USB Drive Reviews (Rate Your Flash Drive)

My Flash Drive: PortableApps.com Companion
Capacity: 16Gb
Rating: 9.5
Pro's: USB 3.0, large disk space, lifetime warrenty, LED light lets me know if it's even plugged in, free inscription
Cons: high price, 2in length (if you're a neat freak)

I love this thumb drive. My only regret about buying it is that I didn't get the 32Gb one.

My Flash Drive: Lexar Secure II JumpDrive
Capacity: 8GB
Rating: 8
Pro's: Fast, comes with encryption software for encrypting single files or creating vaults, usage meter on front indicating percent of storage used, sleek and nice physically, comes formatted with almost all of the marketed 8GB's available, cap snaps on tightly
Cons: Big (can't fit another USB into the other slot), encryption software incompatible with OS X Lion, cannot update from Lexar site (product is no longer available)

My Flash Drive: SanDisk Ultra® BackUp
Capacity: 32 GB (29.8 GB Actual)
Rating: 10
Pro's: Dedicated Backup files button, U3 Password protection and AES software encryption, above average write speeds, Auto-Run partition, live backup software and revision tracks, non-obtrusive hardware design, sliding retractable connector, LED indicator, lightweight
Cons: Manufacture discontinued software support, U3Launchpad for Windows only, average read speeds, not very durable

Drive: Kingston SSDNow V 40GB in Rosewill USB2/eSATA enclosure
Capacity: 40GB
Rating: 9
Pro's: very good performance
Cons: big, not very portable, higher power requirement compared to normal flash drives

Drive: Intel X25-M G2 in Rosewill USB2/eSATA enclosure
Capacity: 120GB
Rating: 9
Pro's: very good performance, large capacity
Cons: big, not very portable, higher power requirement compared to normal flash drives

Drive: SanDisk Extreme SSD in Silverstone USB3 enclosure
Capacity: 240GB
Rating: 9
Pro's: very good performance (excellent when connected to a PC with USB3), large capacity
Cons: big, not very portable, higher power requirement compared to normal flash drives

Drive: Kingston DT101 G2
Capacity: 8GB
Rating: 7
Pro's: no cap, inexpensive
Cons: slightly chubby casing blocks adjacent USB ports with typical cramped spacing
Other thoughts: So-so performance (I've been spoiled by SSDs). The batch I got from Newegg (8 drives) has relatively decent random 4k write compared to other flash drives (1MB/s vs less than 0.1MB/s on most) however, I have an exact same model purchased from Amazon earlier, as well as 4GB and 16GB versions that only have random 4K writes of ~0.020MB/s.

Drive: SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0
Capacity: 16GB
Rating: 9.5
Pro's: no cap, reasonably priced for USB 3.0
Cons: blocks adjacent USB ports
Other thoughts: Larger than your average USB 2.0 flash drive but less chubby compared to other USB 3.0 flash drives I've seen. Very good performance particularly when connected to USB 3.0. This drive isn't going to beat miniature SSD thumb drives such as the Super Talent RC8 but it definitely performs better than most mechanical disks connected via SATA. Very well suited for running PortableApps.

My Drive: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Ultra-Portable Drive
Capacity: 1TB (931 GB Actual)
Rating: 8
Pro's: USB 3.0,very fast read/write speed on usb 2.0, Led indicator (that can be turned on/off), Upgradable to eSata or firewire 800.
Con's: Quite big,Not as fast on usb 3.0 like other usb 3.0 capable drives but still very fast.