USB memory sticks?

I'm in the market for a 16GB usb memory stick and ebay seems to be the way to go. I'm a bit confused because there seems to be different types and I have no idea what the difference is.
In many of the listings, the USB stick title will end in one of the following g, B1, B2, B3, 02, gg, c, e......etc

Any idea what normal folk would use?

Any reason you need 16 gig? That's a lot of memory, and you'll always pay through the nose for the best that's available. You can get a 4G for as little as $20.

To me, the flash dirves are like screwdrivers- I'd rather have four good ones than one great one. I must have a dozen of them laying around, and none of them are full.

ouch said:

Any reason you need 16 gig? That's a lot of memory, and you'll always pay through the nose for the best that's available. You can get a 4G for as little as $20.

To me, the flash dirves are like screwdrivers- I'd rather have four good ones than one great one. I must have a dozen of them laying around, and none of them are full.

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I have about 10GB of pictures I need to backup. I've been a bit slack about backing up stuff and thought this would be the best way.

These 2 look good. Both by a good brand one is 16 one 32.
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-16GB-Flash-Voyager-Drive/dp/B000LXTUT8
http://www.amazon.com/DATA-Flash-Si..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=04Y70AFW6JCQY0HW8FD2
I think i would go for the 32 only 20 bucks different and twice the capacity.

I've found very good prices and excellent service at www.kingston.com

They sell memory (and nothing but memory) in all shapes and sizes and configurations.

Free ground shipping on most orders. Also, there are many great deals that they offer only at the checkout screen, so scroll down and read carefully before you submit your order.

very good prices also at www.cellphoneshop.net

If you take the ebay route, make sure you don't get one of these:

usb flash drives are great, I've got more than I need
but I personally wouldn't trust them for long term backup
I would look at portable usb harddrives, as the price-per-gigabyte is much lower, especially looking at that large a capacity, and dependability (at least in my experience) is much better

but man, it's hard to beat the convenience of a tiny flash drive

sol92258 said:

but man, it's hard to beat the convenience of a tiny flash drive

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You're not kidding. For a long time, there was a great void between the floppy drives and the flash drives. CD's and DVD's didn't cut it for portable storage. Who wanted to burn a disk to save a pic?

I love my USB drives. However, for backups of large GB size, I would go with the portable hard drives that are out now. They hook up to a USB port and you can usually find a 160GB one on sale for $80. It isn't as portable as a USB drive. However, it is less likely to be misplaced.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3617651&CatId=136

Also, whenever buying computer tech, check tigerdirect.com. They have always given me great service and very fast shipping. I have actually had one purchase where I paid for regular shipping and had my purchase the same day I placed the order (OK, I live a short distance from one of their warehouses).

Milton said:

If you take the ebay route, make sure you don't get one of these:

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Oh boy..................did you find that pic or was that actually yours?

If they are pics you want to keep for a while, I second the idea of the small portable hard drive.
If the pics are immediate projects, the usb flash is a good idea.

I think the sad reality is that there isn't a digital archival system that's as good as a box of old photographs.

ouch said:

I think the sad reality is that there isn't a digital archival system that's as good as a box of old photographs.

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Agreed! The problem with me is that I take a lot of pictures but never get any developed. I'm going to look into a portable hd to compare prices now.

Handy said:

Oh boy..................did you find that pic or was that actually yours?

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No, not mine fortunately. Its been floating around for awhile, and its actually a usb wireless adapter that someone bought on ebay and was curious as to why it wasn't working. Safe to say, he found out when he opened it up

the thing is that there are some tricks, especialy with larger drives, the size is changed with hexodecimal drive editors, or they solder multilayer configuration to a single layer memory grid layer (so a 2gb drive becomes a 4gb or 8gb drive), and you start noticing when you overwrite your own data when you fill up the drive

thumbdrives are cheap, and i recommend you shop around for more reliable sources,

kingston, OCZ, Corsair and Sandisk,

You might want to find some online storage services, like amazon S3. http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=16427261

I know its not advice for what to get, but i find Portable Apps invaluable on my usb key.

Aevum said:

thumbdrives are cheap, and i recommend you shop around for more reliable sources,

kingston, OCZ, Corsair and Sandisk,

Click to expand...

So Kingston, OCZ, Corsair and Sandisk are the better choices for quality when it comes to these USB sticks?

Handy said:

I have about 10GB of pictures I need to backup. I've been a bit slack about backing up stuff and thought this would be the best way.

Click to expand...

Flash memory is a bit too volatile to use for permanent backup. Better off with CD or DVD media, or even another hard drive or computer. Even tape would be a better media for long term storage of backup files.