Flash Drives

[Veedaz]

Today I purchased two Flash Drives on line and looking at the prices I was quite shocked ! as they seem to become cheaper by the day , this is good news for many in computing as Flash Drives are a very easy way to transport data (just one use) so I got what I wanted for a lot less then I expected to pay

This screen shot is just an example

 

[Nibiru2012]

I just recently bought a Patriot 4GB EXPORTER XT Thumb Drive at Newegg for $15.99 w/free shipping. 200X speed, rubber enclosed case plus a 14" USB connect cable and a lanyard.

Supposedly it's waterproof too! A guy ran it through the washing machine and it still worked!

 

[Fire cat]

Looks like I got'em the cheapest!
3x 4GB Kingston Datatraveller for 8€ a piece...

Getting cheaper every day? Not to shure that is valid for all USB Drives.
Kingston (Forgot the name) 225GB USB Thumb Drive for 1200€...

 

[Veedaz]

I just recently bought a Patriot 4GB EXPORTER XT Thumb Drive at Newegg for $15.99 w/free shipping. 200X speed, rubber enclosed case plus a 14" USB connect cable and a lanyard.

Supposedly it's waterproof too! A guy ran it through the washing machine and it still worked!

:lol: I would say thats a good waterproof test

 

[Nibiru2012]

That's great FC! However, how fast are those Kingston Data Traveler flash drives?

I have one and it's slower than molasses in January!

 

[Fire cat]

Ok, so here are all the flash drives I use (All by Kingston):

Kingston DataTraveler G2 DISCONTINUED
http://www.kingston.com/support/usbflashdrives/specs/dtig2.pdf

Kingston DataTraveler 400 DISCONTINUED
http://www.kingston.com/support/usbflashdrives/specs/dt400.pdf

Kingston DataTraveler II Plus DISCONTINUED
http://www.kingston.com/support/usbflashdrives/specs/dtii_migo.pdf

As you can see, they are all discontinued. That's why I got'em so cheap. They were emptying there stock.

By the way, here is the 256GB USB Thumb Drive:

Kingston DataTraveller 310 - NOT DISCONTINUED....
http://www.kingston.com/flash/dt310.asp?id=8

Supposedly it's waterproof too! A guy ran it through the washing machine and it still worked!

So did mine. I found out about it when I heard a ratling inside a pipe... We opened it up, and there was my USB Drive, totaly unharmed...
Cheers,
Fire Cat

 

[clifford_cooley]

I ran my 2G Cruzer Micro through the washer by accident. I was shocked it still worked and continues to work. That was probably 4 years ago now.

Since then I have purchased a 16G Cruzer Micro. You can store allot of software and hardware drivers on 16G. Not to mention the fact that my File Manager is a U3 application and I can take it with me everywhere

 

[Fire cat]

Not to mention the fact that my File Manager is a U3 application and I can take it with me everywhere

You really do like Total Commander!

 

[TrainableMan]

Be extremely careful buying Flashdrives at online auctions, etc - most of the high GB ones are fakes, I can tell you from personal experience. I thought I was safe because I made sure the person was in the USA - didn't matter. And to get my money back I had to pay return shipping with delv conf. BTW by shipping a counterfeit drive in the mail (even to return it), you are committing mail fraud too (so instead, I returned a doggy litter bag with a note that he should clean up his crap!).

http://reviews.ebay.com/FAKE-SanDisk-Cruzer-USB-Flash-Drives-Exposed_W0QQugidZ10000000001456613

Always test your flash & pen drives. Never rush to leave feedback. They hack little 512mb chips to make them appear like 128GB - they pretend to write but they are constantly overwriting the same sectors making it unretrievable.

Download a freeware program called h2testw_1.4
another program you may try to test them bst514

If it seems to good to be true ... IT PROBABLY IS!

 

[TrainableMan]

I bought an HP 8GB at Staples for $10 on Black Friday (they are $20US normally) so 12pounds does sound realistic. But if you would like to see a photo of an extremely beautiful fake 128GB I have let me know.

I have tried to find a program to restore it to its true size but they don't work because the chip info detected is false and so I would have to cut it open to find the true chip, which would defeat the purpose of having this beautiful flashdrive.

Also because of how often these drives overwrite the same location and the fact that they tend to use low-end chips to begin with, means their lifecycle is much shorter before they finally fail.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Do these drives not have the original capacity labeled on the side?

I know my SanDisk drives have 2GB and 16GB labeled on them, which BTW was purchased locally at a walk-in shop.

That kind of sh*t is why I will never trust eBay. I would find it acceptable if the deception was rare. eBay has become a large target for scammers to sell merchandise. To me it's to big a hassle using the protection and mailing things back. I see it as spending extra to receive what you are paying for the first time or to mail things back for a replacement.

