USB Flash Drives - Which Brands to avoid (or buy)?

[atlanticza]

Some flash drives just don't work on Macs. Anyone got a recommendation on which brands to buy (or to avoid)?

 

[Mal]

Haven't had any problems, but I own a Transcend and a Pretec, neither of which are major brands, and neither have had problems connecting to the Mac. I did have to get the Transcend replaced under warranty, but they were good about that.

jW

 

[iamvexed]

I have three Sandisk flash drives (one 256MB, one 2GB, and one 4GB). I've had the 256 MB for about five years, and it's worked famously. I've never had a problem from any of them. Moreover, I've used all of them to transfer data between Macs and PCs--no problems at all.

 

[crazycat]

I have used Kingston, corsair and Sandisk they all work fine. I currently use a 32GB flash drive, its great and wont cost you an arm and a leg, here you go:

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-OCZUSBATV32G-32GB-Flash-Drive/dp/tech-data/B0013HHDH2/ref=de_a_smtd

 

[Apple Ink]

Transcend and Kingston are fine good flash drives!

For speed.... Corsair!

For design... PQI

 

[macworkerbee]

I'll be honest I've had three, 1 from PNY and 2 from Memorex, and none of them have ever had a problem in over 5 years. I also have two generic ones from work that have the company logo on them (don't know the brand) and they don't have any trouble. So, stop worrying and just pick one for a good price and large enough space for your needs. Happy hunting.

 

[Neil321]

I've used sandisk & memorex with no problems

 

[aafuss1]

Avoid anything that's u3 enabled.

I have Sony and Transcend flash drives and both are quite good.

 

[muldul]

Freecom works ok for me

 

[mward333]

Avoid anything that's u3 enabled.

If you do choose a drive that is u3 enabled, then I suggest disabling the u3. That's what I do. I've owned some of Sandisk's titanium drives over the years, and they are very durable. I just put them on a Windows box the first time, disable the u3, and then use them on my Mac after that. It only takes a few minutes, and it's easy, and these are great drives.

 

[airjuggernaut]

Memorex


Honestly, a Flash Drive that can withstand 2 years of High School use with stuff being constantly put on, being thrown around, being ripped out of computers without safely removing first by idiot friends and/or family AND does not run into any issues with transfering data between OS X and Windows is a great brand in my eyes.

Oh and avoid U3 flashdrives like the plague. It was a great idea that had a lot of promise, but in the end it just didn't work out.

 

[scotty96LSC]

I've used several different brands personally, and for clients, and have not found one to be better than another.

 

[jalagl]

I bought two 4GB PQI flash drives about a year ago - one of them fails every once in a while (says it isn't formatted), the other one works flawlessly.
I also have Lexar, LG, Emprex and Memorex drives, and they all work great.

 

[150hp]

I have the Swiss Army knife/USB combo. Works great & extra geeky:

http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/6b3b/

 

[blurredline]

I've used probably 10 different brands(I'm always getting them for free from work.) I'd say my top 2 have been Kingston and LG brand(fast and reliable), and the worst I've used is GXT, very slow.

 

[galstaph]

sandisk for me, I have a 512 and a 4gb, both are great, plus the 4gb has a retractable usb plug sooo cool and practical! it has also survived being 'bent' (accidentally) in a usb slot, the case just pried open and no damage occured, great little usb drive