USB drives

iPanda032 · Feb 13, 2023

Not 100% I getting this poll. I mean files are put onto flash drives to carry around in. Or move them or have a software to carry around conveniently. But I typically USE them only for either mobility to get files from different computers when network or cloud access is not readily accessible yet. Or doing some sort of Bios, firmware update on an electronic device like other PC, stereo, or other electronics item. Create rescue media. OS Installers.

Edwin · Feb 13, 2023

Got a drawer full of them, rarely use them.

Try3 · Feb 14, 2023

Have you changed the question for this poll?

Denis

James · Feb 14, 2023

Try3 said:
Have you changed the question for this poll?

Denis

Not recently. Only previous change is the addition of another storage method

Try3 · Feb 14, 2023

OK.

The poll question refers to "USB drives" whilst the thread title refers to "USB sticks".

Denis

Berton · Feb 14, 2023

Try3 said:
OK.

The poll question refers to "USB drives" whilst the thread title refers to "USB sticks".

Denis

Yep, big difference. The USB Thumb drives are easily portable with a lanyard, the USB Drives can be pocketable [same 2.5" drives as in Notebooks] or portable in that they use the same 3.5" drives as in Desktops. Size and weight make a difference even though they are all USB-connected. To paraphrase an old song, "what a difference a word makes".

James · Feb 14, 2023

I just realised that mistake, I’m changing the title.

iPanda032 · Feb 14, 2023

James said:
I just realised that mistake, I’m changing the title.

So were you intending to ask about External Storage drives or USB flash drives? I guess there are multiple categories of external storage and portability. So you'll need to be a bit more specific.

Stationary External USB/Thunderbolt/USBc attached drives(i.e. HDD mechanical, Sata SSD, NVME)
Portable External USB/USBc/THunderbolt attached drives(HDD(less common now), SATA SSD , NVME)
USB Stick/Thumb drives in USB/USBc form factor
SD/Micro SD storage

TVeblen · Feb 14, 2023

Yes, I meant I Rarely Use USB Thumb Drives for files, backups, or storage in the poll.
I do use USB connected Desktop Storage Drives for all of that.
I don't like USB connected Portable drives. They've given me a PIA.
I also use old 2.5" SSDs and HDDs for all of that. (One of those came from a portable USB drive) :wink:

Hazel123 · Feb 14, 2023

James said:
I just realised that mistake, I’m changing the title.

I just responded for both usb sticks and external hard drives

But use the latter more than the former for storage, so ticked the first option in the poll as the most likely response.

Berton · Feb 14, 2023

Just realized I could have mentioned that in the last week I've thrown out 2 USB Thumb drives, something happened to one 8GB in that it was no longer being recognized in any computer when plugged in and the other was a 4GB drive that killed power to the computer when plugged in.

With USB-C becoming more popular, especially with cell/smart phones, I've gotten a couple 128GB Thumb drives that have both USB-A and USB-C plugs that I can put diagnostics on for portability, hardly take up any room.

TM21 · Feb 14, 2023

My first contact with removable media, came ~1980 in the form of a single sided 5.25" Floppy Disk. I wound up with hundreds of those dang things. I still have some.
Then came the little fully enclosed Floppy Disks. Again, hundreds! Then the CD. Oh WOW! Write once and forget it. I bought those by the hundreds and still have several hundred today.
Finally the little USB Flash Drive (or, Thumb Drive). I still have and use several of the 64 MB and 1.0GB FD's.
On FD, I have every OS from XP to 11 missing only Vista and Millenium,* on Flash Drives. I have those two on DVD's.
I find them really great for instant data backups, and for transferring files between computers.
Any time I'm in a store that's running a sale on Flash Drives, cheap, I'll grab a couple. I've never had one give up on me, but I did have one that was given to me "Locked" and I never did get into that thing.

I have one of those 8TB Seagate full sized spinners that was given to me, in an external USB drive enclosure. The enclosure electronics failed and I extracted the drive, * which still worked, and I have it today, as a free floating backup drive. That means it just hangs around, to be used wherever I may need it. I had to Destroy that enclosure, just to get the drive out. I think it was laser sealed.

