USB Drive Reviews (Rate Your Flash Drive)

I have two, but I think I have only had enough time with one to rate it:

My Flash Drive:Kingston Data Traveler
Capacity:2 GB, actual capacity 1.91.
Rating:6 Compared to many other drives, 9 for new user.
Pro's:Quite small, not bulky so does not block other USB ports, cap clips on tightly, as well as on the back, so you don't loose it, lightweight, decent design and look, fairly fast speed.
Cons:Speed could be faster, but works fine for Portable programs, actual drive tends to shift inside casing after walking into it three of four times.

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I felt so different without a signature.

My Flash Drive: Kingston Data Traveler
Capacity: 1GB, formatted 953.21MB
Rating: 4
Pro's: Small, cap doesn't fall off, good read/write speed in NTFS.
Con's: Read/Write is way too slow in FAT/FAT32, can't seem to run Linux off of it :sad:. Can't run on Win98 or below.

My Portable Hard Drive: *Returned* Maxtor OneTouch III Portable Hard Drive
Capacity: 80GB, formatted 74.5GB
Rating: 6
Pro's: Cheap. Only $70 at Circuit City. Cool little OneTouch button, useful for launching the PAM :wink:. Too big :lol:. Great read/write speed compared to my Kingston
Con's: Can't seem to use the USB ports on the front of my PC :puzzled:. Came with stupid software :wink:. The drive can't seem to run without the software now :sad:, and my OneTouch button won't work. I probably wouldn't buy this one again.

----
"There is a tendency for the world to say to America, 'the big problems of the world are yours, you go and sort them out,' and then to worry when America wants to sort them out.
Tony Blair

Drive: PNY Attach'e
Capacity: 1GB Actual: 980GB
Rating:6
Pros: It makes the line of able to run portable apps with adaquet speed ,even when they are in a TrueCrypt container with a cascade of Twofish-Serpent alogrithims
Cons: R/W speed could be better

--
As all of ya should know Microsoft is the Evil Empire, and Windows (a.k.a. Winblows or Windoze) is their greatest general, so please make a difference and install Linux or Free BSD on yer Windows comp.

SanDisk Cruzer Mini
Capacity: 512MB
Rating: 7
Pros:
Reliable. I haven't had any troubles with it.
Overall I still recommend SanDisk USB drives

Cons:
Performance. Not very quick (read or write).
The plastic peg to tie the strap around broke off too easily.

Corsair FlashVoyager GT
Capacity: 8GB
Rating: 8 (so far - time will tell)
Pros:
FAST. In addition to PortableApps, I run a VMware ACE VM (Win2k, Office 2k3) off this drive with no noticeable I/O performance hit.
Rubber casing (to prevent impact damage according to the marketing fluff) - provides a good grip to get a hold of the drive.

Cons: A little pricey, but high-speed comes at a price. I could have purchased the non-GT version of this drive for much less.
Rubber casing - I've read reports of the loop for the lanyard breaks rather easily. Unknown longevity. I would think that with a name like Corsair, it will survive past its usefulness, but only time will tell. I've only had this drive for a couple of months.

-jk

YES!!

I just got the Flash Voyager GT (2 GB)

I played around with it for two days before writing this review.

My Flash Drive: Flash Voyager GT
Capacity: 2 GB
Rating: 10!!!!!!
Pro's: READ/WRITE SPEEDS ARE AMAZING!!!!! (I transferreed all my files from my old drive to this one in 2.5 minutes, compared to 25 minutes when I tried retransferring them back (as a compairison))
Rubber coating makes it water resistant.
Rubber cap won't break by accident, hard to lose. (Even if you do lose it, they replace it for free)
Black and Red coloring reminds me of a sports car. `o--o>

Cons: Rubber covering attracts dust
(Only a con because I OCD over it...)

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Text signatures are so last week
0.00.0)> (>0.0)>

My Flash Drive: Sandisk Cruzer Micro (U3 unistalled; PAM all the way!)
Capacity: 512 MB
Rating: 9
Pro's: Small, retractable plug (no lost cap; makes it smaller); very acceptable read/write speeds
Cons: Came with U3; plastic feels kind of cheap.

My Flash Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Micro
Capacity: 2 Gig
Rating: 9
Pro's: Great R/W Speed; Has u3 (still use PAM for most applications however.); No stupid caps connector retracts. Does not block other usb ports.
Cons: Can't really think of one

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(}>

Just send an email request to CSGMarketing@corsairmemory.com along with your name, address, and phone number, and a replacement cap will be sent to you.

????????
PAM > U3

My Flash Drive: Kingston Data Traveler II
Capacity: 1GB
Rating: 8
Pro's: Good read/write speed, slim design doesn't block other USB ports. Never given me any problems & I've had it for the last year.
Cons: Always misplacing or forgetting the cap. Casing scratches quite easily.

Chad

My Flash Drive: PNY 1GB Blue Attache USB Drive (I will try to get a picture later. couldn't find one online for some weird reason.)
Capacity: 1 Gigabyte
Rating: 8
Pro's: If you are not allowed to install hardware since
you have a limited user or something then it still allows
you to access your files you just don't have autoplay.
Cons: Can sometimes be a little bit slow but otherwise ok.

My Flash Drive: Western Digital 500GB Hard Drive
3D View
All the information you could want
Capacity: 500 Gigabytes
Rating: 8
Pro's: 500 GB's of storage and super fast
Cons: Needs special software to run on a computer

[PRE tag removed by moderator JTH. PRE is for coding examples only.]
Sorry
_____________________________________________________
Bensawsome
AKA
BJ
:My Website (Still under development):

Name: sandisk titanium cruzer
Capacity: 4gb
Rating 10
Pro's: Small size fits on my key ring on my small wallet, retractable usb port, hard case, pretty blue colour light, slim profile so it doesn't block other usb ports
Con's: Cost ... I think it is more than others of same capacity. Maybe read/write lifeline ... I don't know if it will last longer than others like it.

