Best usb memory stick

Hi, could somebody kindly advice on best usb memory stick for my mini? I would like at least 8GB. Compatible with pc if possible. I recently bought one which was compatible with both mac and pc but it was creating problems in mac, e.g. folders not appearing. Thank you.

Memory sticks are pretty generic so just go with one you can aaaford that is not too ugly

Memory sticks come formatted in FAT32 usually, so are Mac and PC compatible out of the box. If you still have trouble with the new stick, return here and someone will help

eva.smith said:

Hi, could somebody kindly advice on best usb memory stick for my mini? I would like at least 8GB. Compatible with pc if possible. I recently bought one which was compatible with both mac and pc but it was creating problems in mac, e.g. folders not appearing. Thank you.

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Sandisk and PNY are really the only ones I would buy....

You won't get 8GB or more for cheap, but I'm sure you could shop around and find some good deals. PNY attaches very easily to my mac..... and I would NOT recommend one of those flash drives where the USB plug slide out of the shell (as I call it). I had experience with a Sony flash drive like that, and, after a long period of use, it began to slide right back in when I tried plugging it in. VERY annoying. So buy one with a cap like this:

PNY:

8GB:
http://www2.pny.com/8GB-New-Attacheacute-USB-20-Flash-Drive-P2665C53.aspx

16GB: (Quite pricey, but you get what you pay for)
http://www2.pny.com/16GB-New-Attacheacute-USB-20-Flash-Drive-P2139C53.aspx

Sandisk: (Although the Cruzer may be "Sexy", I wouldn't recommend a slider- but that's just me. Sandisk really only makes sliders.)

8GB:
http://sandisk.com/Products/Item(2282)-SDCZ8-8192-A75-Extreme_Cruzer_Contour8GB_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx

16GB: (Wow, what a price)
http://sandisk.com/Products/Item(25...treme_Cruzer_Contour16GB_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx


Shop around on retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, whatever electronics store is by you, and try to find the best deal. Hope I helped

BlueMac said:

Sandisk and PNY are really the only ones I would buy....

You won't get 8GB or more for cheap, but I'm sure you could shop around and find some good deals. PNY attaches very easily to my mac..... and I would NOT recommend one of those flash drives where the USB plug slide out of the shell (as I call it). I had experience with a Sony flash drive like that, and, after a long period of use, it began to slide right back in when I tried plugging it in. VERY annoying. So buy one with a cap like this:

PNY:

8GB:
http://www2.pny.com/8GB-New-Attacheacute-USB-20-Flash-Drive-P2665C53.aspx

16GB: (Quite pricey, but you get what you pay for)
http://www2.pny.com/16GB-New-Attacheacute-USB-20-Flash-Drive-P2139C53.aspx

Sandisk: (Although the Cruzer may be "Sexy", I wouldn't recommend a slider- but that's just me. Sandisk really only makes sliders.)

8GB:
http://sandisk.com/Products/Item(2282)-SDCZ8-8192-A75-Extreme_Cruzer_Contour8GB_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx

16GB: (Wow, what a price)
http://sandisk.com/Products/Item(25...treme_Cruzer_Contour16GB_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx


Shop around on retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, whatever electronics store is by you, and try to find the best deal. Hope I helped

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Thank you very much, I found your information very usefull.

Its actually for my husband and he is quite fussy about these things. He had Sandisk but didnt like it that much. He said making folders was sometimes problem, seing folders made by him on someone elses comp was sometimes a problem. I will look at PNY. Hope they are available where I live.

Just for laughs and stuff why do you need a Thumb drive that large?

You might be better off with getting a external HDD for cheaper by the megabyte?

I've had many usb drives (kingston, samsung, sandisk, generic) but the only ones that are still ticking and in daily use are the sandisk ones. Same is true of memory cards. I've always found Sandisk to be the most robust and reliable. Though I've never had any PNY kit. It doesn't seem to popular in the UK.

So my recommendation, for what it's worth, is the Sandisk 8gb titanium

eva.smith said:

Hi, could somebody kindly advice on best usb memory stick for my mini? I would like at least 8GB. Compatible with pc if possible. I recently bought one which was compatible with both mac and pc but it was creating problems in mac, e.g. folders not appearing. Thank you.

Click to expand...

I bought a OCZ ATV 16Gb; rubberised and VERY fast data transfer. The reviewer put it underwater for hours, FROZE it for 72 hours in a bucket of ice, and ran over it with his car THREE TIMES, and it still worked perfectly!.

Read this review!: http://techgage.com/article/ocz_atv_2gb_atv_turbo_4gb/1

louishen said:

Memory sticks are pretty generic so just go with one you can aaaford that is not too ugly

Memory sticks come formatted in FAT32 usually, so are Mac and PC compatible out of the box. If you still have trouble with the new stick, return here and someone will help

Click to expand...

