You have to be careful where you purchase usb drives as well. Avoid buying them on ebay. There are fakes being sold and ebay tends to cater to their China import dollar store type sellers. Fake Kingston usb drives are more the norm on ebay than the exception.
One particularly bad seller there is grindlogic, in Austin, TX. The terms of sale for that store is 15% restocking fee plus original shipping cost deducted from refunds, and return shipping is at the seller's expense. On a $10-15 item the refund amount will be less than half the purchase price. The store will refuse to honor returns except under those conditions, so the buyer has to open a dispute which ebay automatically decides in favor of the store. This solution keeps a buyer from being able to leave negative feedback for the transaction.
Amazon is a much better source, with a great return policy, and quick refunds. I now use ebay only for used legacy parts and computers. New low cost items are much more safely purchased on Amazon than on ebay.
USB Flash Drive Quality
yep agree about.Amazon. Plus the reviews of product are not overly filtered for bad reviews. Fake products are slammed hard and generally disappear from listing after a few months. You do have to forget the first couple of fake positive reviews by plants..
The return policies are enforced by product categories and some are not returnable or refundable. I ve seem to hit those exceptions more often then most..
The return policies are enforced by product categories and some are not returnable or refundable. I ve seem to hit those exceptions more often then most..
Amazon's prime deal also lets me get free 2nd day shipping for a year for about $80usd. Since I live 22 miles from the nearest small town and over an hour's drive to any city, Amazon and ebay have been my main sources for tech stuff for years.
On the subject of usb drives, I just got a Silicon Power 16G Firma 80 flash drive from amazon for $9.99 usd. Haven't used it yet, but I'll report back on it once I've tried it out and used it for awhile.
SP reviewers on amazon said that it's a very fast drive. We'll see.
On the subject of usb drives, I just got a Silicon Power 16G Firma 80 flash drive from amazon for $9.99 usd. Haven't used it yet, but I'll report back on it once I've tried it out and used it for awhile.
SP reviewers on amazon said that it's a very fast drive. We'll see.
Dell optiplex 780, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7500 @ 2.93GHz, 4g RAM, w/ATI RV620 LE Radeon HD 3450. Currently running a full install of Slacko 6.3.0 ( 32 bit version).
Im bummed by Amazon prime video playback no longer supported by linux..And Im thinking of dropping prime altogether. Amazon opened a regional distribution center a mile from a family members house. Reports of less than a day delivery, are becoming widespread by the locals.
The new aircraft hanger like building is two or more blocks long and a few hundred feet from Regional FedEx hub..
I called and asked if I could pickup orders directly since the nearest mall is twice as far and the short cut to that mall is at Amazon front door, if they had a front door which it does not from main road.
I even volunteered to get a small item drone delivered... That was shot down and learned it was just a publicly stunt.
The new aircraft hanger like building is two or more blocks long and a few hundred feet from Regional FedEx hub..
I called and asked if I could pickup orders directly since the nearest mall is twice as far and the short cut to that mall is at Amazon front door, if they had a front door which it does not from main road.
I even volunteered to get a small item drone delivered... That was shot down and learned it was just a publicly stunt.
For me, Prime is still a valuable option. Next day shipping for $3.99 beats spending 2 hours on the road and $12 fuel cost, or waiting for the next time a trip to the city is necessary. Pluses and minuses always apply. 
Dell optiplex 780, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7500 @ 2.93GHz, 4g RAM, w/ATI RV620 LE Radeon HD 3450. Currently running a full install of Slacko 6.3.0 ( 32 bit version).
I use flash drives and SD/MicroSD cards of all sorts, all sizes all the time for installs, transfers, cloning etc.. Been so for years. Only difference I notice is the I/O speeds. Although I/O is faster than CD/DVD; external HDD is quicker by far.
I do not get a lot of drive failure(s). I always use whatever "safe to remove hardware", "un-mounting" or whatever option is offered before I go snatching the drive. If the data is crucial on the FDD/SD; I will shut the machine down before removing the device.
So saying: When these devices came out a few years ago; they were garbage. They have improved by leaps and bounds.
Over....
I do not get a lot of drive failure(s). I always use whatever "safe to remove hardware", "un-mounting" or whatever option is offered before I go snatching the drive. If the data is crucial on the FDD/SD; I will shut the machine down before removing the device.
So saying: When these devices came out a few years ago; they were garbage. They have improved by leaps and bounds.
Over....
R4, agreed. Flash drives do have to be treated correctly to make them last. I'm amazed at the quality of flash drives available these days. They're really a great improvement over the earlier ones.
Dell optiplex 780, Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E7500 @ 2.93GHz, 4g RAM, w/ATI RV620 LE Radeon HD 3450. Currently running a full install of Slacko 6.3.0 ( 32 bit version).
Post it if you get it up. I currently test devices on Windows (beginning to delve deeper into Linux): I am just starting to love this Puppy and look forward to a long and healthy relationship.slavvo67 wrote:...I never thought to compare the speeds of my usb drives. I'll have to find a bash script to compare.
Best,
Slavvo67
Thanks for the input, ya'll.
One
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RJARRRPCGP
- Posts: 97
- Joined: Tue 09 Dec 2008, 06:10
- Location: USA (Springfield, Vermont)
Re: USB Flash Drive Quality
I agree that SanDisk is hit-and-miss I had an 8 GB SanDisk Cruzer a little while ago that causes the Microsoft USB tool to keep giving error message "could not copy files to the disk" or similar. Even if Windows didn't detect squat when reformatting it...slavvo67 wrote:
Sandisk: I used to purchase many of these but I found the quality to be hit or miss. I have personally lost data on at least 2 Sandisk drives that I have not been able to recover.
I have yet to have a PNY fail on me...
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Pelo
Transcend would be my choice.
Transcend and Kingston are safe, Cruzer is safe but I dont like because to small to decorate (stickers for meMorize what is inside)
Intenso not bad.
PNY : no ! (used only once but hardly contact on old usb hub).
Intenso not bad.
PNY : no ! (used only once but hardly contact on old usb hub).
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Last edited by Pelo on Tue 01 Aug 2017, 16:42, edited 2 times in total.
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Pelo
San disk Cruzer contains a protection software
Caractéristiques et avantages
Compacte, portative et avec un couvercle à rabat
Transportez vos données en toute sécurité sur un porte-clé
Le logiciel SanDisk SecureAccess™ protège vos fichiers confidentiels avec un mot de passe personnel et un cryptage AES 128 bits automatique²
Son utilisation ne pourrait pas être plus facile : vous glissez-déposez simplement vos fichiers dans votre répertoire privé ou « coffre » et ils sont en sécurité
Disponible en versions 8 Go, 16 Go, 32 Go et 64 Go
These pendrivess contains a protection software which could bother puppy users. Format it !
Compacte, portative et avec un couvercle à rabat
Transportez vos données en toute sécurité sur un porte-clé
Le logiciel SanDisk SecureAccess™ protège vos fichiers confidentiels avec un mot de passe personnel et un cryptage AES 128 bits automatique²
Son utilisation ne pourrait pas être plus facile : vous glissez-déposez simplement vos fichiers dans votre répertoire privé ou « coffre » et ils sont en sécurité
Disponible en versions 8 Go, 16 Go, 32 Go et 64 Go
These pendrivess contains a protection software which could bother puppy users. Format it !
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Time has moved on, looking at the first posts..
..while still using 512MB Kingston Alimta stick ( silver case ) to test
different half/dead PC-s, laptops to detect errors or for data recovery, etc.
There's literally a number of places this thing has not been stuffed into over the years..
Has TahrPup605 with some extras and some free space..
Later manufactured 8GB Kingston.. did not last a month.
Used it then in DVB-S2 / DVB-T multimedia box for timer recording until it became "read only"..
SanDisk Cruzer Edge 8GB for data is ok (less issues with client Winz, sees it as HDD), maybe not for
booting Puppy from it.
..while still using 512MB Kingston Alimta stick ( silver case ) to test
different half/dead PC-s, laptops to detect errors or for data recovery, etc.
There's literally a number of places this thing has not been stuffed into over the years..
Has TahrPup605 with some extras and some free space..
Later manufactured 8GB Kingston.. did not last a month.
Used it then in DVB-S2 / DVB-T multimedia box for timer recording until it became "read only"..
SanDisk Cruzer Edge 8GB for data is ok (less issues with client Winz, sees it as HDD), maybe not for
booting Puppy from it.
Using a cheap unbranded ?? (Integral) 32GB flash stick as I write this.
Incredibly slow to write. OK read.
Deleted original partitions and repartitioned as a single ext2 ... installed grub4dos bootloader.
