USB drives

[garrettwc]

Looking for user experiences. What gets lost, what breaks, etc?

Which ones are best or are they all about the same?

Talking about the little thumb drives not the external HDDs.

[K Frame]

I borrowed one from a neighbor to download some information I had on floppies.

They seem pretty slow compared to regularly powered drives.

[charby]

thumb drives or external hard drives?

I buy SanDisk for the thumb drives and Lacie for the external hard drives.

C

[Ben]

I like Lexar. I use the Lexar Jumpdrive secure drives, but they're kinda wide. If you have little room at your ports you want one of the skinny ones. Get USB 2 (as long as you're compatible). I have found all the flash drives that I've used to be pretty zippy in their data transfer speed.

[Dave Markowitz]

I have a 1 GB SanDisk Cruzer Mini that works well.  I use about half the space for various PC troubleshooting tools, the rest for files if I need to sneaker net something between computers.

[Bogie]

Dude, I use Lexar. Haven't had one hiccup (yet).

[cosine]

Dude, I use Lexar. Haven't had one hiccup (yet).

Really? Just yesterday my Lexar decided to space out on me. I can't open any folders in it except through the tree of folders in Windows Explorer.

Anyone have any idea what happened?

[Guest]

PNY

http://www.pny.com/products/flash/attache.asp

I use the 512MB
 

I "was" going to get a 1GB. Then I had one instructor and one classmate lose everything with one of these glitches, another student lost a 1 GB and then I ran over a 128MB PNY and lunched it.

I decided to NOT put everything on one.  "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"  adage.  So I use one for College and others for other matters. One just stays in a safe , just another way to keep that info on file another way is all.

I also recommend a 32 or 64 MB if you can find one just to have in the event you need to loan one out to give/ get something, or as simple as having contact info , medical information, on a trip or something.

[Azrael256]

Whichever one you get, one of those little USB extension cords will serve you well.  The vast majority of USB ports are in one inconvenient place or another.  You can get 3' cable with a 4-way split on one end for a few bucks that tapes nicely to the end of the desk for convenient access.

[Ben]

Whichever one you get, one of those little USB extension cords will serve you well.

To use the dreaded term, +1.
Extension cable or USB hub. Even if a computer has USB ports in the front, if the box ain't handy, you have to contort yourself to the ports. I use a nifty little Belkin hub both at home and work that has a bunch of ports in back, but also two ports sticking straight up on top of the hub. Just sits on my desk, and is easily accessible for sticking a drive or other "temp" device on one of those upright ports. The hub at work also has a 6' extension cable running off it to the area in my office where I work on computer stuff. That way I'm not having to plop external drives or whatever on top of the pile thats already covering my desk.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

I've got a Memorex 512 MB that has seen consant use for a year without fail.

[drewtam]

I've been using a 128MB Lexar for a couple years now no probs.

It has actually been through the WASH- TWICE and never lost data.

Drew

[matis]

I use a PNY, a Sandisk and a Lexar, 64, 128 & 256meg.  All work fine.  Very handy.



matis

[Ex-MA Hole]

I have a 1GB Sony, works very well.

I put everything on it, and don't worry about space.  Pics of the kid, power point presentations, word/excel stuff from work, misc vids.  It's nice (to me) to know that I have a TON of room.  

I still will email everything to myself about once a week as a backup to my backup.

(Obsess much?)


P.S.  Yes, get the extension cord if you need it, it's on my list to get, but DEFINATELY consider it.  Look at the USB ports on your system where you will use it (may be more than one; home, office, etc.,) it may be a necessity.