Options
USB Drive Help
TheVoid
Posts: 3,086
Forum Member
✭✭✭
Hi,
I am looking to buy a 16GB drive but I want decent speeds. Can anyone suggest a good one please?
Also, I presume 'read' means copying from the drive to a pc, and 'write' means to write to the usb drive?
Thanks
I am looking to buy a 16GB drive but I want decent speeds. Can anyone suggest a good one please?
Also, I presume 'read' means copying from the drive to a pc, and 'write' means to write to the usb drive?
Thanks
0
Comments
Thanks, maybe people think too much about read/write speeds?
I don't want to end up spending £8 on a slow drive that's all.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Patriot-PEF16GSBUSB-Supersonic-Boost-Flash/dp/B007JPVVOI
Look at some more reviews at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Patriot-Supersonic-Boost-Flash-PEF16GSBUSB/dp/B007JPVVOI/ref=pd_sim_e_2
After reading some online reviews it seems that the read speed of the XT is good but the write speed not so good. Here's some benchmarked tests of USB drives: http://www.whoratesit.com/USBFlashPro/User?id=91
I'm guessing there's not that much noticable difference really then? I can't decide which one to get at all.
How though? It's not utilising the 3.0 at all.
If you conduct a Google search you will find that the majority opinion is that USB 3.0 drives make better use of USB 2.0 ports than USB 2.0 drives. This is probably because the USB 3.0 drive is capable of higher speeds as standard. USB 2.0 devices are capable of full and high speeds and USB 3.0 super speed, although a USB 2.0 port does not support super speed.
You can check your USB 2.0 ports via Device Manager to see whether they are 'full speed' or 'high speed'. High speed allows much faster read/write operations, up to 40x. Method - connect your USB drive to any port then open up Device Manager. Expand the 'Universal Serial Bus controllers'. Depending on your OS you will need to click either the Generic USB Hubs or the USB Root Hubs (start at the bottom device).
Right click each one and select Properties. Then click the Power tab and look at Attached devices. If the USB drive is connected to that port or hub the description will have 2 lines of info namely USB Composite Device and USB Mass Storage Device. Find the right one and then click the Advanced tab. The hub or port information should say 'operating at high-speed'.
When it comes to your dilemma about which drive to buy, you need to approach this from 2 viewpoints. The read speed and the write speed. With both the faster the better. When it comes to write speeds, drives are tested on their ability to write to the drive using both small file sizes and large.
You really want a drive that does well on the weakest test, writing small files, taking into account how much this will cost. But the test most widely recognised is the read speed, i.e. how quickly the data on the drive is read by the computer.
Just out of interest this link tells you the logos to look out for when buying a USB 2.0 drive: http://www.usb.org/developers/packaging/
Thanks for that, really helpful advice.
I'm now looking at this one -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-JetFlash-Super-Speed-Drive/dp/B004HC98C8/ref=sr_1_1?m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1380357135&sr=1-1&keywords=16gb+usb+3.0
I'm guessing as it's 3.0 it should give me max speed?
My USB ports are displaying as 'high speed'.
Will a 3.0 device work as a normal USB device in standard 2.0 ports then? i.e. PS3, Xbox?
Ideally I wanted a Lexar, but can't find any 3.0 ones in black.
Will a USB 3.0 drive work with 2.0 ports? Yes, they are backwards compatible, stop worrying!
Couldn't find a black one?? What's colour got to do with it? My USB drives are all different colours and I don't give the colour any thought. I've even got a pink one...USB drive that is!
Kingston drive: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-16GB-DataTraveler-Flash/dp/B008BSIJXS/
Comparison between Kingston & Jetflash: http://usb-flash-drives.whoratesit.com/Compare/Kingston-DataTraveler-R30-USB-30-16GB-vs-Transcend-JetFlash-700-USB-30-16GB/1435vs1275
Do speeds really matter when you're only transferring smallish files? i.e. a 8gb folder full of 5mb-10mb files?
