21 USB drives tested, 20 immediately misplaced

It's three days until Christmas and you're looking for last-minute gift ideas for tech-inclined friends and colleagues. You decide on a USB drive, but how do figure out what's best to get -- attraction to hammers, ability to open beer bottles, or some other, clearly inferior metric entirely? Kristofer Brozio at Test Freaks Blog took 21 drives of various sizes (5 each of 1, 2, 4 and 8GB and one 64GB Patriot Magnum) and models and tested their transfer speeds. Top marks went to the 4GB OCZ, Sandisk, Lexar, and Super Talent models, as well as the 1GB SanDIsk. Given the small sample size, we can't really say if the speeds were the result of the capacities of the drive or the company who makes them, but it's definitely some flash-based food for thought. Hit the read link for the full results.

[scarflash Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:10PM]

seriously?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:17PM]

seriously

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:20PM]

indubitably

[iheartevo Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:34PM]

You keep using that word...I do not think you know what it means.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:54PM]

Ridiculously.

[dbvii Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:56PM]

@Boarderwoot

Sleep well, for I'll most likely kill you in the morning.

[Eternity Posted Dec 22nd 2008 4:16PM]

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/04/07/kanguru_pricey_64gb_flash_disk/
My how times have changed.....


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220370&Tpk=patriot%20xporter%20magnum
Cheaply! is correct.

At least in 2 years.

[JJjjjjjjjjjj Posted Dec 22nd 2008 8:23PM]

Sleep well, and dream of large women.

By the way, if the editors are giving any of these away, I'd like to have the wooden one.

[Larz Posted Dec 22nd 2008 8:41PM]

Problem is that this article assumes that transfer speed is your #1 concern. I don't care that it takes 5 seconds instead of 10 seconds to copy whatever... what I care about is size (physical size). I want the tiniest drive possible, which is why I love my I-Stick (though I hate the name, and any name starting with "i"). Tiny, flat, hardly thicker than a couple credit cards, so it fits nicely into my wallet. Hopefully there are even smaller one's out now, as mine's getting old. Only 2 GB, but that's plenty big for what I use a convenient carry-with-me-everywhere-drive for. I use a 2.5" 320GB drive for more serious external storage.

[AyeBeAPirate Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:11PM]

You know, I remember thinking my USB 1.0 Nomad MuVo (which packed a hardcore 32MB) was pretty awesome.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 4:24PM]

and plugging them into the USB port used to give me a woodie too

[broli Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:13PM]

Looks like the other sticks aren't all too happy about the winners.

[AMiSHPiRACY Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:29PM]

I always thought the USB end was the butt of the device, meaning they're all mooning the winners.

[Hackettman Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:19PM]

I was actually wondering how the ironkey would fare...... I had been eyeing it for some time now....

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:24PM]

you've been iEyeing it?

[Hackettman Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:39PM]

Nice..... kudos......

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:21PM]

the best flash drive I have ever had:

http://www.walletex.com/ViewCategory.asp?CatID=1

its still a little expensive, but its really cool

[shoman24v Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:23PM]

I feel bad for who ever carries that strange looking one in their pocket.

[htd Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:26PM]

I feel bad for anyone carrying a thumbdrive on his neck...

[conscious Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:36PM]

i'll take the swissarmy one if it's got all the tools...

[EricR Posted Dec 22nd 2008 5:33PM]

It has _some_ of the tools and is a good USB drive -- I have used mine for the last year.

It only fared middle of the pack at best in their tests but some things you can't measure on charts like these. How many of those others can open a box, file your fingernails, or trim threads off your clothing... you get the idea - I like it, its usefulness goes beyond the realm of digital media.

[Coffee Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:26PM]

I'm guessing about 3 companies make the flash module used by all of these "manufacturers", who re-brand them and put cute little cow faces on them or chrome them up?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:36PM]

has there been a comparison done against SD cards?

[Dee Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:37PM]

LOL! It's funny I've had 3 different USB thumb drives and I've lost all three of them...good thing I don't work for the CIA or FBI :)

[g3neralknyght Posted Dec 22nd 2008 5:09PM]

You really think the CIA or FBI allows a thumbdrive to enter or exit the building?

