Looking for info on USB memory sticks

[Grubbster]

I am looking for information and reviews on USB drives. Does anyone have a link for any forums or sites with info? In particular I am looking for reviews on what are good ones and which ones to avoid. I can find information here and there, but no good sites. TIA

 

[Sigman]

Jumping in here, I'd be interested in folks comments & experiences with the U3 drives and their portable apps as well.

 

[Brighteyez]

If you're referrring to flash memory sticks, aka thumbdrive, jumpdrive, etc.; the kind without a spinning disk drive, they're all generically detected as USB Mass Storage devices. If they get detected they generally work, if they don't they go back to the store.

The Sandisk Mini Cruzer series has always been reliable for my use/abuse, though the last one that I received was under the Memorex brand. None have really failed to do what they're supposed to (which isn't much.)

I am looking for information and reviews on USB drives. Does anyone have a link for any forums or sites with info? In particular I am looking for reviews on what are good ones and which ones to avoid. I can find information here and there, but no good sites. TIA

 

[IsaacHayes]

I uninstalled the U3 software on my sandisk mini when i got it. I didnt even try out the u3. heh. I just wanted more space and didn't bother with it.

Sandisk is a good brand btw, I've been happy with them. Speeds have been acceptable.

 

[paulr]

Newegg.com has a lot of customer reviews of different models.

 

[Sable]

There are some excellent sites out on the Intertubes for exactly what you want...


The best of them is Tom's Hardware Guide

Another is Dan's Data, although he can be less technical at times, but much more entertaining.

If you're willing to do a little digging, [H]ardOCP is a good start, too.

Anandtech is a really good one, although I haven't visited them lately.

Ars Technica does gadget reviews occasionally.

There's lots others that I've left off...but if you want a quick review, I like the Sandisk Cruzer Minis. High capacity, robust, and reasonably quick.

 

[Grubbster]

My main problem has been with Lexar Firefly drives. I have had two over the last month. One quite working after one week and the other was so slow, I could not even use it. The wait for it to write was an eternity. That one went back to Lexar for replacement. It will be delivered tomorrow.
My reason for posting was to see if there were any places to get info before I sink money into another one.
Thanks for the replies. Keep them coming.

Jumping in here, I'd be interested in folks comments & experiences with the U3 drives and their portable apps as well.

I have a Memorex drive that had U3 on it. I removed it and am using software from Portableapps.com instead. I like its format better.

Thanks for the links Sable. I will check those out. :rock:

 

[ibcj]

I have three thumb drives with U3. The latest is a 2gb, Sandisk titanium. The U3 technology is really pretty amazing. It does take up a small amount of space in a seperate partition on the drive, but it's not too big that I want to uninstall it. It is really nice knowing that I have standard features on my thumbdrive such as: password protection, virus protection and a browser with my favorites, and I can take them with me to whatever computer I use. There are numerous free programs for U3 devices which can be downloaded from the U3 site. Since the programs are being run from the drive, they can be slightly slower than directly from the computer, but a key feature is the fact that when running from U3, you aren't leaving any traces of files or browsing history on the computer that you are using.

 

[BillCurnow]

I've been very happy with the two SanDisk Cruzer Titanium drives I have. Both feature retracting connectors so I don't have to worry about losing an end cap. I uninstalled the U3 software on the 2GB unit and have installed the software from PortableApps.com

 

[cyberspyder]

Sandisk Cruzer Mini for me :rock:

Brendan

 

[Dutch]

I have a BUNCH of Sandisk's... No problems.

Beware of Lexar flash drives if you're running XP. I have one that froze me up but good, come to find later that they are known for having issues.

Dutch

 

[matrixshaman]

Got a couple Sandisks and a PNY Attache. PNY never had any problems. Sandisk Micro seemed okay until I put a bootable Linux on it then it would only boot half the time. I had to scandisk it everytime before booting to get it to boot. Seemed flaky at other times too (512 MB). Got a Sandisk U3 1GB that has been fine and in general I think Sandisk is quality but there is such huge competition in this market and memory in general that the manufacturers are really pushing things to the limit - very thin profit margins = making them as cheaply as possible while maintaining fair reliability. I use to follow Sandisk in the stock market /\/\/\/\/\/\/\

 

[bobisculous]

Jumping in here, I'd be interested in folks comments & experiences with the U3 drives and their portable apps as well.