 

[TrainableMan]

Well eBay told me to mail them back if I wanted a refund. I tried to explain to them that I would be committing mailfraud to return them.

They said unless I could get proof they were fraudulant I needed delivery confirmation that they were returned. Kingston helped me confirm they were fraudulant via phone but they do not issue statements that is a fraud, they said photos and descriptions on their website of valid products should be proof enough to eBay - it isn't.

I thought about trying to get Bestbuy to write a document but I figured next it would have to be notorized and it was cheaper to pay postage.

Basically this looks absolutely beautiful on the outside but real kingston drives, when you retract the cover, have parts numbers engraved on the metal usb connector.

 

[Nibiru2012]

eBay can be deceptive IF one is not careful. I ALWAYS double-check everything before I purchase from them.

So far I haven't been burned. One must be very discerning when using eBay that's for sure.

 

[catilley1092]

Office Depot had a ton of those 8GB HP drives for $12 a piece, if you bought 10 or more, they were $10. But a friend of mine bought two of them, they were refurbs, and also formatted as FAT32. Most modern apps are NTFS. That's what my Kingston 4GB Data Traveler is, NTFS. I use it to store pictures when my digital camera chip (1GB) fills up. And I don't know the exact speed, but it is fast enough for me. One of those 128GB ones would be nice to have, but there's too many fakes on the market. It's best to order direct, so you don't get burned. Speaking of burning, the price of the real 128GB ones would probably burn a hole in your wallet.

 

[catilley1092]

eBay can be deceptive IF one is not careful. I ALWAYS double-check everything before I purchase from them.

So far I haven't been burned. One must be very discerning when using eBay that's for sure.

You are correct on that, Nibiru. But eBay also has a policy, if the item that you receive is DOA or otherwise not as described, you have buyer's protection. You are refunded the price that you paid, plus original shipping. However, to prevent a lot of pain in the butt, you need to research what you're buying, prior to purchase. And look hard at the sellers ratings over the last 12 months. Oftentimes, the seller's profile is the key to what you are purchasing.

 

[TrainableMan]

NTFS allows larger HDs and increased security but the operating systems don't have a problem with FAT32. In fact it used to be recommended (I haven't checked since I went 7) that even if you use NTFS that you allocate a small partition, format it FAT32, and only direct your pagefile to it - the paging was better/faster under FAT32. And one article I read said "[a]ny programs or data that need to be accessed by more than one operating system on that computer should be stored on a FAT16 or possibly FAT32 volume."

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/expert/russel_october01.mspx

 

[catilley1092]

That's the way my mother in law's desktop is, the first partition is FAT32 (AT&T service), then the main (XP) is NTFS and her recovery is FAT32. That's the first time that I've seen a utility having a partition, but I've always gone wireless. BTW, that's a 2004 Dell that I'm speaking of, with only a 40GB hard drive. Things have changed a lot in the last few years.

 

[clifford_cooley]

There is a small limitation to using Windows because the native file system is NTFS.

You cannot format a volume larger than 32 gigabytes (GB) in size using the FAT32 file system during the Windows XP installation process. Windows XP can mount and support FAT32 volumes larger than 32 GB (subject to the other limits), but you cannot create a FAT32 volume larger than 32 GB by using the Format tool during Setup.

Read more here - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314463

Windows 2K, XP, Vista, & Win7 all appear to have this limitation

After performing an experiment in formatting a 60GB "Video" partition to use with a PS3, I have discovered that Windows 2000 and later have an artificial limitation in formatting FAT32 partitions greater than 32GB (though they will mount any valid FAT32 partition)

Read more here - http://serverfault.com/questions/52640/how-to-format-as-fat32-from-windows-7-vista

 

[beamish]

The larger flash drives ( 32GB and up), that I have, use "exFat" file system as default.

The exFAT file system is the successor to FAT32 in the FAT family of file systems. The exFAT file system is a new file system format that addresses the growing needs of mobile personal storage on different operating systems.
The exFAT file system handles large files, such as those that are used for media storage, and it enables seamless interoperability between desktop computers and devices, such as portable media devices. Because of this functionality,
you can easily copy files between the desktop and external devices or between the desktop and other operating systems
Microsoft: Article ID: 955704 - Last Review: September 29, 2009 - Revision: 3.1\

 

[Nibiru2012]

I am going to use this for my Paging File as soon as I get it, probably next week or so. It plugs into my empty IDE drive slot and works as a Flash Disk Module:

It has a MTBF of over 1,000,000 hours and over 2,000,000 read/write cycle life.