I have the main Debian filesystem.squashfs (like puppy.sfs) extracted to the / partition and a empty filesystem.squashfs, with the USB label set as usbpersitence ... so when booted
persistence persistence-read-only persistence-label=usbpersistence
its like a frugal install with no changes preserved, with everything in the save space (parition save 'file') and nothing in the equivalent of puppy.sfs. 1.6GB of used space (uncompressed filesystem, with libre, firefox ... etc. installed) Booted that way runs great, as good as HDD. That set up however also means it can be booted as though a full install i.e. for applying updates (including kernel upgrades) ... but booted that way is slow (as its writing to USB rather than storing all writes in ram). Just about bearable, a bit like the ol-days and comparable to perhaps being internet connected at a 9600 baud rate type pain (ok, usable, but not good). Fortunately updates are a thing you can just kick off and leave via a single command ... and then return later to reboot back into faster read-only mode again (normal usage).
Incredibly slow to write. OK read.
Deleted original partitions and repartitioned as a single ext2 ... installed grub4dos bootloader.
I have the main Debian filesystem.squashfs (like puppy.sfs) extracted to the / partition and a empty filesystem.squashfs, with the USB label set as usbpersitence ... so when booted
persistence persistence-read-only persistence-label=usbpersistence
its like a frugal install with no changes preserved, with everything in the save space (parition save 'file') and nothing in the equivalent of puppy.sfs. 1.6GB of used space (uncompressed filesystem, with libre, firefox ... etc. installed) Booted that way runs great, as good as HDD. That set up however also means it can be booted as though a full install i.e. for applying updates (including kernel upgrades) ... but booted that way is slow (as its writing to USB rather than storing all writes in ram). Just about bearable, a bit like the ol-days and comparable to perhaps being internet connected at a 9600 baud rate type pain (ok, usable, but not good). Fortunately updates are a thing you can just kick off and leave via a single command ... and then return later to reboot back into faster read-only mode again (normal usage).
Nice to see even the cheap USB's have some usability.
Just a quick note about my favorite, PNY... they seem to be increasing in price. I try to get the 64gb 3.0 at around the $20 U.S. price point. Every once in a while you can catch them near that price... that's when I stock up
They say there's a newer version than the one I usually buy on the link below but if the newer version means paying $10 to $20 more (50% to 100% increase), I'll just stick with what works good.
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Turbo-64GB-F ... gb+3.0+usb
Just a quick note about my favorite, PNY... they seem to be increasing in price. I try to get the 64gb 3.0 at around the $20 U.S. price point. Every once in a while you can catch them near that price... that's when I stock up
They say there's a newer version than the one I usually buy on the link below but if the newer version means paying $10 to $20 more (50% to 100% increase), I'll just stick with what works good.
https://www.amazon.com/PNY-Turbo-64GB-F ... gb+3.0+usb
£10 (around US$7.50) for that 32GB ... and that's USB2. I don't use USB's that much and haven't even upgraded the PC's ports to having any USB3 yet, so I'm not really up on prices. Just a spontaneous purchase whilst in a shopping queue of a general store, one of those pick up and drop in the basket whilst you're waiting purchases.
Nice idea of stocking up when prices are lower. Similar to my general add-low/reduce-high investment strategy
Nice idea of stocking up when prices are lower. Similar to my general add-low/reduce-high investment strategy
Just a quick FYI, USB 3.0 sticks still work faster than regular 2.0 sticks EVEN IN 2.0 USB PORTS!!! Really interesting so while you may not get the full 3.0 speed, it's still faster than the normal 2.0 stick.
[/quote]
- We call that dollar-cost averaging or averaging down.Similar to my general add-low/reduce-high investment strategy.
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slavvo67, I agree on PNY quality. I have one of their first 1Gb sticks, it has been with me for many years now, still used for temporary backup, never failed. The same for an old TDK 8Gb, it is the most visible of them, flashing led in a pale blue cover. I have 2 SanDisk Cruzer Edge 32Gb that I have been using for temporary backup for the last 3 years, and they seem stable enough. I also have 2 mini SanDisk 8Gb for music only, they are still OK. The one I most regret buying, is a SanDisk Ultra 16Gb, but not for bad performance. It is just too wide for allowing 2 USB-anything mounted side-by-side in a standard 4 port USB dock, simply stupid design!
My very first 128Mb stick in the photo below, along with the latest SanDisk 8Gb mini. The 128Mb is still used for backup, but I don't remember the make.
tallboy
My very first 128Mb stick in the photo below, along with the latest SanDisk 8Gb mini. The 128Mb is still used for backup, but I don't remember the make.
tallboy
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True freedom is a live Puppy on a multisession CD/DVD.