Do flash drives just suck now?

[starry]

Maybe I've had really bad luck, but I have at least 6 flash drives I've ordered within the past year, every single one has had some sort of problem, whether its a USB 3 drive that maxes out at 5mb/s, or every file i put on it comes out corrupted. I'm desperate at this point for a flash drive that isnt terrible. Can anyone suggest a flash drive with at least 64GB and USB 3.0 Gen 1 that doesn't suck? Really tired of feeling like I got shammed by amazon and the manufacturer.

[Dedayog]

Buy ones from reputable sellers and companies.  No issues with the ones I have.  

 

Don't buy the ones that seem too good to be true

 

I like Sandisk as my go to, personally.

[KarathKasun]

Stay away from cheap drives.

[starry]

3 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Buy ones from reputable sellers and companies.  No issues with the ones I have.  

 

Don't buy the ones that seem too good to be true

 

I like Sandisk as my go to, personally.

The sandisk drive I recently bought on amazon that is supposedly USB 3 maxes out at 5mb/s

It is literally listed as amazon's choice.

I have no idea what Im supposed to look for.

[PlayStation 2]

I bought some flash drives from Costco a few months back and one of them was dead on arrival, so definitely some quality there.

[RadiatingLight]

mine have been fine.

Bad luck I'd guess.

[starry]

1 minute ago, RadiatingLight said:

mine have been fine.

Bad luck I'd guess.

maybe i should finally buy a printer so i can actually print return shipping labels

[KarathKasun]

14 minutes ago, seapriestess said:

The sandisk drive I recently bought on amazon that is supposedly USB 3 maxes out at 5mb/s

It is literally listed as amazon's choice.

I have no idea what Im supposed to look for.

5mb/s for writes is pretty normal for any generic USB flash drive.  The only thing USB 3.1 gets you is faster reads.

 

There are drives that will do 100mb/s+ writes, but you are going to pay 4x more (or even more than that) for them.

[starry]

18 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

5mb/s for writes is pretty normal for any generic USB flash drive.  The only thing USB 3.1 gets you is faster reads.

 

There are drives that will do 100mb/s+ writes, but you are going to pay 4x more (or even more than that) for them.

5mb/s copying from the flash drive to my internal SSD

[KarathKasun]

Just now, seapriestess said:

5mb/s copying from the flash drive to my internal SSD

Then the drive is just garbage.  Its likely USB 2 with a blue plastic insert or USB3 connector on it.

[starry]

5 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

Then the drive is just garbage.  Its likely USB 2 with a blue plastic insert or USB3 connector on it.

 

 

"Sold by amazon"

Does amazon have a supply issue where they sell scam drives on accident then??

At that point is there even a good way to tell if its sketchy?

[KarathKasun]

Just now, seapriestess said:

 "Sold by amazon"

Does amazon have a supply issue where they sell scam drives on accident then??

 

 

Quote

Summary : It does use a retractable design followed by 5 years warranty period label, but in reality the write speed is so bad, it shouldn't be labeled as USB 3.0, rather its a drive that happens to have a blue coloured connector. The read speed is mediocre, so for such tasks it shouldn't be an issue. Be warned, imagine transferring a single large file. You end up waiting for VERY LONG time. It comes with a 56.3GB of formatted space. Expect to see this drive, at a bargain bin near you exactly the way we still Find SanDisk Cruzer Blade USB 2.0 series even now.

Its an exceptionally cheap drive.  How much did you pay for it?

 

Drives with decent performance are in the $20-$40 price range.

[starry]

Just now, KarathKasun said:

 

 

Its an exceptionally cheap drive.  How much did you pay for it?

Not much admittedly, less than $10, but even then I really wouldn't expect amazon to sell fake USB 3 drives themselves. I'm pretty close to just buying an M.2 USB3 Stick and a drive for it so i never have to worry about USB drives being garbage again.

[KarathKasun]

Just now, seapriestess said:

Not much admittedly, less than $10, but even then I really wouldn't expect amazon to sell fake USB 3 drives themselves. I'm pretty close to just buying an M.2 USB3 Stick and a drive for it so i never have to worry about USB drives being garbage again.

You get what you pay for TBQH.

 

It is technically a "USB3" drive, but the flash is so slow that it doesn't matter.