[dunowhattohaveasusername Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:39PM]

Ehm.. by the way, the speed of USB all depends of your CPU load... it's a CPU dependent bus as opposed to firewire which has it's own bus... so there is not really any speed factor anyway when you have a USB key since it's a slow bus.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:45PM]

Where the hell is Crucial? I have relied on their memory (of all types) for years.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:50PM]

"That being said, if you’re looking for sheer capacity, obviously the Patriot Magnum Exporter 64gb USB drive fits your needs, and it also offers fairly decent performance as well, but it’s expensive and I’m not sure there’s need for that much storage right now."
What are you kidding me. You sound like those "64mb of ram is all you'll ever need" people back in the day.
I'll stuff an OS into one of those things and boot off of it in case I need to do any repairs or just for convenience.
Penguins On A Chain!
With media.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 3:56PM]

OCZ ATV TURBO just kills all other USB drives speed wire. Its a killer USB Drive. By far the fastest drive ever owned

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 4:12PM]

The Corsair 32GB Voyager is on sale for $44.99 at Newegg. Here are the details: http://www.techdealdigger.com/deals/corsair-cmfusb20-32gb-44-at-newegg/5793

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 4:10PM]

As you wish......

[Raul7 Posted Dec 22nd 2008 4:17PM]

Wow, I haven't seen people use those in ages! I thought it's all about the "cloud" now? You know, store your stuff on a server?

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 4:17PM]

thats a good deal

[jashsayani Posted Dec 22nd 2008 4:47PM]

I love the Cruzer enterprise.

The Swiss knife one is also cool... and the one with a bio-metric finger scanner on the left!

[Kombatmedik Posted Dec 22nd 2008 5:15PM]

UBS CIRCLEJERK!!!

[Eternal Density Posted Dec 22nd 2008 5:27PM]

Mine looks like a chopped-off USB cable. Far more likely to get lost or accidentally discarded!

[Eternal Density Posted Dec 22nd 2008 5:27PM]

My USB drive, that is.

[Sublime865 Posted Dec 22nd 2008 5:49PM]

I have 3 supertalent drives, they all crapped out in 5 minutes. Sweet size and design though!

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 6:47PM]

I've given up on usb drives last year. Now i'm using sandish mobilemate with 8gb sdhc card. At least if i spoiled the drive i still have the card. Not to mentioned i can transfer out files from my mobile to my mates mobile with ease never needing to use the crappy bluetooth transfer. its also smaller than 95% of flash drive out there.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 9:51PM]

@ ajmalzx

I second that. An 8GB microSDHC card and a sandisk mobilemate micro reader cost me $45 (australian) and I use it as my flash drive. They're also around in 16GB too and very fast for their size.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 22nd 2008 10:31PM]

If you are doing some sort of testing of USB drives @ december 2008 the focus should be on 8GB and higher! Really, testing 1GB drives? It's even getting difficult just to buy any 1GB drive nowadays. And what, no Kingston? Must be one of the most populair brandnames at the moment (I know, since I sell them as well!). Also only testing for speed is not enough, it's just 1 factor. Many people don't care about speed. For the ones that speed is important there are many fast drives out there. Formfactor, durability, encryption possibilities etc to name a few should be tested as well. Happy Holidays!

[Ineptitude Posted Dec 23rd 2008 12:33AM]

I've got 8 of the tiny Super Talent drives on a chain in my truck loaded with 32GB of the best of my MP3s. I just plug one in to the front of my stereo and I've got access to the 40 albums on it.

I've also got an 8GB tiny Super Talent drive on my keychain which has taken loads of abuse. It's been submerged many times, run through the washer and dryer and still works. I don't care if it's not the fastest. Because it's so small and lives on my keychain I never lose it.

Sorry to hear that Andrew hasn't had the luck I have had with these.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 23rd 2008 2:46AM]

I have those as well. They make great gifts, and people can't believe 8GB fit on something so small.

Hell, I even engraved one and gave it to my fiancée as a necklace pendant. Crafted the chain and necklace myself with a clasp for easy removal.

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 23rd 2008 3:47AM]

If speed is a main concern for you, this OCZ model I saw on Newegg looks good. It uses the eSATA connector and is supposed to be very fast. Also has a mini-USB jack on the other end, and a cable for use on non-eSATA systems (although they don't say what the speed penalty is for using USB).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227392

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 23rd 2008 4:49AM]

I like the tiny one in the center.
The smalle the better.

[Raul7 Posted Dec 23rd 2008 11:52AM]

Thats not what she said!