Over the past 9 or so months, I've been accumulating various USB 3.0 sticks. I usually get them on discount at Frys, NewEgg, or Amazon. I usually have a discount alert tracker and if it falls under my threshold, I usually pick a few up. For 16Gb, I target 10ドル-15. For 32Gb, I target 20ドル-30. And for 64Gb, my price threshold is 50ドル.
I did splurge on a SanDisk Extreme Flash 64Gb for 75ドル; thinking a name brand made a difference. It turns out, that particular has problems of four distinct different PCs with USB 3.0.
So, today, I am going to give you some of my thoughts on some of the various USB 3.0 sticks you see that often pop up on sale.
Not all USB 3.0 sticks are the same. There is a wide variance of performance and you need to do your homework. I usually read the customer reviews on Amazon and Newegg. Many of the speed benchmarks are pretty much dead-on with an exception. The sticks benchmark real good but real copies turn out differently. For example a USB stick may start writing at 80 MB/sec for the first minute then drop down to 6 MB/sec for the last 50% of the copy.
I use these sticks for all sorts of uses. Namely, shuttling VM files via sneakernet. They also make good portable installers where I load them up with app installers or portable programs that run off USB. Lastly, they can be used as bootable operating systems and rescue/recovery systems.
Glancing at the picture below, I'll highlight some of the different sticks I've purchased.
