Advise in purchasing 16 GB USB Flash Drive

[Curt Harms]

Anyone who wants to get a little obsessive could read this. Of course they're not $8-$10.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3477-7.html

[Phil Thien]

If you have a Best Buy nearby, they tend to have Toshiba flash drives for very good prices. Toshiba was one of the pioneers of flash memory and own their own fabrication facilities. If you want USB 3, it may be hard to find that in a store. I don't have a USB capable device right now but have bought some USB 3 drives from MicroCenter, they only cost about $1/device more than USB 2 and they should be significantly faster when plugged into a USB 3 capable machine. USB 3 is about 10 times faster than USB 2, theoretical maximums.

The bottleneck for the most part has been the flash chips themselves, especially writing. There are some USB 2.0 drives which approach (match?) the speeds of USB 3.0 drives because they used faster flash chips.

[Larry Browning]

A huge thank you to everyone for taking the time to post

The PNY Attache III 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive P-FD16GATT03-GE (Black)


suggested by Dan is the front runner

I woud like see other members suggestions

regards Brian

Just curious, What are you going to using this for? Is it one that you will be carrying around with you in you pocket? Are you going to keep it installed in you car stereo? Maybe you will be using it as extended memory on you computer? Are you looking for something cheap to use once in a while to transfer photos to you friends computer, or are you going to be using it everyday? I have one I carry in my pocket, the case is metal and very durable, I have a bunch of portable apps on it so it has a lot of security features on it so that if loose it nobody can access the stuff on it. I have another that I keep plugged into my car usb port with nothing but music on it. One is quite a bit more expensive than the other. It really does make a difference in what you are going to use it for and what your motive is for your purchase.

[Larry Browning]

Anyone who wants to get a little obsessive could read this. Of course they're not $8-$10.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ew,3477-7.html

That's a great article! Thanks for sharing!

[Curt Harms]

The bottleneck for the most part has been the flash chips themselves, especially writing. There are some USB 2.0 drives which approach (match?) the speeds of USB 3.0 drives because they used faster flash chips.

Right. It seems another consideration is the controller chip. I recall reading - don't recall where - that the Sandisk Extreme flash drives use the same controller as some of the Sandisk SSDs.

[Myk Rian]

What I like are the Iogear card readers. I keep a Micro SD card in it, and can also put a regular SD in it.
Nice for everything.
http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-MicroSD.../dp/B0046TJG1U
61JJmr3JPYL._SL1500_.jpg

[Larry Browning]

What I like are the Iogear card readers. I keep a Micro SD card in it, and can also put a regular SD in it.
Nice for everything.
http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-MicroSD.../dp/B0046TJG1U
61JJmr3JPYL._SL1500_.jpg

Wow, that's pretty cool! Looks like there is a USB 3 version too:
http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Info.../ref=pd_cp_e_0

[Dave Verstraete]

They are not the cheapest but I like a flash drive that I can put on my key chain. PNY Half-Hinged. I tend to lose the other ones.

[Chuck Stewart]

I recently needed a flash drive to put the portable version of Calibre to manage ebooks. tried a USB 2.0 drive but felt it was too slow bringing up the books, especially using the cover view mode. Bought the Sandisk extreme USB 3.0 and using the usb 3 port on PC it made all the difference. It was the SDCZ80-016G-A75