same thing. You have to carefully read the specs to know what you are getting and not just go by the marketing hype.

Another confusing thing is USB ports on your computer. Both my desktop and laptop have USB-A and USB-C ports. I need to sort out whether they are 5 Gbps or 10 Gbps.

The reason I bring this up is because the USB port speed makes a difference when you connect fast flash drives and SSDs.