*Reliable* Memory Stick/Flash Drive

[Ron99]

My wife needs a super-reliable and long-lived USB memory stick/flash drive, with a nominal 128 or 256GB capacity. Actually she intends to have two, of different brands, just in case one fails.

It will only see average use (probably only used several times per month, sometimes stored for many months without any use). Number of write cycles probably won't be an issue, but ability to function for many years is very important.
Superfast read/write speed isn't too important as long as it's not painfully slow or stuttery if trying to transfer large files.

Over the years I've used a variety of small memory cards and flash drives and roughly speaking from experience I rank some of the well-known brands as follows.

Very good: Samsung, Sandisk,
Good: Transcend, Toshiba, TDK, Lexar.
Adequate: PNY, Integral.
Poor: Kingston, generic/unbranded.

Are my past experiences worth following, or have I just been lucky/unlucky with some brands?

Which memory stick/flash drive brands do you like or dislike?

Thanks
R99

[colin_p]

If it is that important, I'd go cloud and in more than one place.

[Ron99]

colin_p said:

If it is that important, I'd go cloud and in more than one place.

Thanks, but internet and mobile signal are often erratic; it is essential that the stored files are available at all times.

[The_Jackal]

No one can guarantee life long performance.
Go with your own experience, and don't buy off dodgy Ebayers.

Some people could recommend Kingston, would it change your mind? No? Well stick with what you know.

[Ron99]

The_Jackal said:

No one can guarantee life long performance.
Go with your own experience, and don't buy off dodgy Ebayers.

Some people could recommend Kingston, would it change your mind? No? Well stick with what you know.

I only buy from the most respected sources. I don't buy from ebay, nor 'sold by bbbbbb fulfilled by aaaaaa'

You or others might be able to change my mind regarding my perception of certain brands (maybe Samsung are worse or Kingston are better than I thought). A chap I used to know but haven't spoken to for a while loved Kingston. A different chap hated Sandisk.

[Second Best]

We use Kingston 256-bit protected DataTraveler sticks at work (USB 3.0, 64GB). They're not cheap but I've had my stick for a few years and it still performs flawlessly. Put it this way, there are about 10 of us in the team that use these sticks and if one was to fail then it'd be a six-figure sum to recover the data the stick collects. Over 4-5 years we've not had a single failure. The sticks get used 3-4 times a day.

[curlyks2]

In no particular order, I've not had any problems with...

• Samsung - used various and have a 16GB one that lives permanently plugged in, in the car as music storage
• Sandisk - used various and have a 128GB "Ultra Fit" (small) one that lives on my keyring
• Lexar - used various and still have a 128MB (yes, MB) one that I've had for years but still works fine

[egomeister]

Ron99 said:

The_Jackal said:

No one can guarantee life long performance.
Go with your own experience, and don't buy off dodgy Ebayers.

Some people could recommend Kingston, would it change your mind? No? Well stick with what you know.

I only buy from the most respected sources. I don't buy from ebay, nor 'sold by bbbbbb fulfilled by aaaaaa'

You or others might be able to change my mind regarding my perception of certain brands (maybe Samsung are worse or Kingston are better than I thought). A chap I used to know but haven't spoken to for a while loved Kingston. A different chap hated Sandisk.

I've had a bunch of USB sticks over the years and the only failures have been with cheap generic "swivel" type drives. The rest have been mid-range to well respected brands.

I've always tended to buy retail rather than online - I'm wary of even buying from Amazon direct as I'm led to believe stock can be co-mingled with thired-party FBA stock, although I'm prepared to be corrected on this if anyone knows better.

[NDA]

I use a Sandisk for all of my documents - I've used the same one for around 8 years without an issue. I have a backup Samsung, but probably only backup twice a year....

[shtu]

Ron99 said:

colin_p said:

If it is that important, I'd go cloud and in more than one place.

Thanks, but internet and mobile signal are often erratic; it is essential that the stored files are available at all times.

Then you do need to think about offsite backup as well as the USB devices. You have to think about more then just the loss of a bit of hardware, what if you have a fire? The lock on the safe door fails? You have a burglary?

Anyway, the actual brands? Matters relatively little, the big brands are perfectly fine, I'm still using the original 512MB one I bought over a decade ago.

[CrgT16]

Patriot are very good but not cheap

[abzmike]

Having the most reliable memory stick in the world is fine - having two is even better - but what if she looses them. However, using cloud storage is the way forward. After the initial upload, OneDrive, DropBox or whatever clients work well over even a slow connection.

[alorotom]

Can you not use your phone as the storage medium ... plenty of apps for Android and iPhone that will allow this.

[deckster]

I know you've already said it's not what you want, but genuinely for long-term storage there is no better option than the cloud. I certainly wouldn't trust a USB stick for anything more than shifting files around between systems; for something that you need last years, there is just way too much chance of losing them, getting some random corruption, or just re-formatting the wrong one - and then you've lost everything.

At the very least, have your primary copy in the cloud and then store locally on as many memory sticks as you like. But don't rely on a single bit of fragile hardware with your only copy of anything even vaguely important.

[anonymous-user]

I agree that sandisk seem quite reliable. Personally I like the retractable ones as I think they offer better protection.
I avoid the plastic ended types once they crack its just a downward spiral every time you insert them.

As I see that the OP has explained why he wants physical and not to go the cloud way I thought I would be really helpful and suggest my own left field suggestion.

Has the Op thought about purchasing another laptop and installing a 512GB sata drive ? Then installing Linux as the operating system. lastly copying the files to this laptop. As an added what if suggestion the original drive from the laptop can be placed into a caddy and a further back up of the files copied onto that.

This arrangement would mean that the OP's wife had the reliability of a Linux machine with her files safely store within it. When she wanted to view them it would be simplicity enough to power up the laptop and almost instantly they would be there.
And no relying on an internet connection or hosting company

[Derek Smith]

I would endorse the advice regarding eBay. I've just had a Sandisk one give up the ghost. It was just 8 months old.

I bought 2 x Sandisk Ultra 3.0 sticks, both 64GB, from Tesco and they, so far, have given no problems. The price was a little high, but perhaps that's because they are genuine? They are retractable. I don't know if that helps with longevity.