This is the one I'm now looking at -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0045ICK0Q/ref=nosim
Just Google your speed question and see what comes up. It's no good me playing catch up all the time. First of all you want a fast drive at a good price, which is fair enough, that's what we all want. Then Maxatoria questions the validity of using USB 3.0 on a 2.0 slot, then barky99 reckons USB 3.0 is better, then I get curious about this and check it out as best I can, then you say halfheartedly that you're looking for a black Lexar drive, and now you want a retractable USB 2.0 drive.
You need to make your mind up what it is that you want exactly and go from there. There are so many variables as to how fast the drive will be when you're using it on your system components it's impossible to say drive A is any better than drive B.
All you can do is read up as much as you can taking into account your system, which you know better than anyone here and your desire for a retractable drive and see which drive comes up trumps.
Bear in mind that drives only last a couple of years anyway in my experience. After that time they start corrupting data (even with write-behind caching disabled) and that's a sign it's on its way out. I've always bought drives that claimed to be fast and the only one that actually is, is the Patriot, but maybe for my system setup, it's ideal, whereas for yours, it'd just be another slow drive.
There are so many drives on the market it's hard to know which one to go for. I would prefer a black retractable 16GB stick, with decent speeds.
You either buy a drive that has valid reviews, both good and bad, from competent reviewers (if they are competent that is and we have have no way of knowing whether they are), or you know roughly what you want spec wise and do the research yourself, eliminating ones that don't fit the bill along the way.
I try and do a combination of both when I am buying things. It's debatable whether the time it takes researching is worth the effort though.
Well I think I'm going to go with these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lexar-JumpDrive-Flash-Drive-Pack/dp/B00C1X2PSY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380447150&sr=8-1&keywords=lexar+8gb+pack+of+2
Probably more handy to have 2 sticks rather than a 16GB one that I won't even use up.
These are purely for passing photos on to family, and displaying photos on my TV via the TV's USB port. I think these will be adequate enough. What do you think?
If you're going to be passing them on to other people you're taking a risk because they won't look after the drives as well as you would. The S70 has attracted some lousy reviews on Amazon.com, but it's a slightly different model. I found another USB drive comparison site with 38 user reviews (in the last 60 days) of the S70 drive in all its capacities, of which something like 7 were of the 8GB version, and all the results were different. http://usbspeed.nirsoft.net/?pdesc=Lexar+JumpDrive+S70+32+Gb&vname=Lexar+Media%2C+Inc.&vid=1500&pid=41473
Even though the testing was conducted using the site owner's testing software, there's no way of knowing how old the drives were when they were tested, or how well they've been looked after. So this in effect makes the results invalid.
Even though I appreciate you asking for my opinion, really I don't know which drive is the best and neither does anyone else by all accounts. Just pay your money and take your chance!
My family will look after USB sticks that I lend them. I'm not worried about that. Do you not think they'll be fast enough to display photos quickly on a TV then?
I have a whole bunch of USB drives of various types, makes and capacity. All my pcs have USB3 at the rear and USB2 at the front, but I just use the front USB2 sockets. The fastest of all my drives (on USB2) is my Sandisk Extreme 32GB USB3 - 35MB/s read + write. My slowest is a Sandisk Cruzer Blade USB2 - about 3MB/s. The Extreme is retractable and a nice bit of kit. I tested it on a USB3 socket and got 200MB/s read.
I use the slower drives for OS install (FAT32) + the fast ones for data. Most are exFAT, but I have one FAT that I use for XP repairs etc. BTW I got a load of coloured lanyards on the bay for a quid to tell all the drives apart.
Extreme 32GB on Amazon -
http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-SDCZ80-032G-X46-Extreme-Flash-Drive/dp/B007YXA5TC/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1380455440&sr=1-3&keywords=sandisk+extreme+32gb
Only going to be using them once a month or for emergencies.