OT. Flash drives

[Salad]

I was asked to get my daughter a flash drive. She needs to use it to
copy files to it so she can transfer the files at school to her desktop
at home.

I've never used one but I figure some of you have.

I see flash drives from on the net from 128 meg up to 16 gig. Prices
range from $20 to $600. I see a lot of those ads referring to cameras.
Are there USB flash drives specific for cameras and others for
computers? Or do they all work in copying files between computers? In
this case, the drive would never be used for a camera.

Is there a difference between cheap flash drives and the more expensive
drives besides price?

I'm thinking of getting an 8 and a 4 gig drive. Any model/brands you'd
recommend?

TIA

[Larry Linson]

Get a model where the cap is an integral part of the unit... not one that
detaches. If it detaches, it will, and it will be lost. There has never
been any discernable difference between the lesser or more expensive units
that I've used, but I was not doing performance or stress tests, either. So
far, I have never had a flash drive that failed -- any brand, but I'm sure
they do.

Larry

[Salad]

Larry Linson wrote:

Get a model where the cap is an integral part of the unit... not one that
detaches. If it detaches, it will, and it will be lost. There has never
been any discernable difference between the lesser or more expensive units
that I've used, but I was not doing performance or stress tests, either. So
far, I have never had a flash drive that failed -- any brand, but I'm sure
they do.

Larry

So if I see any USB 2.0 8 gig flash memory stick I'll be able to use it
on the computer? I don't have to worry about the stick used for a
specific purpose or electronic device? What gig size do you use/recommend?

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Salad <oi*@vinegar.comwrote:

>So if I see any USB 2.0 8 gig flash memory stick I'll be able to use it
on the computer? I don't have to worry about the stick used for a
specific purpose or electronic device? What gig size do you use/recommend?

Yes, yes and whatever fits your budget. I think they're quite cheap now so whatever
your daughter requires.

Do note though that she should ensure she makes a copy of those files on a very
regular basis. Otherwise if that's her only copy and she loses it she is in
trouble.

Tony
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[Salad]

Tony Toews [MVP] wrote:

Salad <oi*@vinegar.comwrote:

>>So if I see any USB 2.0 8 gig flash memory stick I'll be able to use it
on the computer? I don't have to worry about the stick used for a
specific purpose or electronic device? What gig size do you use/recommend?

Yes, yes and whatever fits your budget. I think they're quite cheap now so whatever
your daughter requires.

Do note though that she should ensure she makes a copy of those files on a very
regular basis. Otherwise if that's her only copy and she loses it she is in
trouble.

She lives where there's no internet but will be going to school where
there is internet access. I'm sure she'll be backing up/transferring
the info from school to the pc at home quite regularily. :). I want to
send her a couple extra to ensure she has plenty of storage space.
Thanks, you and Larry, for helping out.

Tony

[Rick A.B.]

On Jul 14, 8:56*pm, Salad <[e-mail]:
Salad,

For what it's worth I've gone through a number of flash drives. I
carry it with me everywhere. The one's that failed were as Larry
mentioned, the one's with caps. The one I currently have is a SanDisk
where the USB connector retracts into the body to protect it. I would
go that route if I where you.

Just my thoughts.

Rick

[JvC]

I had 4 Kingston 1GB DataTraveler drives, and two have failed in 4
months. I would not recommend them. Anyway, they have caps!

I would suggest going to newegg.com, and searching for Jump Drives. The
have user reviews of everything, which I have always found to be
useful, and mostly objective.

Good luck!

Salad brought next idea :

I was asked to get my daughter a flash drive. She needs to use it to copy
files to it so she can transfer the files at school to her desktop at home.

I've never used one but I figure some of you have.

I see flash drives from on the net from 128 meg up to 16 gig. Prices range
from $20 to $600. I see a lot of those ads referring to cameras. Are there
USB flash drives specific for cameras and others for computers? Or do they
all work in copying files between computers? In this case, the drive would
never be used for a camera.

Is there a difference between cheap flash drives and the more expensive
drives besides price?

I'm thinking of getting an 8 and a 4 gig drive. Any model/brands you'd
recommend?

TIA

[Deano]

"JvC" <jo******@earthlink.netwrote in message
news:DO******************@newsfe11.phx...

I had 4 Kingston 1GB DataTraveler drives, and two have failed in 4
months. I would not recommend them. Anyway, they have caps!

Me too! And I also had another brand fail. I try to avoid using them now
but my current one, a Flash Voyager from Corsair seems reliable but
ultimately I would treat them like the equivalents of floppy disks - they
are going to go wrong eventually.

[Larry Linson]

"Salad" <oi*@vinegar.comwrote

So if I see any USB 2.0 8 gig flash memory stick
I'll be able to use it on the computer? I don't have
to worry about the stick used for a specific purpose
or electronic device?

You want to be careful about your terminology. A "memory stick" is the brand
name for a memory card device that is used like a Compact Flash, or a
Multi-Media Card, or a Secure Digital. The Memory Stick was originated by
Sony, though there may now be third-party suppliers; there were many choices
available, and the Memory Stick was not adopted by other manufacturers (to
any significant degree). A Sony Memory Stick is not a USB flash memory
drive. In fact, come to think of it USB flash memory drives aren't "drives"
either, they are solid-state memory devices. :-)

What gig size do you use/recommend?

I think the largest I had was either a 4 or 8 GB unit. I don't do a lot of
large transfers, so that was more than adequate for me. Others do large
transfers, and that's why they make much larger (and much more expensive)
units.

Actually, a 128 MB flash drive I have is adequate for most of _my_ use -- I
often use it for the same purposes as I used to use a floppy drive (which
are no longer in vogue... I have one old, obsolescent desktop unit that has
a floppy drive -- almost all I use it for, these days, is to copy data from
a floppy to, you guessed it, a flash drive, or to a CD - R), and those maxed
out at 1.44 MB.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP