Flash Drives which one do you use?

[asaya]

I am going to buy a flash drive for a number of reasons but not the least is to store Pics from my laptop so that I can move them to my PC. Any suggestions on minimum memory, brand that you may have used and found positive would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[mallaig]

Tony, I use an USB-powered hard drive from WD. The name escapes me right now, but its a laptop sized HD in a sleek black case and available in 80GB, 120GB and 160GB. I went for the 120GB drive as it was only a little more expensive than the 80GB. The 160GB was almost twice as much. Data transfer rates are around 35MB/s which I consider very good for a USB device.

I used to have a USB flash drive from SanDisk but the transfer speed was very slow and it only had 2GB capacity. It's a couple of years old and I don't know how much flash drives have improved since, but it's a non-issue to me.

Cheers.

 

[Kerry Pierce]

I've got a couple of 4gig Kingston flash drives, one of which is used for Vista's ReadyBoot.cache. Work fine for me. For the big stuff, I use the WD My Book 500gig external USB 2 drives. You can usually find them on sale at Staples, Office Depot, etc. for under $200. They also have lower capacity drives for cheaper prices.

 

[simonramsden]

Tony

Given the choice, I wouldn't use a flash drives to transfer the pictures. You'd be better off opting for an external USB laptop drive - cheaper and much more capacity.

However, if you do insist on using flash drives, then they are all pretty much OK. My employer insists on Kingston for 2 reasons.

1 - the make memory so chances are they know what they're doing
2 - encryption - we have to use encryption for any off line storage

Sandisk make a good line - a lot of photographers swear by their CF/SD cards, their USB Flash Drives are very good too - the ruggedized freedom range have a useful lanyard on them.

As an aside, I was speaking to a colleague of mine who has stopped using DVD's for long term storage as they degrade over time. He now uses USB Pen drives and has a shelf loaded up with pen drives all numbered and catalogued.

 

[asaya]

Thanks everyone for the input. I am using a portable hard drive for backup purposes. I travel a lot for work and figured I also could use the flashs drive for that purpose as well. I will look into the Kingston and Sandisk lines.

Thanks

 

[P'Cola-Roy]

SanDisk Cruzer.

password protection and many apps, both pay and free that can be ran directly from the pen drive on any computer.

check out the interactive tour

 

[moffo]

Why not use the CF cards you already have with a small USB reader?

 

[silver]

quick question on usb / pen drives,. are there any that have a 'read-only' switch on the side / hidden so you can stop ppl writing to them once you've put data on it ?

Sil

PS, for flash drive I generally use a small usb card reader and a compact flash card

 

[P'Cola-Roy]

quick question on usb / pen drives,. are there any that have a 'read-only' switch on the side / hidden so you can stop ppl writing to them once you've put data on it ?

Sil

PS, for flash drive I generally use a small usb card reader and a compact flash card

There are some Sil. I had one but don't remember the brand. The Sandisk has password protection options. I haven't fully explored them, but I'd bet they will do the same thing.

 

[silver]

thanks, yep I have seen password / encrypted drives, what I was thinking of doing was offering images on a pen drive as well as burnt to disk but I'd like to make the pen drive read-only - at least to stop accidental over writing.

Sil

 

[asaya]

I can use the CF cards and the reader however I have other purposes work related that I would like to store info on without having to worry about acccess to my home (business) based PC. I ordered a couple 4GB Corsair units from ZipZoomFly for $90. They should serve me well.

 

[andreasb]

I got a lexar Lightning 4gb drive, works well with Vistas readyboost....

 

[BourbonCowboy]

I'm a teacher, so I need encryption on the flash drive that I carry around. To this end, I've bought a 2G SanDisk Cruzer Titanium. I keep everything on it: tests, quizzes, notices, lesson plans, etc. It's basically crushproof...I can stomp on it - and I'm a fat guy. However, I also keep a Kingston 2G as a backup...just in case something tragic occurs. But I definitely agree that a flash/jump drive is the most effective way to store files. I'm even thinking of selling my Coolwalker.