I've searched high and low for a Low Profile, PCI (NOT PCIE) USB 3.0 card, for my little HP Slimline PC, but so far no luck.
The little computer has 8 USB ports on it, but they are all USB 2.0.

They all work, but just not as fast as I'd like.

pparks1 · Feb 14, 2023

I use external USB drives, just not too many USB flash drives. (that i use for anything other than an OS installer, or recovery media device)

I have an 8TB USB HDD that I store Macrium backups on
I have a 1TB USB SSD that I use for my apple TimeMachine Backups
I have a 1TB NVMe drive in a 10Gbps USB 3.2 enclosure that I use to store apps/files/etc.

James · Feb 14, 2023

iPanda032 said:
So were you intending to ask about External Storage drives or USB flash drives? I guess there are multiple categories of external storage and portability. So you'll need to be a bit more specific.

Stationary External USB/Thunderbolt/USBc attached drives(i.e. HDD mechanical, Sata SSD, NVME)

Portable External USB/USBc/THunderbolt attached drives(HDD(less common now), SATA SSD , NVME)

USB Stick/Thumb drives in USB/USBc form factor

SD/Micro SD

I meant external usb devices for storage.

James · Feb 14, 2023

Berton said:
Just realized I could have mentioned that in the last week I've thrown out 2 USB Thumb drives, something happened to one 8GB in that it was no longer being recognized in any computer when plugged in and the other was a 4GB drive that killed power to the computer when plugged in.

With USB-C becoming more popular, especially with cell/smart phones, I've gotten a couple 128GB Thumb drives that have both USB-A and USB-C plugs that I can put diagnostics on for portability, hardly take up any room.

I’ve got a couple of broken usb drives, no longer recognised by the pc. They’re only about 3 years old

cereberus · Feb 14, 2023

pparks1 said:
i use them to install OS's, I use them as recovery media. I don't use them to store data files.

Yep - never use usb flash drives for critical data storage. They are too unreliable. Ok for transferring data from one device to another.

James · Feb 14, 2023

TechnoMage2021 said:
Any time I'm in a store that's running a sale on Flash Drives, cheap, I'll grab a couple. I've never had one give up on me, but I did have one that was given to me "Locked" and I never did get into that thing.

Same here but rare where I am. I’ve heard in America in Microcenter you can pick up a USB stick for free!

Also something I noticed English related.. vowels = a e i o u, everyone knows that of course. Anyway, if you see one of those “an” goes before it, however in the case of USB, you would not use ”an USB”, would you?

James · Feb 14, 2023

cereberus said:
Yep - never use usb flash drives for critical data storage. They are too unreliable. Ok for transferring data from one device to another.

I’ve had too many fail on me for me to rely on them. Great for moving drivers or small files from computer to computer without internet

cereberus · Feb 14, 2023

James said:
Also something I noticed English related.. vowels = a e i o u, everyone knows that of course. Anyway, if you see one of those “an” goes before it, however in the case of USB, you would not use ”an USB”, would you?

"an" is not always used with letter U:-

An unexploded bomb

A universal phenomena

An upstart

A use of this device

The general rule is if the U sounds like "YOU" as bolded above, use "a"
If the U sounds like "UHH", use "an"

As USB is an acronym, it will always be "a USB"

More generically

The form of the indefinite article ‘a’ or ‘an’ is determined by the sound immediately following it. If it is a vowel-sound, you use ‘an’ and if it’s a consonant ‘sound’, you use ‘a’. If doesn’t matter if the next letter is a vowel or a consonant, but rather the sound that is made if the word is pronounced aloud.

e.g. In the word “X-ray”, you pronounce the name of the first letter rather than the sound it represents. Thus, it’s pronounced “Ecks-ray”, not “Ks-ray”. Therefore, you would say “an X-ray”, not “a X-ray”.

Edwin · Feb 14, 2023

Thumb drives are almost passe now..., you can get a 1TB Portable SSD, the size of a credit card, for less than 50 bucks!

Still have an SD card in my car!

USB drives

Do you use usb drives for files?

Yes, all the time!

Yes, mostly.

No, rarely.

I’m fully on cloud storage

I use another storage method

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