16Gb flash drive

I'm looking for a 16 Gb USB 2.0 flash drive. Any recommendations?

decent review on this one:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Flash Voyager 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model CMFUSB2.0-16GB

brady said:

decent review on this one:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Flash Voyager 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model CMFUSB2.0-16GB

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+1. the Corsair is pretty decent. Access time is excellent (better than my SSDs) and transfer time is average. It is a little "fat" and might obstruct the port next to it. Here is the data I measured just now:

+2 for the Corsair. I have about 1/2 dozen of them from 1Gig to 8Gig.
As whs mentioned, a bit "fat", but nicely protected covering.

I use two of these and would not be without them ...

Well, it looks like the Corsair wins. I will definitely look at that one. I had originally looked at the Mushkin Enhanced Mulholland 16GB and the Patriot Xporter 16GB, both of which got good reviews on Newegg. Anyone use these?

Thanks for the recommendations!

I had a couple of the corsair voyager original USB sticks and while the rubberized body was durable, it seems that the USB plug itself would actually break off...since there was no metal or hard plastic within the casing itself to hold it securely. Corsair replaced it for me a couple of times without trouble, but I was unable to access any data on the stick when I sent it in....thus if I didn't have a backup of my thumb drive, I lost the data.

The other issue I had with the Corsair Voyager was that the small hole in the case to attach to your keychain would eventually rip. And for me, if the USB key is not attached to my keychain, it's simply going to become lost.

I've been carrying the Sandisk Cruzer (Newegg.com - SanDisk Cruzer 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive Model SDCZ36-016G-B35) for the past few years daily on my keychain and haven't had any problems with it. I've got 2 of them personally that I own (a 4gb and a 16gb), and I have 3 of them that I use at work (all 4GB's). This device has a small metal bar that you can attach a ring to...and has proven extremely sturdy. I keep my USB key and my work security door opening fob on a carabiner clip (What is a carabiner clip? get one Personalized!), which then attaches to my keys. I keep it with me at all times, so the design of this FOB has been very durable for me.

You got a good point there regarding the rubber. Never thought of it as I do not use mine so much and I leave it in a box, not on a keychain.

Not to be cryptic, but the reason I asked is that 16Gb will be enough room with space to spare to back up all my critical data files. I intend to buy 2 of these flash drives, each 16 Gb, and exchange them monthly in my bank safe deposit box with new backed up data. This is my current version of off-site storage. I work from home, so I have no office drawer to keep a backup.

I'm not too concerned about the Corsair's rubber thing--I'd be using it only once a month.

I dislike the "cloud" idea and storage on some server that's who-knows-where. I just don't like the idea of my critical files floating around "out there," encrypted or not.

I was using DVDs, but that's kind of a pain, so I'm going to go with the two flash drives--unless someone here has a better suggestion.

Thanks.

For what you are trying to do, this is probably the cheapest route. If you needed more space, I would probably go with a couple of cheap HDDs and use an external enclosure - just in case you expect your files to grow beyond 16GBs.

Sounds like a good plan for what you want to accomplish. I do the same thing, but use 2 external hard drives.

I just keep a dock like this: Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA

I keep the hard drives just bare and rather than use a safe deposit box, I keep them with me at work. This way my copies of my data are always offsite, it case house burns down or otherwise.

pparks1 said:

Sounds like a good plan for what you want to accomplish. I do the same thing, but use 2 external hard drives.

I just keep a dock like this: Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA

I keep the hard drives just bare and rather than use a safe deposit box, I keep them with me at work. This way my copies of my data are always offsite, it case house burns down or otherwise.

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That looks like a good docking station. Does it come with an eSata cable? In the Newegg comments people were complaing about the noise of the power unit. Did you notice that too. Other people complained that the MIR is not honored - but there is no MIR at this time anyhow.

whs said:

pparks1 said:

Sounds like a good plan for what you want to accomplish. I do the same thing, but use 2 external hard drives.

I just keep a dock like this: Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA

I keep the hard drives just bare and rather than use a safe deposit box, I keep them with me at work. This way my copies of my data are always offsite, it case house burns down or otherwise.

