thumbdrives

[xmanii]

Looking to buy one, and wanting to know which ones are recommended, and which ones I should avoid
Would like to get a 2GB one, and seen one on ecost.com (Patriot Memory) that seemed like a good deal with the Google Checkout, but I figured I would get some opinions and suggestions on this first.

Will be mainly to transfer files between my computers, and to carry around. Would also like some encryption.



Thanks!

 

[Sir Brennen]

Tigerdirect has a Samsung 2 gig model on clearance through tomorrow (08/30). Only 30 bucks after rebate, and it's a name brand.

I have a recently-purchased 2gb Sandisc myself, and before that had a Lexar and a Memorex, both 256mb and both pretty reliable. Different technology than the 2 gigs, though.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

I have an 8GB Memorex traveldrive. Now it's not flash it's basically a really little USB external hardrive and it cost quite a bit. But it means I can download my entire non-music file archive into a single backup and then carry it around with me wherever I go just in case. But I got it just over a year ago so better deals exist, just saying the ability to pull everything personal off your harddrives and put them onto something the size of a thick matchbook you can keep on you just in case is very handy. For the rest I have half a dozen little .5GB wal-mart special flashdrives on a linked series of keyrings. They were cheap as dirt comparitively and I don't really care if they work forever just that I can keep particular things on each one and mark them by what's on them for quick reference.

EDIT: Oh yeah encryption, don't use what comes with the drive it's just not much protection. Get a commercial cryptographic program if you actually want protection. Depending on how intensive they can go from reasonable commercial prices of around $50 for low volume all the way up to simply unreasonable for an ordinary person.

 

[XCorvis]

I don't really recommend any more than any other, but watch out for the craptacular software that comes with some of them. One of them, (U3?) a special application launcher, is borderline malware because it's so invasive and buggy. I think it comes on some models of sandisk.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I don't really recommend any more than any other, but watch out for the craptacular software that comes with some of them. One of them, (U3?) a special application launcher, is borderline malware because it's so invasive and buggy. I think it comes on some models of sandisk.

Yeah, I have that on mine. It's not too bad, came with a couple free apps, and I found a utility on the web to add my non-U3 apps to its menu. There are also tips out there on the internet on how to uninstall the U3 software so that you have a regular flashdrive.

Note that a U3 drive makes itself auto-runnable by pretending to be a CD-ROM drive, with a second drive for the actual storage (taking up 2 drive letters on your PC.)

 

[Merkuri]

If you're looking for something that can take a beating, try this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820211233

They've REALLY gone down in price since I bought mine (June last year). I got the 512 MB one for something like $40 (I forget exactly how much it was). Now the 1 GB one--which is twice as big--is less than $20. I love the fact that I can drop it on the floor and watch it bounce. It's supposedly waterproof, and one reviewer on Newegg said he lost it in a snowstorm and found it two snowstorms later, obviously after haivng been run over, and it still worked.

 

[Rackhir]

I have accidentally washed my 2gb flash stick at least twice with no obvious ill effects.

You might find this useful.

Tom's Hardware Memory Stick review

 

[Vagabond]

Flash drives and encryption

Most flash drives can take a beating, my sandisk 1gb cruiser has survived being ran over, left in a parking lot during a 100 degree day for an hour, wash and dried at least twice with no data loss. In fact the only time I have lost data is when I've taken the disk off the computer without closing the application I was working in. The only real issue with these drives is if you ever need to use it with Windows 98. Most manufactures don't support Windows 98, and of the ones that do, only on certain makes and models, so if that is important, check out their website before you by.

As far as the encryption software, check out this discussion on slashdot

The short of it is: Don't use what comes with the drives. If you're looking for free use Truecrypt and if you're looking for commercial software use PGP Whole Drive Encryption . Whatever product you end up going with, beware of snake oil.

 

[andargor]

I just want a laptop with a flash drive...

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

You can get one, if you're willing to pay the ungodly $7,000US or more that the US military does. Course you could just check out prices for one of the huge flash drives they use and see if you could replace it in your existing laptop, but I'm not sure it would work. The ones that I saw have unusual connectors.