 

Just make sure that you get a SATA M.2 drive to go in the USB adapter if you go that route.  A M.2 SATA 128gb drive + USB adapter is going to be cheaper than any equally performant USB stick.

[starry]

Just now, KarathKasun said:

You get what you pay for TBQH.

 

It is technically a "USB3" drive, but the flash is so slow that it doesn't matter.

ah, I see

Idk why i didnt think of that

[starry]

1 minute ago, KarathKasun said:

You get what you pay for TBQH.

 

It is technically a "USB3" drive, but the flash is so slow that it doesn't matter.

do you have any idea how much i should expect to pay for a decent one?

[KarathKasun]

Just now, seapriestess said:

do you have any idea how much i should expect to pay for a decent one?

$20-$30

[starry]

Just now, KarathKasun said:

$20-$30

thanks

[starry]

42 minutes ago, KarathKasun said:

$20-$30

Gotta be honest Im having a pretty hard time finding anything more than $20 from a reputable brand

[WereCatf]

2 hours ago, seapriestess said:

Maybe I've had really bad luck, but I have at least 6 flash drives I've ordered within the past year, every single one has had some sort of problem, whether its a USB 3 drive that maxes out at 5mb/s, or every file i put on it comes out corrupted. I'm desperate at this point for a flash drive that isnt terrible. Can anyone suggest a flash drive with at least 64GB and USB 3.0 Gen 1 that doesn't suck? Really tired of feeling like I got shammed by amazon and the manufacturer.

There may be something else going on with your system, if you just keep having such issues with them. I have a box full of USB-sticks and all of them work fine, never had a single issue that was the fault of the stick itself.

[starry]

2 minutes ago, WereCatf said:

There may be something else going on with your system, if you just keep having such issues with them. I have a box full of USB-sticks and all of them work fine, never had a single issue that was the fault of the stick itself.

They have the same exact issue on my laptop and on my girlfriend's laptop, and on the HTPC in the living room.

[WereCatf]

1 minute ago, seapriestess said:

They have the same exact issue on my laptop and on my girlfriend's laptop, and on the HTPC in the living room.

I guess you just have exceedingly bad luck. Or magical fingers that destroy USB-sticks.

[starry]

Just now, WereCatf said:

I guess you just have exceedingly bad luck. Or magical fingers that destroy USB-sticks.

I find that in general I have the worst luck with ordering parts, over 40% of every computer part or electronic device Ive ever bought Ive ended up RMAing or using the warranty on, to the point where my first amazon account got locked for suspected return policy abuse.

[RejZoR]

Cheap no name USB drives have always been shit. Good ones are still good even today even though a bit outdated. I still have my Patriot XT 2GB that still pulls full 30MB/s in both directions. Same with Lexar JumpDrive Lightning II 4GB at usually even faster speeds. Both were the fastest one could get back when USB 2.0 was a thing and they weren't even that stupid expensive, just a bit more than most. And I now have bunch of Sandisk Ultra Extreme 32GB USB 3.0 that are stupid fast as well as few Sandsik Nano tiny ones that are a bit slower, I'm assuming due to their size, but still very fast. Most cheap no name USB 3.x drives often just have 3.0 interface, but flash and controller that can't really keep up. Just avoid those if you need reliable speed.

[starry]

3 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Cheap no name USB drives have always been shit. Good ones are still good even today even though a bit outdated. I still have my Patriot XT 2GB that still pulls full 30MB/s in both directions. Same with Lexar JumpDrive Lightning II 4GB at usually even faster speeds. Both were the fastest one could get back when USB 2.0 was a thing and they weren't even that stupid expensive, just a bit more than most. And I now have bunch of Sandisk Ultra Extreme 32GB USB 3.0 that are stupid fast as well as few Sandsik Nano tiny ones that are a bit slower, I'm assuming due to their size, but still very fast. Most cheap no name USB 3.x drives often just have 3.0 interface, but flash and controller that can't really keep up. Just avoid those if you need reliable speed.

Every drive ive ordered so far has been cheap, but also by sandisk.

This became a problem when my 6 year old Sandisk Cruzier Glide 64GB USB 2.0 from back in the day died from being used into the ground, and I've been trying to go for things with similar specs just modern, and they all suck, and are under $10