USB 3.1 flash drives, anyone recommend?

[Solomani]

Hi all,

Can anyone recommend a particular brand for the USB 3.1 (USB-C) flash drives? They seem expensive still, but is the price really worth it compared to the older standard USB 3.0 drives (which are now very cheap)?

Basically looking to use it as an external (backup) drive for iMac. Does the 3.1 type have any advantages over older USB, other than speed? I'm sure it's faster, but not sure of any other selling points.

And if I buy one for my 2017 iMac…. do I need some adapter? The iMac specifications says that its Thunderbolt port supports USB 3.1 generation 2. I take it they are different connections so I need to buy an adapter??

 

[ZapNZs]

The type-C flash drives are not any faster as the current ones on the market use the same USB 3.1 gen 1 like the type-A counterparts (as far as I know, USB 3.1 gen 2 flash drives do not exist, and no flash drive exists that has fully saturated the bandwidth of gen 1) - in many cases, most of the type-C offerings are slower because many of the fastest USB flash drives are not available in type-C versions yet (the large bulk of flash drives have high read speeds but abysmal write speeds.) The biggest advantages I see are a more durable connector, and one that is reversible and will eventually become the dominant standard across all computers/phones. On new iMacs and MacBook Pros, you would also be able to use it without needing an adapter.

The fastest flash drives I have are the 256 GB Corsair Voyager GTX, and 128 GB SanDisk Extreme Pro CZ88 (now replaced by a newer version). Both are near-SSD fast (and IIRC both use an actual SSD controller.) The Corsair is built for war.

Fast flash drives I am using include the Transcend JetDrive 780 and Muskin Ventura Plus. These all use MLC NAND, and so they have extremely high write speeds in addition to high read speeds.

Samsung has a few type-C flash drives that have good working speeds (not far off from the 780), are solidly built, and reasonably priced, such as this model.

 

[Macinthelou]

I am looking for something similar, and see there are flash drives that have both connectors:

https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Powe...=1507038996&sr=1-3&keywords=usb-c+flash+drive

Thoughts on this one vs others?

Thanks!

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Any modern flash drive is usually fairly fast and the dual connectors all seem to be fairly quick. I always chose sandisk myself but that's just because they always treat me well I've even put a couple through the washing machine with no ill effect.

 

[akwarner]

I have one of these and like it:

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sandis...sb-type-c-flash-drive/5219003.p?skuId=5219003

 

[ZapNZs]

I am looking for something similar, and see there are flash drives that have both connectors:

https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Powe...=1507038996&sr=1-3&keywords=usb-c+flash+drive

Thoughts on this one vs others?

Thanks!

It's reasonably well-made and reasonably priced. Like most USB flash drives, it is characterized by good read speeds and extremely low write speeds - obviously, if speed is not a concern, this isn't a big deal. If you are going to move a lot of files to/from the drive, it can get annoying fast (at least for me it is, as slow flash drives drive me insane.)

It's real-world sustained write speed with larger files is about 1/30th of the SanDisk ExtremePRO (around 10 MB/s versus about 300 MB/s) and about 1/10th of the Samsung. In regards to smaller files, it's real-world sustained write speed is about 1/100th of the SanDisk ExtremePRO.

 

[Solomani]

Write speed is definitely important, since I plan to use one as a regular "backup" device for my Mac files/documents/photos/etc

 

[ZapNZs]

In that case, IMHO, if you are looking for a native type-C drive that has both fast write and fast read speeds, the Samsung MUF-128DA2 is the flash drive for you. As far as I know, it's the only major USB-C flash drive offering that has sustained write speeds exceeding 100 MB/s, which is in many cases 10 times the speed of other offerings (and this difference may be even more pronounced with smaller files, such as moving thousands of small Word documents*)


*for example, I test my flash drives by formatting them all to the same filesystem and partition scheme (ExFAT and MBR) and then time them in regards to how long it takes them to complete a file transfer using a data transfer test file.

The three tests found in the "data transfer tests" file are:

• Small: PNG & JPG images--11,264 files, 1.42gb total
• Medium: AAC Music--2,621 files, 898 folders, 11.1gb total
• Large: MOV & MPEG Videos & WIM iso--30 files, 8.66gb total
• ((COMBINED -- 13,915 files, 901 folder, 21.2gb total))

These two illustrate the extreme in the variance between respective write speeds:

The Silicon Power J80

• Combined -- 58:44
• Small files -- 18:00
• Medium files -- 21:35
• Large files -- 19:09

The SanDisk ExtremePRO

• Combined -- 3:28
• Small files -- 1:23
• Medium files -- 1:24
• Large files -- 0:41
• All at once -- 3:39

 

[AndrewClarke]

Resurrecting a slightly stale thread vs. starting a new one.

It seems like there still aren't fast USB Type-C thumb/flash drives yet. SanDisk makes the USB Extreme Pro with 420/380MBps claimed speeds. But their Ultra dual-drive or Type-C drives top out at 150MBps. Is my best option for pure speed still to buy the SanDisk Extreme Pro and use a dongle?

Why aren't the fastest drives also available with USB Type-C? Just a case of market demand?

 

[ebayusuff]

Resurrecting a slightly stale thread vs. starting a new one.

It seems like there still aren't fast USB Type-C thumb/flash drives yet. SanDisk makes the USB Extreme Pro with 420/380MBps claimed speeds. But their Ultra dual-drive or Type-C drives top out at 150MBps. Is my best option for pure speed still to buy the SanDisk Extreme Pro and use a dongle?

Why aren't the fastest drives also available with USB Type-C? Just a case of market demand?

Think so. I have Zen AIO PRO Z240 which says in its specifications that it has 1 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 USB Type-C. So I searched for usb 3.1 gen 2 type c flash drive and and hub but it isn't available. I even couldn't find fast type c flash drive. Odd.