What's the best USB media?

[slowride]

WHAT is recomended, for MOST DURABLE LONG LASTING USB MEDIA?

Or at least, which should be "Avoided like bad dope"

I'd like to get a handful of 8gig's for ISO's I want to keep,

Ditto for 32 / 64 gigs for backing up purposes.

Thanks!

[april]

Don't forget the old reliable CD's or DVD's for this .

dd copy to wherever you want them .

[Moat]

Ditto April's CD recommendation - I still like to use them to save/run my favorite Pups/Dogs, anyway...

No idea about "best", but I've had great luck with SanDisk sticks (love the little 8 Gb Cruzer Fits, in particular) - not so great luck with PNY.

FWIW

Bob

[8Geee]

Been running those Cruzer Fits for a while... pretty good speed considering (20Mb/s reads). But for the ultimate longevity CD-R. I have a few from 2002-3 that still load/run properly. Slower to load/run Puppy, but the most secure way to pup around the internet.

Regards
8Geee

[jafadmin]

Sandisk

[mikeslr]

I agree that Sandisk have been consistently good. I really haven't had bad luck with any USB-2.0, even some off-brand "8 Gbs" I picked up in a package of 3 for about $12, However, they weren't really "8s" -- more like 7.5 Gb, which is fine for most Puppies, tranporting files between computers and such. But could not be used for ETP's recent Pup which actually need 8 Gb.

For backup/storage, I really recommend a good, perhaps used, hard-drive, external if you can get one at the right price. But even an "internal" can be used. There are adapters ($15 +/-) which will connect them to a USB-port. A 500 Gb drive will cost far less than 31 16Gb Sticks or 62 8Gb Sticks. Maybe about the price of 10 Sandisk 8 Gb USB-Sticks.

If plugged in only to backup or access what you've backed up they will probably out live you.

mikesLr

[Mike Walsh]

I'll also 'second' SanDisks. Formerly, I used the Cruzer 'Blades', and nowadays, the Cruzer 'Fit's (USB 2.0) & 'Ultra Fit's (USB 3.0).

For a while I ran Tahrpup on an elderly Dell lappie from a 16 GB 'Fit'. These things are so tiny, you've got to look hard to spot where it's actually plugged-in! They're about the size of a mouse 'dongle'...

The Dell lappie now has 256 GB of 'external' storage, in addition to the 64 GB internal SSD, thanks to a pair of 128 GB 'Ultra Fit' drives permanently plugged-in to the back.


Mike.

[Fossil]

SanDisk are good. However......., as Mike has so aptly stated:

These things are so tiny, you've got to look hard to spot where it's actually plugged-in! They're about the size of a mouse 'dongle'...

Don't drop one on the carpet just prior to doing the hoovering! Yes, folks, I do the housework (Oh, my housemaid's knees!) . A brief rattle and the small black USB device went AWOL up the vacuum's pipe, never to be found again! Be warned, they are a (add epithet of choice) to find! Why the heck the plastic doesn't come in bright 'dayglo' colours is beyond me. SanDisk - take note!

[drunkjedi]

I have a Transcend 1Gb USB pen drive from 2004.
It was then top of the Iine brand new costly product.
It's still booting fine.
My regular Fatdog Tahr64 boot from it.

Come to think of it, I never had a USB pen drive failure.

SD cards failures were many.

Also USB drives are cheaper now, so just keep a copy and don't worry about failure.

[Mike Walsh]

I have a Transcend 1Gb USB pen drive from 2004.
It was then top of the Iine brand new costly product.
It's still booting fine.
My regular Fatdog Tahr64 boot from it.

That doesn't surprise me in the least. Transcend have always concentrated on the industrial sector, first & foremost.....where reliability and long service life are of paramount importance.

It's only natural that the build quality should eventually filter down to the consumer range..... That thing'll keep going for years, yet. Guarantee it!


Mike.

[8Geee]

I'll second the transcends. They make the best SD(HC, XC) cards full size, and best CF's. Dunno about their uSDHC stuff.

Right now I'm using Chinese brands uSDHC with good sucess and cheap price (32Gb = US$8.30 and 16Gb < US$5). I must say that the adapter is everything... if it don't contact, it don't work. In some cases the boot flag needs to be added, and is recommended.

[greengeek]

I used to find Sandisk products 100% reliable but have changed my opinion in the last year as I have had several microSD cards either fail or provide poor write performance - specifically in car video cams they failed to save files reliably.

I have replaced them with Strontium and Samsung microSD cards.
(Might be only microSD cards that Sandisk is having trouble with - the cruzer fit sticks I have still perform well)

I also have great respect for Transcend media - never had a failure yet.

I recently picked up some 8GB Strontium usb sticks and so far they have been good.

Whatever you buy - try to find accurate "write speed" data before you buy. Some usb media is quick to read but horribly slow to write and that makes them a pain - especially when you shut down.

Also - the slower the write speed of the media the more likely it is to create corrupt data as a result of you pulling it out of the machine before the sync function has successfully completed the data transfer.

Short answer - buy Samsung, Transcend or Strontium.

[hamoudoudou]

Avoid mechanical systems ! Transcend and many others are safe. Shape is important too. Not too small, not too big. There is some pleasure with rounders corners.
About CDs, sure wnen a CD was burn succesfully itt will last ad vitam aeternam. But what about CD player, it's is a weak point of laptops. USB flashdive will not break anything.