Staples 16 GB Micro USB Flash Drive for $14.99
16GB capacity
Low-profile drive for notebooks, tablets, TV's and car audio systems
Easily fits into your USB ports
by
hossdawg97
added 3 months ago
Problem with these micro sized USB flash drives is that it is too easy to forget they are in the USB port and walk off and leave them behind. Also too easy to misplace and hard to find again.
@bigreddogatl: I wrapped the little string it comes with through my keychain, and I can't leave without my keys.
Works well for me.
Perfect! I'm about to start a RAID SSD project. Suggest it to all! http://bigbruin.com/reviews05/thumbraid_1
@soig: Wow that's from 7 years ago almost! I don't know that I'd bother. Based on the speeds he got I would see a pair of decent hard drives in a raid 0 performing about the same as a raid array of 4 flash drives. Current hard drives are about 2 times faster than hard drives from 7 years ago where as I don't think flash drives have really increased much in speed since then.
Also, you could just purchase an SSD and be zipping along nicely. If your main goal is portable fast storage, I doubt your portability would be very great on a raid array, because every time you hooked it to a new PC, you'd have to set up the raid array again. It'd be much easier to just have an external SSD imo.
@panthiest: I've done the same, except I've lost my keys a few times.
Also free shipping if anyone else was wondering.
@meikat - While it's true that SATA has faster transfer speeds than USB 2.0, the actual bottleneck is not in transferring data, but accessing it. So I think there is still an advantage.
Also, the portability issue is a concern in Windows, but not in Linux. I would install the OS in the flash drives along with the raid configuration and then I can boot from any computer straight through USB - completely bypassing the internal HDD. Not to mention that the tutorials for this are better in Linux and it has more functionality. Windows 7 allows for RAID 1 or 0, but not RAID 10. Windows XP doesn't even support it.
I have a 4gb one that I got at Staples for $9.99 but you got back $9.99 in Staples rewards. I love the thing,I wear it around my neck on an elastic cord,it's so light you don't even know it's there.I always have it with me if I want to copy something from another computer etc. I may take the rewards I got from Staples and pick up the 16GB !
@lpsession: Sorry I don't see the free shipping unless the order is $45 or more,what am I not seeing?
The bottle neck with flash storage is not the access time, because there is no seek delay; it's the data path. And by combing multiple flash drives on a usb hub you are not increasing the bandwidth of the data path but actually increasing chatter on the single line to the hub as 3-6 devices negotiate with the host.
It's a cute idea, but its not really a useful one unless you find a way to attach a large array of commodity flash memory to a much faster data path, and then you will have just created a slower SSD.
I need an extra one for my car's mp-3 player.
Thanks!
@souplogic: Would it be so bad if he just wanted to do that? Sure, there are better ways to accomplish portable storage, but maybe he was just looking to pursue that particular project. Personally I can imagine things I would enjoy more for that kind of time & money investment, but to each their own.
Great deal, in for one
@soig: unless your portable OS' filesystem required files larger than 16GB I would strongly suggest against raiding them.
Speed: limited by channel.
Redundancy: most flash failures involve losing the ability to write data, but can still be read.
So just have one drive for your OS and use the others for additional storage.
@lparsons42 - I appreciate the defense. But in all honesty, I wouldn't do it to do it. I would do it to get better results.
@souplogic: I also appreciate your input. At the same time, I can't help but ask myself, if it were accurate; why does Windows 7 support software RAID for USB when Windows Vista & Windows XP did not? Win 7 is a pretty new OS & it costs money to develop proprietary software. Microsoft would have had to have thought that it was a worthwhile investment of their time.
Also, this guy says that he sees a performance boost of 75%-100% using just 2 USB 2.0 drives. (http://itexpertvoice.com/home/usb-flash-drive-raiders-of-windows-7/) I'm not saying that I'm sure one way or the other. But there is conflicting information out there.
"free shipping" means "free shipping to store near you." you need to buy $45 total to get free shipping.
@soig: That last article is about using multiple usb ports (and possibly multiple usb controllers). You can see speed improvement there. The first story, using a hub, should give no improvement.
I stopped by the store near me and they had it in stock
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