Flash Drive Help

[Lerxt]

I was wondering if I could get some opinions on USB Flash Drives.

I'm seeing some good deals online, but which brands are better? What features should I be looking for? Are there any features that are not worth the extra money?

Thanks

[The Wise Monkey]

It depends what you want it for. If you want it as just an easy way to transfer small amounts of data around, then any brand is fine. Hell, my USB stick was free at a Careers fair, and its never gone wrong for me.

Just make sure you get the right size. :)

[Lerxt]

Good point - I guess I should have been more clear - I was looking for the multi-GB models (4GB, 8GB) that are out there.

I see Tiger Direct has a sale on 4GB PNY drives which are dirt cheap at around $25, but then I see SanDisk at around $100 for the same capacity.

So I'm not sure if I should spend the extra $$ on SanDisk (I presume one of the better brands) which I think has more security features etc.

I guess I need to figure out what those features are and if they are important to me.

[chunkylover53]

After size, decide:
1) Will it be used for senstitive info? Do you really need something like fingerprint security?
2) Are you tough on it? Some have water-resitant features, and some are titanium for those of us with kids that can find a way to break everything.
3) Cap vs. re-tractable? The cap ones are fine if you never leave the house with it, but if you take it anywhere it's bound to get lost.
4) U3 technology? Do you need to run applications from the drive? From all I've read, it's more trouble than it's worth, but you should do more research if this is something you might do.

I've read good reviews on PNY, Sandisk and also the Corsair Flash Voyager. I have a 12gig Samsung Pleomax that is great, but I also have a cheap Memorex 512MB that has lasted through a year of rough handling (and I lost the cap the first week :D).

My advice, don't over-think this one unless you plan to have VERY sensitive data on it.

[Lerxt]

Thanks - I was thinking more of storing large amounts of data - possibly keeping a DVD image file MAX.

Security won't be an issue - this is more for moving pictures or other files nothing top secret.

As for U3, I don't think I plan on running apps from it (not an IT professional) so U3 not important, but as size goes up, most drives have that feature so if I didn't want it, I'd be SOL.

Thanks

[chunkylover53]

:confused: You raise a good question. Not sure if these drives can handle, say, a 4GB+ DVD image. I had to re-format my 750GB external hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS because of a 4GB limitation, so that might be something you look into as well.

[shyster]

What is NTFS and what did that have to do with needing to reformat a drive? I have only ever heard of Fat32 before and did not know of anything else. Does it only relate to external drives or is it something that would get used for an internal drive also?

[chunkylover53]

All's I know is that FAT32 has a 4GB file limitation. I'm counting on Wise Monkey to give us a better explanation. In the meantime, you can read this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS

My head started to spin when I got to the metafiles section, so I gave up. :o

[Lerxt]

I agree with NTFS - far superior to anything that's been around on the WinDos front. I've been using it since '99 with NT Workstation.

Apparently, you don't need to re-format a FAT32 drive to NTFS, just use the "CONVERT" utility in the Command Prompt. I got this from this site:

http://www.ntfs.com/quest3.htm

Apparently, the site also claims that you can format your flash drive as NTFS so you can get the better file system for larger files.

Plus it has more Q&A on the NTFS file format.

[The Wise Monkey]

I could tell you about the FAT file systems... but you're better off learning for yourself. :D

You are right about the 4GB limit, so having your USB drive as NTFS might not be such a bad idea. Unless you are going to be using it with Linux at some point, because Linux cannot write to NTFS since the NTFS filesystem is a Windows invention.

Also, bear in mind that you cannot convert back to FAT32 once you have changed to NTFS.

DVD image files are about 4.7GB iirc, so you might want to consider an 8GB drive at least.