No they're not - complete nonsense. They are mostly all COMPATIBLE with PC and Macs, but there are LOTS of differences; IE read/write speeds, the quality of the silicon used, SLC vs MLC (Single level Cell - vs - Multi level Cell). I researched for 8 hours+ before getting mine, and take my word for it there are a LOT of crappy ones out there.

It just seems a waste of money to buy anything smaller than 4GB. My husband is an editor and often needs to get a lot of data from one comp to another. Also photos, vidoe files (he is also a photographer). Burning discs seems such a waste too (not waste of money, just unnecessary waste of materials which polute the planet ect. Also, its tiny to carry around and therefore practical.

I bought a OCZ ATV 16Gb; rubberised and VERY fast data transfer. The reviewer put it underwater for hours, FROZE it for 72 hours in a bucket of ice, and ran over it with his car THREE TIMES, and it still worked perfectly!.


This one seems good. Could you just confirm please that this one "behaves itself" when used with Mac? My husby is a total Mac lover (and the bigger PC hater) and I think he would hate it if it didnt work properly (as I said before, he has a Sandisk and had sometimes problems to find folders when he put the stick in somebody elses comp).

I bought a OCZ ATV 16Gb; rubberised and VERY fast data transfer. The reviewer put it underwater for hours, FROZE it for 72 hours in a bucket of ice, and ran over it with his car THREE TIMES, and it still worked perfectly!.

So I just remembered what else my husbands Sandisk couldnt do. The encryption didnt work which would something he would like to work, preferably on both PC and Mac. Is it even possible?

eva.smith said:

I bought a OCZ ATV 16Gb; rubberised and VERY fast data transfer. The reviewer put it underwater for hours, FROZE it for 72 hours in a bucket of ice, and ran over it with his car THREE TIMES, and it still worked perfectly!.


This one seems good. Could you just confirm please that this one "behaves itself" when used with Mac? My husby is a total Mac lover (and the bigger PC hater) and I think he would hate it if it didnt work properly (as I said before, he has a Sandisk and had sometimes problems to find folders when he put the stick in somebody elses comp).

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This ATV works absolutely flawlessly with OS X, and is VERY fast indeed at transferring data. It also has a lifetime warrantee!

As for encryption, you want to make sure the drive stays formatted with FAT32, and you can then use "truecrypt" (free and VERY secure) to encrypt/decrypt data. There are windows AND Mac versions - the interface is identical in both, and you can get portable versions; IE you dump the executables/folders for truecrypt on the ATV drive, launch the OS specific version of truecrypt from the ATV (no install needed) and then create virtual disk images within the drive, which you mount with truecrypt from within either OS (sounds harder than it actually is - it is VERY easy!).

If you want 8GB on the cheap, there is Kingston from Futureshop for $20

Go with the ATV; take it from me, disappointment is cheap, but TRUE satisfaction costs a little more

I'm really liking this Corsair I bought

I've had one of the 4 GB Corsair Survivor drives for quite awhile now and it's been rock-solid since day one. I bought it mostly because the thing is built like a tank. It's not the smallest drive to be sure but it is durable. The Egg has the 8 GB variant for $30 after rebate. If you're worse than me about forgetting the thing in your pants pocket and it gets laundered (nothing like April fresh data, lemme tell ya) the waterproof seal is worth the price alone. The OCZ ATV that was mentioned above is also pretty rugged but I prefer having to screw the drive together rather than a cap that simply pops on and off.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233060

shawn

macpromatt said:

This ATV works absolutely flawlessly with OS X, and is VERY fast indeed at transferring data. It also has a lifetime warrantee!

As for encryption, you want to make sure the drive stays formatted with FAT32, and you can then use "truecrypt" (free and VERY secure) to encrypt/decrypt data. There are windows AND Mac versions - the interface is identical in both, and you can get portable versions; IE you dump the executables/folders for truecrypt on the ATV drive, launch the OS specific version of truecrypt from the ATV (no install needed) and then create virtual disk images within the drive, which you mount with truecrypt from within either OS (sounds harder than it actually is - it is VERY easy!).

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Wow, this is like reading a manual in chineese.. I will keep your advice for my husb though, he will make something out of it. This ATV quite expenesive but sounds good. Thanks

macpromatt said:

Go with the ATV; take it from me, disappointment is cheap, but TRUE satisfaction costs a little more

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Hi, do you know if the other ATV are any good, e.g. could i choose cheaper one. From here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss...alias=aps&field-keywords=OCZ+ATV&x=0&y=0?tag=

Thank you very much again.

i've used sandisk and memorex travel drive, pc and mac. both are working great.

finger print reader id built in
http://www.mxisecurity.com/mxi/categories/display/62

My first recommendation would have been the Strontium. I've had a 8GB model for nearly a year, and it has been great. Very fast, reliable, and semi-rugged. They are available in 4GB, 8GB (which I use), 16GB and 32GB sizes. You might think that all USB drives are the same but performance can vary greatly between drives of the same capacity and even in the same series. The Strontium Bold series is not the same as the Strontium TNT USB drives, the structure is different and TNT USB series has red accents on the casing.