Many types of USB drive, sometimes referred to as a thumb drive, also have handy features like a key chain ring or a small LED flashlight. Some can even transmit your data wirelessly for the ultimate in digital convenience. And as with any fun accessory, there are plenty of novelty versions of flash drives designed to show your personality, display your sense of humor, or broadcast your team loyalty.
“The transfer speeds are satisfyingly fast for reading and writing all kinds of files, whether large HD videos or unsorted media folders,” our tester reported of this flash drive. He also liked the inclusion of the SecureAccess file encryption, although advanced features are an additional purchase. In terms of negatives, our reviewer called the plastic shell casing “flimsy and fragile” and observed that the transfer speeds are capped when the flash drive is plugged into a USB hub. Overall? Our tester was “more than satisfied with the transfer speeds, but would have appreciated a better, sturdier physical design.”
USB 2.0 flash drives have a transfer rate of up to 480Mbps, while USB 3.0 flash drives allow for transfer rates 10 times faster — up to 4.8Gbps. However, you can only take advantage of this higher speed if your device has a USB 3.0 port. Although USB 3.0 flash drives and other devices are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports, they will only operate at a USB 2.0 rate.
Flash drives are often measured by the rate at which they transfer data. Transfer rates may be given in megabytes per second (MB/s), megabits per second (Mbit/s), or in optical drive multipliers such as "180X" (180 times 150 KiB/s).[19] File transfer rates vary considerably among devices. Second generation flash drives have claimed to read at up to 30 MB/s and write at about half that rate, which was about 20 times faster than the theoretical transfer rate achievable by the previous model, USB 1.1, which is limited to 12 Mbit/s (1.5 MB/s) with accounted overhead.[20] The effective transfer rate of a device is significantly affected by the data access pattern.[21]
To ensure this information isn't stolen as well, having a locked flash drive can keep anyone from viewing your files should the drive fall into the wrong hands. Tiny and portable, they easily slip into a pants or coat pocket, in a computer bag or purse, and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. External keypads add an additional level of security to portable memory, meaning a viewer must first input a numerical code to gain access to files. These in turn can be encrypted and password protected, deterring serious threats to personal security.
Anyone who has accidentally left their flash drive in their pants pockets through a laundry cycle will appreciate the durability of this Samsung drive. Its durable metal casing is waterproof, shockproof, magnetproof, and resistant to high temperatures. The drive is housed inside the metal casing, so it won’t break off (and the keyring is made with the same quality casing, again helping your drive live longer). Samsung believes in this drive enough to provide a five-year warranty should anything happen. Durability isn’t its only perk, either. USB 3.0 and NAND technology gives this drive data transfer respectable read speeds of up to 130 MB/s and write speeds over 100 MB/s. It is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0, but expect a drop in transfer speeds.
Yes you can but if you have a lot of files, a flash drive won't back it all up. If you only need to back up 32GB-64GB for example, you could back it up on the flash drive. However, anything bigger isn't sensible for flash drives; you're better off getting an external hard drive. Also, it's not a long-term storage option––it can corrupt easily or be lost.
Many types of USB drive, sometimes referred to as a thumb drive, also have handy features like a key chain ring or a small LED flashlight. Some can even transmit your data wirelessly for the ultimate in digital convenience. And as with any fun accessory, there are plenty of novelty versions of flash drives designed to show your personality, display your sense of humor, or broadcast your team loyalty.
