USB memory sticks

Phil_aka_Pip

Are there any long-term reliable ones out there? Whichever one you look at on Amazon there's always someone who complains that after 2 months he's lost his data. I can't be doing with that, and will buy a usb external hard drive if I have to. A usb stick would be more convenient though - so long as it works!

stickyfiddle

I always buy Sandisk and have never lost any data across 3 memory sticks and umpteen SD cards

mudslide73

Don't keep anything you can't lose on a USB stick. They're manufacturered to as low a price point as possible.. I treat them as a means of transferring data only.

TTony

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Whichever one you look at on Amazon there's always someone who complains that after sticking it in a microwave for 5 minutes he's lost his data.

The problem with Amazon reviews is that any numpty can write one.

I've started treating them with some care - if something has got a 90%+ "bad" rating, then you're going to ignore the 10% that say something is good, and you'll go with the majority view.  

By the same measure, if something has a 90% "good" rating, I tend to ignore the comparatively very few people who've slagged it off - there's always someone looking for attention.

mudslide73 said:

Don't keep anything you can't lose on a USB stick. They're manufacturered to as low a price point as possible.. I treat them as a means of transferring data only.

Which is also true - buy on respected brand rather than price.

stickyfiddle said:

I always buy Sandisk and have never lost any data across 3 memory sticks and umpteen SD cards

Ditto.

mudslide73

I have had a Sandisk Cruzer (cheap range admittedly) fail as well as one of their Extreme SSDs. I still have one of their SDs in my phone and Tascam dr-05 - still the best I've encountered. (also a 250gb SSD in my notebook).

DulcetJones

I have several, never had a problem with any of them.

wibble

Buy from a reputable source. Beware of fakes or cheap large capacity ones as they report the larger size but are actually a smaller size. You'll find out when you start filling it up!

kuro

wibble said:

Buy from a reputable source. Beware of fakes or cheap large capacity ones as they report the larger size but are actually a smaller size. You'll find out when you start filling it up!

QFT. Lots of reported fakes from everyones favourite reseller site. I now buy from Amazon if I can't get one from a local shop.

imalone

Sandisk, I tend to buy them if I'm ever in Rymans and see them going cheap. Have also got a TDK one that's lasted ages. The cost of an 8GB stick is low enough anyway that it's better to get it somewhere reliable than try to find them very cheap. And yes, don't use as sole storage, because even if it doesn't go bad it's still possible to lose them or cycle over them (though you have to try hard to do the second).

Panama_Jack666

Get a passport sized external USB powered hard drive. You can't go wrong! Failing that, Sandisk.

Danny1969

I've had a 32Gb Kingston one now for about 6 years and it's been faultless, cost about 20 % more than others at the time though so other guys are right, don't buy on price alone

Also some of the cheaper USB sticks are painfully slow .... I mean can take 10 minutes to take 4Gb of data for example. I threw a couple away cos I just couldn't put up with the speed

Fretwired

Danny1969 said:

I've had a 32Gb Kingston one now for about 6 years and it's been faultless, cost about 20 % more than others at the time though so other guys are right, don't buy on price alone

Also some of the cheaper USB sticks are painfully slow .... I mean can take 10 minutes to take 4Gb of data for example. I threw a couple away cos I just couldn't put up with the speed

I've got loads of KIngstons including an 8gb one which I use everyday. Totally reliable.

rocktron

Sandisk memory sticks every time for me, and for USB disk storage, I use Western Digital Elements.  

Phil_aka_Pip

Thanks folks

Rocker

Sandisk USB every time.  I have several and they never failed.  [Touch wood].

Myranda

I have a handful of 32gb USB 3 sticks from Integral and one of them lost the data that was on it. Thankfully nothing on it was irreplaceable. Fast and cheap was the big sell for those.

However, Sandisk sticks I've got are solid as a rock. 

Phil_aka_Pip

Decided to go with a usb-connected external hard drive, as this is a critical operation: we're cloning Linux-based industrial PC boxes which contain my software running as a daemon. We're not doing high volume, but we do need reliability and not losing the clone image. Tools = tuxboot, clonezilla 

57Deluxe

My 32Gb Sandisk Cruzer has recently failed and is full of important content ... When I plug it in to any Win machine it tries to load the drive and then kicks it out. 

I found a recovery option on Youtube which may help, I had also registered and logged into Sandisk Forum and when in a thread of similar issues I posted I had found this video as no-one had any answers - I got banned for spamming!

Nice way to treat your customers Sandisk!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldC06C28SXQ

Hootsmon

Hootsmon

Phil_aka_Pip

@hootsmon was your post stored on a dodgy memory stick? can't see it