Click to expand...

That looks like a good docking station. Does it come with an eSata cable? In the Newegg comments people were complaing about the noise of the power unit. Did you notice that too. Other people complained that the MIR is not honored - but there is no MIR at this time anyhow.

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Yes, it comes with an eSATA cable. The unit itself makes no noise, it's the drive itself which makes the noise. Obviously a loud hard drive, will make for a loud external drive this way.

Not sure on the rebate....I didn't get a rebate offer with mine. I bought 1 for work and 1 for home at $33.99 and am extremely pleased with them. I've actually moved my home unit over to my DVR...so will likely buy another dock for my PC.

Thanks for the answer. I wonder what this guy was hearing.

Cons: AC adapter emits a high frequency noise and will ANNOY you to the point of unplugging it from a power strip. Not even the on/off button on dock alleviates this constant irritating sound

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whs said:

Thanks for the answer. I wonder what this guy was hearing.

Cons: AC adapter emits a high frequency noise and will ANNOY you to the point of unplugging it from a power strip. Not even the on/off button on dock alleviates this constant irritating sound

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Who knows. I have 2 of these devices and get none of that. My AC Adapter is absolutely silent with or without the device powered on. I usually disregard a single person who says something odd about a product at NewEgg. It's only when the masses say, "watch out, it doesn't come with anything it says it does".

It's like hard drives. Almost every HD you look up, you will see people saying, "oh, I bought 4 of these and 2 were DoA". I've probably bought 30+ hard drives at NewEgg over the years. Some Western Digital, some Seagate, some Samsung, some Hitachi....and I've never had a single DoA drive from any of them. I simply have no idea what people do with their products which cause them so much grief.

pparks1 said:

whs said:

Thanks for the answer. I wonder what this guy was hearing.

Cons: AC adapter emits a high frequency noise and will ANNOY you to the point of unplugging it from a power strip. Not even the on/off button on dock alleviates this constant irritating sound

Click to expand...

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Who knows. I have 2 of these devices and get none of that. My AC Adapter is absolutely silent with or without the device powered on. I usually disregard a single person who says something odd about a product at NewEgg. It's only when the masses say, "watch out, it doesn't come with anything it says it does".

It's like hard drives. Almost every HD you look up, you will see people saying, "oh, I bought 4 of these and 2 were DoA". I've probably bought 30+ hard drives at NewEgg over the years. Some Western Digital, some Seagate, some Samsung, some Hitachi....and I've never had a single DoA drive from any of them. I simply have no idea what people do with their products which cause them so much grief.

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Yeah, you are right. They say that about external hard drives too. I have about a dozen of externals 2.5" and 3.5" of all different makes - even Fujitzu and Hitachi plus ths usual. None ever broke - knock on wood.

I don't need anything, or want anything, too complicated. So for now, the two flash drives will work for off-site storage. Thanks, all, for the reassurances.

My actual need is about 9 Gb, so I figure two 16s will allow some time for me to expand my needs, but not too quickly. By then, perhaps I'll buy two 32GB or 64GB flash drives! Heck, it was only five or six years ago or so when I bought a 1.0 Gb Sandisk Cruzer and thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread! I still have it, even though I don't use it much. And back then, it cost me $50!

gogreen said:

I don't need anything, or want anything, too complicated. So for now, the two flash drives will work for off-site storage. Thanks, all, for the reassurances.

My actual need is about 9 Gb, so I figure two 16s will allow some time for me to expand my needs, but not too quickly. By then, perhaps I'll buy two 32GB or 64GB flash drives! Heck, it was only five or six years ago or so when I bought a 1.0 Gb Sandisk Cruzer and thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread! I still have it, even though I don't use it much. And back then, it cost me $50!

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Yeah, it is amazing how the prices of those drives dropped. I paid $15.95 for my 16GBs.

By the time you need more space, you will probably go with USB3.

I've been using a 32GB Corsair for a couple of years now and love it!

Yeah, USB 3.0--I forgot about that! And I can see a 32 Gb flash drive in my future, too.