0-20k USB Stick buying advice

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NobodyButMe

NobodyButMe

Beginner
Hi!
I hope it's okay to post about this in this section.
There are so many USB sticks out there.
Is there anything better than this, with comparable specs and price?
I'm just looking for something that can be used in a versatile ways.
At the moment I need to buy it to burn an ISO image on to a pen drive.
Thanks!

 
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Maybe get a USB C dual drive since that is more versatile. I'd also consider 64GB instead of 32GB,

Amazon.in: Buy SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go Type C Pendrive for Mobile 64GB, 5Y - SDDDC3-064G-I35 Online at Low Prices in India | SanDisk Reviews & Ratings

Buy SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go Type C Pendrive for Mobile 64GB, 5Y - SDDDC3-064G-I35 online at low price in India on Amazon.in. Check out SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go Type C Pendrive for Mobile 64GB, 5Y - SDDDC3-064G-I35 reviews, ratings, features, specifications and browse more SanDisk products...
www.amazon.in
 
babhishek said:
yup, any USB will work.
Click to expand...
Thanks.

roofrider said:
Maybe get a USB C dual drive since that is more versatile. I'd also consider 64GB instead of 32GB,

Amazon.in: Buy SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go Type C Pendrive for Mobile 64GB, 5Y - SDDDC3-064G-I35 Online at Low Prices in India | SanDisk Reviews & Ratings

Buy SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go Type C Pendrive for Mobile 64GB, 5Y - SDDDC3-064G-I35 online at low price in India on Amazon.in. Check out SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go Type C Pendrive for Mobile 64GB, 5Y - SDDDC3-064G-I35 reviews, ratings, features, specifications and browse more SanDisk products...
www.amazon.in
Click to expand...
Thanks! That's good advice. Do you think is the worth the additional 200 rupees?
https://www.amazon.in/SanDisk-Ultra-Dual-Drive-Flash/dp/B084PJCMZS/
 
I would suggest to stay away from SanDisk and opt for Strontium or PNY. While SanDisk's brand presence and warranty service are huge, their NAND flashing software packages aren't readily available, which is a huge PITA for DIY lovers.

@NobodyButMe

On another note, I would suggest you to use Ventoy. Using this fantastic open source software, you can directly boot ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files without "burning" them on the pendrive.
 
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NobodyButMe said:
Hi!
I hope it's okay to post about this in this section.
There are so many USB sticks out there.
Is there anything better than this, with comparable specs and price?
I'm just looking for something that can be used in a versatile ways.
At the moment I need to buy it to burn an ISO image on to a pen drive.
Thanks!

Click to expand...
Should work just fine, been using the 128gb version of this for a few months and have used it as a boot drive as well as just storage
 
Titokhan said:
I would suggest to stay away from SanDisk and opt for Strontium or PNY. While SanDisk's brand presence and warranty service are huge, their NAND flashing software packages aren't readily available, which is a huge PITA for DIY lovers.

@NobodyButMe

On another note, I would suggest you to use Ventoy. Using this fantastic open source software, you can directly boot ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files without "burning" them on the pendrive.
Click to expand...

Hey! Thanks for the heads up about SanDisk. I will look at comparable options in SStrontium or PNY. I wasn't considering them because, on average, they have lower reviews on Amazon.
Ventoy sounds like a really cool option! Thanks for recommending it. It might just be what I need. I'll go through the documentation but, in a nutshell, how exactly do I use it, if I, say, want to install Linux alongside my current Windows 10 installation? Can I just copy the file over to my phone, connect my phone to the pc, and boot it like that? Thanks again!

TheCoolerPlayer said:
Should work just fine, been using the 128gb version of this for a few months and have used it as a boot drive as well as just storage
Click to expand...
Awesome! Thank you! :)
 
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Titokhan said:
I would suggest to stay away from SanDisk and opt for Strontium or PNY. While SanDisk's brand presence and warranty service are huge, their NAND flashing software packages aren't readily available, which is a huge PITA for DIY lovers.

@NobodyButMe

On another note, I would suggest you to use Ventoy. Using this fantastic open source software, you can directly boot ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files without "burning" them on the pendrive.
Click to expand...
Why why? I have strontium and sandisk with 8gb to 64gb variants and also have their memory cards all working rock solid, zero replacements and zero bad issues/data corruptions. Even my bro and friends using them with zero issues since years now.
To add I got my Sandisk 32gb replaced 2 yrs ago just because I roughly handled it on few occasions and it fell from bike and few heights many times yet zero issues. Replacement was a bliss as got it replaced on the spot!
 
@nRiTeCh

I clearly mentioned the reason: "...their NAND flashing software packages aren't readily available, which is a huge PITA for DIY lovers."

If you're a casual user, then the NAND writing part mayn't concern you. But if you want to utilize a pendrive for OS booting/disk cloning/ROM dumping, you should have your hands on the low-level flashing tools. Unfortunately, such utilities for Sandisk controllers are really hard to spot.
 