I had a 512mb SanDisk mini for some time with U3 installed. I thought it was really handy. Install all kinds of programs on that thing and your ready to go. 512mb is kinda small anymore so I have since upgraded to the 2GB titanium version of the Sandisk Mini and love it even more. So sturdy and well built. Highly recommend it. Now with even more memory, I do not mind throwing OpenOffice perhaps, and a few other larger programs on it. Its been very stable for me. Leaves no footprint on the machine you use it on. If you are going to get a mini, spend the extra few bucks and get the titanium version for sure, as its definately worth the extra money.
Sandisk prices just recently dropped. The 2gb titanium mini is $43 on Newegg.

As far as reviews, Newegg will definately be your best bet. It is what made me happy with purchasing the drive I have, along with all the parts inside my computer.

-Cameron

 

[flashgreenie]

I have a 512MB Cruzermini, 1GB Cruzer micro and a 1GB Kingston datatraveller. All works fine for the past year. As long as the OS recognized it and accepts it properly the first time you plug it into your computer, it should work fine. I actually bend the plug on my cruzermini while trying to pull it out of the USB port once but it still works...

 

[carrot]

I have used Sandisk, Lexar, and PNY flash drives. I am happiest with Sandisk. Currently I use a Sandisk Micro. I have a few in 1GB and 2GB flavors, and they have full U3 support.

I have also heard that M-Systems Disk-on-Key is good, but that was a while back and may be outdated information. They were one of the first to bring flash drives to the market, I believe.

Sometimes you can find reviews of flash drives on TomsHardware.com, too. I remember a shootout comparison from awhile back.

 

[abvidledUK]

Apple mac...problem.

Sold as compatible, it was, apart from Filenames.

Whilst iMac allows various characters, USB stick don't.

So having renamed many files, I gave up and returnd USB stick for refund.

Can't remember exactly which, but certainly / was not allowed.

@ too I think.

 

[carrot]

Apple mac...problem.

Sold as compatible, it was, apart from Filenames.

Whilst iMac allows various characters, USB stick don't.

So having renamed many files, I gave up and returnd USB stick for refund.

Can't remember exactly which, but certainly / was not allowed.

@ too I think.

This is due to filesystems incompatibilities. Apple's OS X uses HFS+, which allows for the use of certain characters. Windows usually uses NTFS or less frequently, FAT32, nowadays. Pretty much all USB sticks are formatted in FAT or FAT32 as to ensure compatibility with multiple operating systems, as FAT32 is one of the most universally compatible filesystems around.

This is not a problem of the manufacturer. On FAT filesystems '\' is used to delimit directories, and on HFS+ ':' is used. Thus, these characters (amongst others) are restricted in file names and should be avoided in naming files.

HFS+ places less restrictions on what symbols can be used in filenames than FAT32 does, and so when trying to copy from HFS+ to a FAT-formatted drive, you can run into problems. Since I often work cross-platform, I strive to maintain conservative filenames that do not use symbols excessively.

 

[Trashman]

I've got a Corsair, a couple of Emprex brand, and a couple of Sandisk Cruzers. I would recommend all of them! As far as the U3 goes...I've left it on both Cruzers, so far. I like the built in anti-virus. You can scan any computer you plug it into, which comes in handy when using friends' computers that you just know are loaded to the hilt with crap! Some people still aren't sure if they really need anti-virus or not! I have run into a problem with the U3 drive, however. It doesn't work properly if you've got NetFramework 2.0 installed. (I think it may not have worked at all.) I ended up uninstalling NetFramework 2.0 (which was needed to run a certain application). I even think NetFramework 1.1 makes it so that the U3 software doesn't load automatically, sometimes (most times?). That's ok, though, because the drive is still fully functional with NF 1.1 (needed to run another particularly useful app).

Read/Write speed is something you might want to look into. They're not all created equally.

 

[Sigman]

Just loaded PortableApps on a 1gig USB, looks pretty nice! Thanks, I'm looking forward to checking it out.

 

[Grubbster]

Sigman, you may want to check out theinfobox.com also. They have a lot of freeware applications for USB drives. They are all categorized nicely. They are not hard to add in with the portableapps stuff.