Best USB flash drive manufacturer?


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Hello,

Looking for a USB flash drive today, I wondered what was Neowin's opinion on their best USB flash drive manufacturer. Take in account how long they last (wear and tear), fastest read/write speeds, durability and these factors related to price :)

Thank you

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I know a friend of mine likes Patriot Supersonic Boost XT line. They make USB 2.0 as well as 3.0. So faster write speeds.

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Super Talent and Patriot - ive had a few Patriots in the past which are great, but never owned a Super Talent.

 

Also, like most things, im sure that a lot of flash drives are made by Foxconn or something and simply rebranded...

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I unequivocally recommend Patriot's flash drives, in particular the Boost XT series.

 

I have owned several Patriot Xporter Boost XT flash drives, and they have all been fantastic. I was first tempted to buy one when the series was fairly new, mostly because the read/write speeds were top of their class for USB 2.0 flash drives. The reviews on NewEgg were very positive, so I bought my first (4 GB) Xporter Boost XT in 2008. I used that flash drive heavily over the next two years until I bought another of the same series (an 8 GB this time). More recently I purchased a Patriot Supersonic Boost XT so I could take advantage of the USB 3.0 port on my laptop. Keeping with the trend of its predecessor, the Patriot Supersonic Boost XT is one of the fastest USB 3.0 flash drives available. Its performance is easily double that of my older USB 2.0 flash drives when plugged into a USB 3.0 port, and it performs virtually identically to my Xporters when plugged into a USB 2.0 port.

 

Since my first experience with the Xporter, I have purchased many more Patriot Xporter Boost XT flash drives of various sizes. They have all been extremely durable, and the read/write speeds have not degraded noticeably with extensive use. Several of mine have accidentally gone through the washing machine and/or drier once or twice without ever showing any ill effects. Not a single one has failed on me, or anyone I have given one to, which is impressive considering that I have bought so many over the last 5 years that I have lost count. The Patriot Supersonic Boost XT flash drives I have bought for myself and family members have maintained the same level of quality while improving the read/write speeds. While I haven't sent a Supersonic through the washing machine (yet) or observed the durability and performance over as long a period of time as the Xporter, I have no reason to believe that the Supersonic won't last just as long while continuing to perform well.

 

Taking into account the flash drives I have given to friends and family members as I have purchased larger ones, I currently own (1) 8 GB, (1) 16 GB, and (1) 32 GB Patriot Xporter Boost XT; additionally I have (1) 16 GB Patriot Supersonic Boost XT. Therefore I'm not merely telling you with minimal confidence that I think you should try this hardware; I have clearly already voted with my wallet.

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Hello,

 

I have had good results with Corsair, Lexar, Patriot and SanDisk USB flash drives.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

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I used Sandisk exclusively before switching to a portable HDD and personal FTP server as I lost too many of them.

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Does anyone really ever have many problems with flash drives? I've used about every brand you can think of and I have never had any problems with any of them.

 

Any premium you pay is probably marketing ###### or some novelty factor (shiny gold, doubles as a bottle opener, vibrates, grates cheese, etc.)

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I'd personally recommend Imation, Emtec and SanDisk.

 

Always remember to backup frequently, and stay away from the Chinese stuff.

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I bet if you opened up most cheap nasty USB Flash drives they'd have Sandisk memory inside them.

 

However, the best USB flash drive is the one you don't physically break or lose. :p

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the cheap ones you buy at bestbuy are all generally pretty crappy regardless of brand. there are good ones out there but unless you have a particular need for a fast or high quality build the price is probably not worth it. I used to go with SanDisk exclusively, but now I just have a bunch of cheap junk I got for free, and the one daily carry flash drive that I actually purchased is from Verbatim, its worked well so far.

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Since most of the USB flash drives share the same flash manufacturers and flash controllers, i would chose the ones that were most reliable and had high performance: check for reviews from the sites that crack open USB flash drives and check for yourself the ones that last more time due to better controllers and flash memory (there are a lot of rebranded stuff out there that are technically the same but with a different price tag).

 

For me I've stopped using a flash drive (i still have 2 of them in my bag, just for booting up Windows or Linux live CDs) because i tend to loose them and low space they have. So now i just use a encrypted USB 3.0 1TB disk, that's very fast, secure and at least it's hard to loose it. :)

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Does anyone really ever have many problems with flash drives? I've used about every brand you can think of and I have never had any problems with any of them.

 

Any premium you pay is probably marketing bull**** or some novelty factor (shiny gold, doubles as a bottle opener, vibrates, grates cheese, etc.)

 

Yeah! Actually I did run into a problem once!

 

Once I bought a USB, and it wasn't in the shape of a tiny blue bunny! Had to return the damn thing...

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Does anyone really ever have many problems with flash drives? I've used about every brand you can think of and I have never had any problems with any of them.

 

Any premium you pay is probably marketing bull**** or some novelty factor (shiny gold, doubles as a bottle opener, vibrates, grates cheese, etc.)

 

well i do have a Kingston 8GB that once i use more than 4GB the drive just go completly nuts and starts to read and write more and more slowly... it's probably dieing. :rofl:

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Does anyone really ever have many problems with flash drives? I've used about every brand you can think of and I have never had any problems with any of them.

 

Any premium you pay is probably marketing bull**** or some novelty factor (shiny gold, doubles as a bottle opener, vibrates, grates cheese, etc.)

 

 

Same here, been using USB flash drive since 2gb was a HUGE drive, have never had one fail or not perform to standard

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Patriot, ADATA, Kingston, stay away from card edge.

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I'd recommend SanDisk. Kingston drives are also durable, I still have a decade old 512MB drive that still works.

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