Good USB Pens

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2006-09-05 10:15pm

Looking for the following,

Brand Name. New.
1 GB - 2 GB storage
Fast data transfer
Driverless for Win2k and WinXP
Swivel cover instead of detachable cap
Rugged construction. Especially a durable key chain ring, because it attaches to my keys
Lifetime warranty
Can withstand temperatures from -40 all the way to 40 celsius
Price Range between 100 - 150 CDN. Will pay more if you can talk me into it.
Available either through the Internet or locally in Toronto (a major city in Canada)
Preferably small

My last one died on me. Instead of blowing fifty bucks on a no name piece of shit that's over after a few hundred writes with a broken keychain and a missing cap, I need something professionals use on a daily basis without any hassle. This has to last years. Thanks.

Post by **Edi** » 2006-09-06 02:00am

Sandisk Cruzer Micro or Cruzer Titanium. With the Micro, it's the black one that has a retractable head. No swivel mechanism, though, so shit could still get inside on both of these models. The Titanium model is fucking expensive, though. I've got the black Micro, cost me €30. It isn't backwards compatible with Win98, because there are no drivers. Must be the U3 shit in it.

I've also seen some models from some other brand that had a detachable cap that was attached to the rest of the USB stick by string so it wouldn't get lost even if it accidentally fell off.

Edi

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-09-06 09:52am

I've been using a 1 gig Sandisk Cruzer Mini myself for about the last year and I haven't had any problems whatsoever. Most of their minis are all about the same size, and while mine has a pop off cap instead of a swivel, it's generally fairly reliable. So, as far as brands go at least I would strongly recommend Sandisk.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2006-09-06 02:20pm

Thanks. I don't anticipate ferrying anything other than very large word and text documents, and presentations, so I think I'll get Sandisk Cruzer Micro with only 512 instead. 34.99 CDN, with a switch to pull back the USB connector... perfect.

One more question before I hit checkout... is it worth buying a 2 year extended warranty for 21 bucks, or a 1 year extended warranty for 12 bucks? I don't think so, since the whole thing costs 40, and if Sandisk is reliable it shouldn't trash.

Actually it's done, bought it, couldn't wait... thanks. Locky!

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-09-06 03:58pm

brianeyci wrote:
One more question before I hit checkout... is it worth buying a 2 year extended warranty for 21 bucks, or a 1 year extended warranty for 12 bucks? I don't think so, since the whole thing costs 40, and if Sandisk is reliable it shouldn't trash.

Actually it's done, bought it, couldn't wait... thanks. Locky!

Unless the warranty covers data recovery, and the stuff you're carrying back and forth is irreplaceable, I wouldn't bother. Most of the time you would be best off getting a new thumbdrive.

Post by **Edi** » 2006-09-06 05:19pm

I've got three different Sandisk drives. Two of them have seen very heavy use and haven't had any hiccups in the two years I've had them. The third one hasn't been used much at all because my old machine froze whenever I plugged it in (way too old hardware and a corrupted OS) and the Win98 on this piece of shit doesn't even support it. The warranty would be a total waste of money.

Edi

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-06 05:22pm

How common are the swivel drives? I've never owned one - stuck with the less-convienient iPod option - but that seems far better than the ones with caps. Maybe it's just Australia, but all the drives I've seen advertisted that are a reasonable size (1Gb+) are physically quite large, 5cm+.

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2006-09-06 05:52pm

I don't know how common they are but that looks fucking sexy. The picture makes it look at lot smaller than they are Stark... this one is nearly six centimeters. But as you should know it's not length but girdth that matters, this case the smaller the better, and it's only twenty millimeters wide and eight thick. Anyway I wouldn't want anything smaller than that, or it'd get too easily lost. The main thing is the USB part retracts into the drive, so it won't get damaged and there's no chance of losing the cap. If the housing is fatter and offers it a little more protection against the elements, good for me. The only thing I'm worried about is that flimsy looking keychain, but I can deal with that. Also I hope after retracting it a million times the thing doesn't get loose.

Can't wait to get my hands on it. Altogether it cost 51 CDN, but that's with 10 bucks shipping and tax.

ThatGuyFromThatPlace · Post by **ThatGuyFromThatPlace** » 2006-09-06 09:47pm

I haven't checked up on their product catalogue in a while, so I don't know if they have swivel style thumb drives, but I have a Lexar Sport 128mb that I've had for almost three years now and it still runs like the day I bought it despite having been through below freezing weather, being covered in snow, getting wet, being stuffed into packs, being yanked and knocked out of drives, being sat on and stepped on and dropped and thrown and much more abuse.
The first thing I put on that drive is still there and I've used the drive to save projects from Compsci classes, so at least four or five read/writes a day for nine months out of the year. I've upped my storage requirements since I bought the 128mb but I've had such a good experience that I wouldn't dream of buying anything but another lexar.
/testimonial

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2006-09-08 04:36pm

Update : it was delivered today, and apparently U3 is a whole software bundle. I can create bookmarks on my USB pen and have them carry over. And I can password the drive! Cool. As long as it works on the crippled Windows XP at school I'll be very happy. I've also wanted for a very long time to have all my e-mails portable. Apparently I can download a special Mozilla right on the USB and have it save and run right off the drive. Thanks a lot to Zod, Edi and others.

FYI if you care, I want a USB pen so I can have a computer at home without Internet and a computer at school with Internet. I have to work from my computer, but I don't want Internet on the computer at home since I waste a lot of time. So a USB drive like this lets me shuttle files from the Internet from school when I need them, and yank my wireless card out from my laptop so I don't get distracted at home. I had no idea how I was going to save bookmarks between public computers but it looks like this does the trick. Thanks.

Post by **Edi** » 2006-09-08 05:30pm

Good to hear that. Just be aware that anything with U3 will not work on anything earlier than Win2k SP4 if you ever run into a situation where you would need it. I'm really glad I have one of those ancient "just a portable HD with nothing extra" 256MB Sandisk sticks, because that way I can use it to flash the BIOS on my comp and all kinds of other shit where U# and other such things would make it impossible. You could probably get one of those types of pens for ~$10 or so if you want a backup.

If you want to carry them around, I suggest a keychain arpund your neck with one of those clip locks that won't accidentally open and let it fall.

Edi

brianeyci · Post by **brianeyci** » 2006-09-08 05:39pm

I just hope the fucking U3 works on computers without administrator privileges. The packaging says you can use it as a normal USB pen and the U3 files I can even delete off the pen if I wanted so hopefully it's just a program and not some strange shit.

Post by **Edi** » 2006-09-09 04:31am

Yes, it will work like a regular USB drive. What it does is mount the USB stick as two different drives, with the U3 functionality being one and the actual HD portion being another. It's no bog deal. It just won't work on the earlier versions of Windows, is all.

Edi