JDtech

Not all USB flash drives are created equal, so before you run out and buy a new one, think about the features you'll need in the drive and how you'll carry it.

Your first consideration should be storage capacity. Knowing approximately how much storage space you'll need or want will help you to limit the number of flash drives from which you have to choose. Since you'll probably be storing a fair amount of data on the drive, I suggest you start with models of no less than 16 gigabytes (GB). These tend to run in the 25 to 35 dollar range. Beyond that, you'll find models in 32, 64, 128, and even 256 GB, with prices generally doubling along with capacity.

Capacity isn't all that matters, though. Size and design do, as well. Generally, smaller and thinner are better--and if you'll be carrying your drive on a key ring, which is very convenient, look for a drive that has a key ring hole large enough to fit on the keychain you carry. Some drives--like the LaCie iamaKey, WhizKey, or CooKey--are even designed to look exactly like a key. Key-like or not, thin drives are important because with them, you can be sure that they'll be able to squeeze the drive into a USB port that might have a neighboring device in an adjacent port. Some drives are so thick that their casing obstructs an adjacent USB port.

Speed and durability are also important. To determine how fast a drive is, you can start by comparing drive speed statistics. USB flash drives tout read and write speeds ranging from 10 megabytes per second (MB/s) up to 32 MB/s and higher. Supplement this research, though, by reading user reviews on such sites as Amazon.com or Newegg.com. These will give you a good idea of real-world read and write speeds, and you'll likely also find out here how prone a drive is to damage from carrying or to outright failure for no apparent reason.

Do you have experience--good or bad--with flash drives? Please let us know.

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Jim W

I use SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 16GB and really like it, I removed the U3 program and installed Ceedo

jcjacob

I second the comments on SanDisk Cruzer. I've used flash drives by other manufacturers, and these have (for me) been the fastest and most reliable.

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-John

Sidebyte

I'm very selective regarding flash or thumb drives........I buy the ones that are "on sale".

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Thunder9

have a sandisk cruzer which sits on the top of my desk, mainly because i detest the little sucker, had all sorts of issues with it and went back to my Lexar. But each to his/her own. I am also a great believer in the on sale items.