I don’t have a computer, and after a year of frustrations with important documents being stuck on a computer with no printer, or the internet being down here and not there, blah blah, I’ve decided that the most cost-effective way of simplifying my life is to buy a USB drive.
I’m looking at amazon right now, but I always like to get the Dopers’ advice whenever I buy…well, pretty much anything. (Doubly so when it’s electronic, since I am a moron when it comes to technology. Plus, it seems like an awful lot of these drives have low ratings, which makes me nervous.) Any brands you like/don’t like? How many gb should I get? Other random advice?
A flash drive, the little kind you can carry around on your keychain. Sorry for being so unclear. SEE? This is why I need help. I can’t even write a concise OP on the topic.
In my experience, USB “flash / thumb / jump” drives are pretty much commodities in terms of quality. I’ve used dozens of them on various systems, and any performance that’s “out of the ordinary” has invariably been due to other parts of the system – or “user failure” – rather than the thumb drive itself. I’ve never experienced a hardware failure; when people for whom I’ve been troubleshooting have reported data loss, it’s usually because they’re unaware of the need to “shut down” the drive in software rather than just pull it out (depending on OS, settings, etc).
You mentioned Amazon: consider this one. Kingston is a reputable manufacturer, and $13.49 for 1GB is about as low as you can reasonably get. I’d say go for it. Do you have any more local options (to cut down on shipping costs), or is this part of a “care package” coming from the US?.
As far as size (in GB) is concerned, your needs will depend on what you want to transfer. Unless you’re planning on schlepping around movie files (a standard DVD contains from around 4 to around 8GB, but split into 1GB-maximum files), 1GB should absolutely be sufficient for you. The total size of the documents that you’ve created in your entire document-creating career (from elementary school through degree through Peace Corps) will be way less than 1GB. So, if it’s just for transporting documents etc from one computer to another, (which it sounds like from your OP), 1GB will easily suffice.
I would give a wide berth to any that come with built-in security software, it’s a PITA. Other than that what Antonius Block said. I have a Kingston 2GB one right now which I got for ~ $20 (actually £10) and works well, as do probably nearly all the others available.
I would recommend getting one with encryption, but since you are going to bring it to otehr computers, the decryption program has to reside on the drive, not the host computer,
Yes, we have lots of electronics chains here in rural Bulgaria.
Thanks for your advice, everyone, I’ve already gone ahead and ordered a port, although I’ve now forgotten exactly which one it was. (The reviews all said that it had a really strong casing, and knowing me, I’ll probably step on it, drop it, or run over it with a car so this is important to me.) I had it sent to my dad, but since my birthday is in a couple weeks, he is obligated to mail it on to me promptly and without complaint.