Best USB Flash Drives and External SSDs

Ghot said:

Well, yeah.
Gotta spend the big bux when they make the stuff small. :)

The ratio works the same when you get even larger. 4TB WD Black $124.99

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Yeah, it looks like some vendors are trying to miniaturize SSDs, and ran into technological and pricing barriers.

I think in due time we'll see shirt button sized SSDs whatever they will be naming it (shirt button micro USB ?) for $1/TB

Haydon said:

Yeah, it looks like some vendors are trying to miniaturize SSDs, and ran into technological and pricing barriers.

I think in due time we'll see shirt button sized SSDs whatever they will be naming it (shirt button micro USB ?) for $1/TB

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Universal Serial Button?

Sometimes these posts just write themselves.

hsehestedt said:

Not true. Windows to Go was a Windows software feature for Enterprise versions on Windows that allowed you to deploy a standalone copy of Windows to a flash drive. What you plugged into the USD port was NOT a self contained PC, it was merely flash storage, although it was storage that was quick and durable. Windows to Go was discontinued as of Windows 10 2004.

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Yeah, I was confusing it with computer-on-a-stick (which uses the HDMI port)

hsehestedt said:

So long as the flash drive in question presents itself as a HDD rather than removable storage, it will work with Storage Spaces.

One simple way to determine this is to look at volume details in Diskpart. If it indicates "Removable" then Storage Spaces will not accept it.

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USB flash drives present themselves as removable storage, hence not suitable for Storage Spaces, unless hacked. I mentioned the hack before that seemed to me not commendable at all if you do it yourself. Maybe MS is (or was) a better hack with the Windows-to-Go devices. SSDs and USB HDDs are suitable for Storage Spaces. I used the cheapest USB HDDs that I could find for my experiments some years ago.

The devices under discussion in this thread appear to be miniaturizations of SSDs and may be suitable for Storage Spaces, but they are very expensive. I like Storage Spaces (with reservations) because of the higher sophistication level of redundancy, you get a warning if a device malfunctions while the overall construct still works, you don't have to guess at % good and the like, and simply replace the malfunctioning device all the while with the overall construct still working.

I think I will revisit the issue when the technology curve naturally makes SSDs small and cheap. Meanwhile, I'll live with simple redundancy with vigilante on my part

No worries. There are so many similar sounding technologies that I'm constantly mixing up stuff myself.

As for flash drives presenting themselves as removable media, the drives that were certified for Windows to Go presented themselves as HDDs. There were a few others as well. In fact, I just happened by accident to buy a few Sandisk Extreme flash drives that showed up as HDDs. I liked it and purchased a few more but that batch showed up as removable drives. When I asked Sandisk about this they simply said that they had changed the manufacturing process.

Interestingly, there were a few flash drives that allowed the user to flip the status of the flash drive between fixed disk and removable disk status with a utility. Apparently Windows recognizes a disk as removable by querying a RMB (Removable Media Bit).

Here is an article on the topic:

I glanced through the article, I would not entrust my data to a modified USB flash drive.

How about this one? It can be Type A 3.0, Micro USB, or Lightning. It's 128GB and works as all 3. Windows, iOS, and Android. I use it to transfer things from my iPad to my PC. I have 2 of them. I bought one for $18 and got the other one free.

Are you asking me? My personal opinion is that USB flash drives are very useful, and their reliability is not an issue if you use them on your sneakernet between your iPad and your PC.

But be careful if you use them for data storage. Lucky you, you already have a pair that you can use as a redundant pair (store the same data on each one)

Haydon said:

Are you asking me? My personal opinion is that USB flash drives are very useful, and their reliability is not an issue if you use them on your sneakernet between your iPad and your PC.

But be careful if you use them for data storage. Lucky you, you already have a pair that you can use as a redundant pair (store the same data on each one)

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I was just showing that they have the connectors built in and do not require adapters. Usually you need an adapter to go from USB to Lightning.

hsehestedt said:

As for flash drives presenting themselves as removable media, the drives that were certified for Windows to Go presented themselves as HDDs. There were a few others as well. In fact, I just happened by accident to buy a few Sandisk Extreme flash drives that showed up as HDDs. I liked it and purchased a few more but that batch showed up as removable drives. When I asked Sandisk about this they simply said that they had changed the manufacturing process.

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I remember now that I have an old hardware encrypted USB flash drive, the IronKey D80. It appears in File Explorer as an optical DVD RW drive. USB flash drives can be thus be manipulated to appear as something else.



That reminds me of this old thread and the above quote of USB flash drives appearing as something else. Although I would guess that the manipulation of the USB flash drive requires more than just a mere change in manufacturing process.

I no longer use the IronKey D80 after I switched to BitLocker, but it is a fun device. You hear a USB like ding when you insert it, but you see an optical drive in File Explorer. When you eject the 'optical disc' it disappears from File Explorer, and upon unplugging it you hear a USB like ding again, LOL