I'm looking for a whopper (2GB+) U3 drive that's fast and works well with John's PortableApps. Anyone have any suggestions?
New: Kanri (Oct 9, '24), Platform 29.5.3 (Jun 27, '24)
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I just picked up a Corsair 4GB waterproof drive for under 100 bucks for an upcoming trip. Decent specs. Not as cool looking as my Lexar Jumpdrive Lightning, though... nor as fast, I think. I'll post more details after I get it if anyone's interested.
I got it from NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820233027
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
let us (especially me
) know if it's not a good one memory. I was thinking about buying that one to, I'll probably but it soon to
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How fast is the Flash Voyager? I've been wanting to get one for a while now because I like how they look, but I've held off because 1) I don't have any money and 2) I don't know if the speed will be better or worse than my iPod shuffle (which is pretty damn fast).
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The DataTraveler is a nice drive, but when you get the U3 variant remember that.
1. U3 creates a fake CDROM that autoruns everytime you insert the drive, this starts the launchpad. Tis what makes U3 special, better autorun. However, search the web for reports from people that go absolutely bonkers because of it.
2. I've seen numbers that indicate U3 drives are actually slower than comparable drives without U3. Can't give you the hard numbers here, but you should definately look into that. Makes sense though, something has to give, to pay for U3 on your drive.
3. I had high hopes for U3 development, using protected areas on the drive and such, but the SDK is only usefull for relatively simple stuff, and the CDROM part of the U3 drive is non modifiable and (this might be a bummer if it turns out you hate it) can't be turned off.
All in all I'm pretty happy with my U3 drive, I like the launchpad and the ease of use and I have the money to burn. If I had to buy only one drive I think I'd now go for a non U3 drive and take a good hard look at throughput speeds. You really want something in order of 20MBs.
You mentioned throughput of 20ms. Is this something you measure (if so, how), manufacturer specs or ????
I recently bought a PQI Smart Genie USB 6 in 1 Reader with 512MB Flash Memory for use with my DSLR. What I like about it is that I can put GIMP and other portable photo processing software on the built in 512 memory and then I am able to adjust the photos anywhere I can find a computer.
It uses standard SD cards that can be quite fast and as large as most thumb drives. Only down sides is that the SD card plugs in the side rather than from the end where it could be covered with a cap. It works fine for my application and is nice in that I can carry extry SD cards for a different application set. I have a 1G SD card that has most of Johns apps plus some additional that aren't technically considered portable. Not U3, but works for me. http://www.dvd-rwmedia.com/pqi-smart-genie-4in1-reader-512mb-usb-flash-d...
Actually, quite a few people run the portable apps off memory cards... whether or not they use them for photos. It can be handy to carry them to and from work or school tucked into your wallet on an SD card.
And, like USB flash drives, memory cards are getting cheaper as well. I just picked up a 2GB Corsair 133x SD card for $59.99 (plus there is a $20 rebate on it) for my digital camera that I don't yet own.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Some of the better shops on the web actually list the read and write speed in megabytes per second (MBs).
So e.g.
SanDisk 2GB Compact Flash ExtremeIII (20MB/s)
Min 20MB/second** sequential read and write
It is amazing but speeds vary between 3MB/s and 24MB/s depending on the kind of flash you are buying.