Titokhan said:
@nRiTeCh

I clearly mentioned the reason: "...their NAND flashing software packages aren't readily available, which is a huge PITA for DIY lovers."

If you're a casual user, then the NAND writing part mayn't concern you. But if you want to utilize a pendrive for OS booting/disk cloning/ROM dumping, you should have your hands on the low-level flashing tools. Unfortunately, such utilities for Sandisk controllers are really hard to spot.
Click to expand...
What complex things you talking about?
Rufus is the best diy one way solution for booting etc. stuff.
I have been booting into windows/linux using it since years now.
 
nRiTeCh said:
What complex things you talking about?
Rufus is the best diy one way solution for booting etc. stuff.
I have been booting into windows/linux using it since years now.
Click to expand...

Flash memory-based storage devices - be it USB pendrives, eMMC storage modules, or SSDs - are subject to NAND degradation over time. Although the integrated memory controller is enough to track wear and movement of data across segments to prolong the service life, repeated erasing and/or random writing often leads to "brick". In that case, you need the controller specific flash tool to diagnose and possibly revive the media. It's not about Rufus or any particular software, as the wear level is directly correlated with the amount of read/write operations performed.

PS: Apart from being one of the oldest beta testers of Rufus, I've collaborated with Pete Batard (the author of Rufus) many times in the past.
 
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roofrider said:
Luxe just has a metal housing instead of the plastic one on Go. If you want to go for more expensive ones there could be other highspeed options or some of the alternatives others mentioned above.
Click to expand...
Speed isn't really a concern for me. Just looking to spend the minimum required for something decent and useful. Cheers!
 
NobodyButMe said:
Speed isn't really a concern for me. Just looking to spend the minimum required for something decent and useful. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Speed is not too shabby on this one (I'm speaking for the 128GB model here) - for larger files such as movies, I get 150mbps for shorter ones and 70mbps sustained write. But for smaller files, such as copying game folders, it's pretty abysmal at around 15mbps. Still pretty good for me since I don't often move my steam libraries between computers. Read speed is fantastic tho, always 120-150mbps sustained (if copying to a SSD ofc). More expensive drives might do 150mbps sustained, or more, and have higher random read write speeds but also cost way more. For 850 bucks I think it's a fantastic workhorse for casual, non-sensitive data use.
 
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If your budget permits... I got sandisk extreme go 64gb and extreme PRO usb 3.1 128gb pen drives. The pro hits the USB 3 base limit of nearly 5 gbps... yes around 400 MBps read and write speed.

Got them to reduce OS installation times which I frequently do with the ventoy tool and boy does it fly!
 
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NobodyButMe said:
Hey! Thanks for the heads up about SanDisk. I will look at comparable options in SStrontium or PNY. I wasn't considering them because, on average, they have lower reviews on Amazon.
Ventoy sounds like a really cool option! Thanks for recommending it. It might just be what I need. I'll go through the documentation but, in a nutshell, how exactly do I use it, if I, say, want to install Linux alongside my current Windows 10 installation? Can I just copy the file over to my phone, connect my phone to the pc, and boot it like that? Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Re. Ventoy, you need to use the app to "prepare" your pendrive only once. You'll end up with having two partitions in your pendrive: one formatted with exFAT (to hold the bootable ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files as well as your personal data) and another small one (FAT formatted) meant for holding the actual bootloader related files. The bigger one can be formatted as FAT32/NTFS/UDF/XFS/Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 too, but exFAT gurantees maximum compatibility.

Once prepared, you need to copy the ISO to the bigger partition, and that's it! Ventoy's bootloader is smart enough to detect them automatically, so you'll be greeted with a nice boot menu once you boot from the pendrive.
 
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NobodyButMe said:
Hi!
I hope it's okay to post about this in this section.
There are so many USB sticks out there.
Is there anything better than this, with comparable specs and price?
I'm just looking for something that can be used in a versatile ways.
At the moment I need to buy it to burn an ISO image on to a pen drive.
Thanks!

Click to expand...
It's fine I have a normal HP one and I use that to install windows.
Had made a bootable drive of it via microsoft site
JPEG_20210427_001854_2458741544593097048.jpg
 
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Titokhan said:
Flash memory-based storage devices - be it USB pendrives, eMMC storage modules, or SSDs - are subject to NAND degradation over time. Although the integrated memory controller is enough to track wear and movement of data across segments to prolong the service life, repeated erasing and/or random writing often leads to "brick". In that case, you need the controller specific flash tool to diagnose and possibly revive the media. It's not about Rufus or any particular software, as the wear level is directly correlated with the amount of read/write operations performed.

PS: Apart from being one of the oldest beta testers of Rufus, I've collaborated with Pete Batard (the author of Rufus) many times in the past.
Click to expand...

Which software can we use for such diagnosis and revival? Pen drives and Micro SD cards do not even show the SMART status so difficult to guess when they will fail. I have a few Samsung EVO Plus Micro SD cards in mobiles and laptop but cannot find any such tool or software.
 
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