The USB drive has now become an all-too-obvious accessory, and the storage medium of choice. Prices have come down considerably, and nobody thinks twice before ordering a pen dive from their favorite online store. However, there are few considerations you need to make before clicking on the “buy” button.
Capacity: Most pen drivers now-a-days come in 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128 GB capacity. As a rule, higher capacity results in higher price, everything else being equal. In today’s age of data-overload, and popularity of video over textual content, it makes sense to pay marginally more, and buy at least a 32GB pen drive, which would enable transferring large files easily.
Brand: Sandisk, Toshiba, Samsung, Transcend, Kingston, HP are some of the popular brands around. Many people now-a-days assume nothing will go wrong with their pen drive. However, pen drivers, just like any other electronic device, can conk out. A flash drive lasts for anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 write cycles, that is assuming the hardware of the drive lasts that long. Buying a popular and established brand minimize the chance of the drive conking out early. Most brands offer lifetime warranty now, but do not consider this as obvious, and look into the warranty before purchase.
Size: The size of the pen drive is often ignored when making a purchase decision. Many pen drivers are bulky to the extent it blocks the adjacent USB port as well. To overcome this problem, most new models now spot a sleek and slim design. However, make sure the smaller size doesn’t come with a trade-off for speed. When en drives become too small, there’s less space to fit in quality components, making it all the more important to go in with a reputable brand.
After the obvious considerations come the more difficult technical considerations.
Transfer Rate: Opt for pen drivers which offer a high data transfer rate. Generally, higher the capacity of the pen drive, higher the transfer rate, but it pays to check. A case in point: SanDisk Extreme 32GB USB 3.0 Pen Drive
writes at around 200MB/s while most other USB 3.0 drives transmits at 100 to 110 MB/s. Slow transfer rates results in degraded performance, with the files taking too long to transfer. If a pen drive is available at a cheaper than normal rate, it becomes even moe important to check the technical specs such as transfer rates.
USB 2.0 or USB 3.0?
USB 2.0 has four pins and operates at a maximum of 480Mbps. The latest generation USB 3.0 has nine pins, and can operate at speeds up to 5Gbps. USB 2.0 handles only one-way communication of data, meaning it can either transmit or receive data at a time (simplex). USB 3.0 has two unidirectional data paths, to receive and transmit data simultaneously (full duplex). USB 2.0 provides up to 500 mA whereas USB 3.0 provides up to 900 mA, meaning USB 3.0 offer more power when needed and conserve power when the device is idling.
However, all these do not make any difference whatsoever unless the system you have a blue colored USB 3.0 port in you system. Without supportive hardware, as evident from the blue USB 3.0 drive, USB 3.0 simply operates as a USB 2.0. USB 3.0 is backward compatible, but the latest Type C USB 3.0 requires a connector to operate on old hardware. So if your hardware is not up to it, you may be better off with a USB 2.0 or even a Type A or Type B USB 3.0 drive.
The latest USB 3.0 C-type connector has its uses though. It is slim enough for the latest devices such as Mac Book Air notebooks, and even smartphones. It is very robust, lasting up to 10,000 cycles of use and offering 100 watts of charging power that reduces charger and cable clutter.
What does the future hold?
A new wave of wireless USB flash drives, such as SanDisk Connect, is on the offing. These devices connect wirelessly, and have the advantage of working across different devices. However it is still early days for these technologies.
There are some specialty USB drives in the market as well. Rugged drives offer extra protection from physical damage, and secure flash drives offer protection from humans who want to hack or steal your data.
Such advanced features however are an over-kill for the ordinary user, for whom a simple SanDisk Cruzer Blade 32GB USB Flash Drive
would suit the bill perfectly.
The first considerations are the obvious, apparent ones such as capacity and brand.
Capacity: Most pen drivers now-a-days come in 8GB, 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, and 128 GB capacity. As a rule, higher capacity results in higher price, everything else being equal. In today’s age of data-overload, and popularity of video over textual content, it makes sense to pay marginally more, and buy at least a 32GB pen drive, which would enable transferring large files easily.
Brand: Sandisk, Toshiba, Samsung, Transcend, Kingston, HP are some of the popular brands around. Many people now-a-days assume nothing will go wrong with their pen drive. However, pen drivers, just like any other electronic device, can conk out. A flash drive lasts for anywhere between 3,000 and 5,000 write cycles, that is assuming the hardware of the drive lasts that long. Buying a popular and established brand minimize the chance of the drive conking out early. Most brands offer lifetime warranty now, but do not consider this as obvious, and look into the warranty before purchase.
Size: The size of the pen drive is often ignored when making a purchase decision. Many pen drivers are bulky to the extent it blocks the adjacent USB port as well. To overcome this problem, most new models now spot a sleek and slim design. However, make sure the smaller size doesn’t come with a trade-off for speed. When en drives become too small, there’s less space to fit in quality components, making it all the more important to go in with a reputable brand.
After the obvious considerations come the more difficult technical considerations.
Transfer Rate: Opt for pen drivers which offer a high data transfer rate. Generally, higher the capacity of the pen drive, higher the transfer rate, but it pays to check. A case in point: SanDisk Extreme 32GB USB 3.0 Pen Drive
writes at around 200MB/s while most other USB 3.0 drives transmits at 100 to 110 MB/s. Slow transfer rates results in degraded performance, with the files taking too long to transfer. If a pen drive is available at a cheaper than normal rate, it becomes even moe important to check the technical specs such as transfer rates.USB 2.0 or USB 3.0?
USB 2.0 has four pins and operates at a maximum of 480Mbps. The latest generation USB 3.0 has nine pins, and can operate at speeds up to 5Gbps. USB 2.0 handles only one-way communication of data, meaning it can either transmit or receive data at a time (simplex). USB 3.0 has two unidirectional data paths, to receive and transmit data simultaneously (full duplex). USB 2.0 provides up to 500 mA whereas USB 3.0 provides up to 900 mA, meaning USB 3.0 offer more power when needed and conserve power when the device is idling.
However, all these do not make any difference whatsoever unless the system you have a blue colored USB 3.0 port in you system. Without supportive hardware, as evident from the blue USB 3.0 drive, USB 3.0 simply operates as a USB 2.0. USB 3.0 is backward compatible, but the latest Type C USB 3.0 requires a connector to operate on old hardware. So if your hardware is not up to it, you may be better off with a USB 2.0 or even a Type A or Type B USB 3.0 drive.
The latest USB 3.0 C-type connector has its uses though. It is slim enough for the latest devices such as Mac Book Air notebooks, and even smartphones. It is very robust, lasting up to 10,000 cycles of use and offering 100 watts of charging power that reduces charger and cable clutter.
What does the future hold?
A new wave of wireless USB flash drives, such as SanDisk Connect, is on the offing. These devices connect wirelessly, and have the advantage of working across different devices. However it is still early days for these technologies.
There are some specialty USB drives in the market as well. Rugged drives offer extra protection from physical damage, and secure flash drives offer protection from humans who want to hack or steal your data.
Such advanced features however are an over-kill for the ordinary user, for whom a simple SanDisk Cruzer Blade 32GB USB Flash Drive
would suit the bill perfectly.