Oh, I completely deleted the U3 program, but I can reload it from Sandisk's website if need be ... which there probably isn't.

"... respect, all good works are not done by only good folk. For here, at the end of all things, we shall do what needs to be done."

My Flash Drive: Integral 2gb
Capacity: 2gb
Rating: (1-10) 9
Pro's: As far as I can tell its quite fast, i can run Linux off it without any fuss, cap is extremely tight and secure, dosent block other USB ports. Very cheap (20 Pounds British)
Cons: None so far

My Flash Drive: Toshiba Notebook Hard Drive in a generic USB 2.0 case.
Capacity: 30 GB
Rating: 8
Pro's: Capacity, capacity, and capacity. Speed is good. Programmes are just a bit slower when starting, but then work with absolutely no difference in performance from their normal "non-portable" counterparts. Oh! Did I mention capacity?
Cons: Size, size, and size. It's enourmous compared to "normal" pen-drives. It conects to the PC with a very peculiar cable: One A male connector to the case (I think this is against the norm), two A male connectors to the PC. Better not lose it! (It needs two because it sucks up more power than what the norm provides for. Probably also against the norm. On one computer, conected to the two front USB ports it wouldn't work, but connected to the back ones it did). This whole cable thing makes it a bit cumbersome to connect and disconnect . It doesn't "block" other ports, it takes them up. Fragile. (It's an HD, don't move when it's working, don't drop it). Oh! Did I mention size?

1st Flash Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Micro w/U3
Capacity: 2 GB
Rating: hard to say since i've only had it for a few months
Pro's: small, doesn't block ports, r/w speeds seem to be okay. like i said, i haven't had it that long so i really don't have anything to compare it against. trying to get knoppix running on it.
Cons: none that i've run into so far

2nd Flash Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Micro w/U3
Capacity: 4 GB
Rating: hard to say since i've only had it for a few months
Pro's: small, doesn't block ports, r/w speeds seem to be okay. like i said, i haven't had it that long so i really don't have anything to compare it against. retractable connector.
Cons: none that i've run into so far

My Flash Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Titanium
Capacity: 1 Gig
Rating: 9

Pro's: I like the way it retracts instead of having a cap.

Cons: U3, I removed it.

It has the Portable Apps Suite and Puppy Linux installed and 326 meg free.

My Flash Drive : sandisk cruzer micro w/Gnu3zer LP-replacement
Capacity : 1GB
Rating: 9
Pro's : Autorun,6MB read-only CD storage for autostart,truecrypt and other files
Cons : that sandisk wont release the full format-tool so one could increase the
"CD-drives" capacity .

My Flash Drive: Siemens Memorybird
Capacity : 128 MB
Rating: 8
Pro's: shows as a "fixed" drive and can be partitioned with built-in windows format-tool
Cons: low capacity, old ..

Drive: OCZ Rally 2
Capacity 4GB
Rating: 9
Pros: small enough, really fast read speeds, decent write speeds, aluminum construction is sturdier than the plastic found on most flash drives
cons: The cap was useless, didn't stay on at all. I ditched it after 2 days of use. the LED on it is orange, when my PC's LED's are all blue, so it conflicts.

Also, mine has been through the wash once already, and it came out no worse for wear. My original Rally went through the wash probably 10 times in the 3 years I owned it until it finally died(ironically, not from the washing machine)

My flash drive: Imation Nano Flash Drive (http://www.imation-southasia.com/products/Flash_drives/Nano_flash_drive_...)
Capacity: 2GB
Rating: 7
Pro's: very small, swivel cap, password protection software.
Cons: only average speed. I benchmarked it: average random access 3.6 msec, average read 10.7 MB/sec, average write around 3.5 MB/sec.

Comm: I find it acceptable to run and use OpenOffice and Firefox. This is my first flash and I bought it only to transport some files (was still using CDs!!) but wanting to run OO.org Portable I discovered Portableapps. I think Corsairs are faster and latest Sandisks are maybe a little faster too.

Benchmarks could also be posted. This can be very useful as speed is the most important thing to run applications from these devices. I used HDtach and Flash Memory Toolkit. Can someone suggest a better software?

http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CT1GBUFDBLKHA0

My flash drive: Crucial Gizmo overdrive with security software
Capacity: 1GB
Rating: 10
Pro's: lifetime warranty, Write speed up to 13MB/s, Read speed up to 25MB/s, small enough to fit other jump drives next to it, Security software (English only) provides password protection, 256kb Blowfish-level encryption, and hide function
Cons: "Helpful reminder: If the host device that your Gizmo! drive is interfacing with has a slower read-write speed than your Gizmo! drive has, the Gizmo! drive can't operate any faster than the host device's read-write speed."

My Flash Drive: Corsair Flash Padlock
Capacity: 2GB
Rating: 10
Pro's: Easy security: drive not recognized until punching a PIN using drive's keypad. Great for portable applications. No software, no partitioning! Auto-locks when disconnects. Works like a dream.
Cons: Nothing - eagerly waiting for the 8GB Flash Padlock

Primary Flash Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Micro
Capacity: 2gb
Rating: 6
Pro's: Size, but it still doesn't fit in evry drive.I like the the color- black and its price.
Con's: came with u3 there's still some u3 junk on it. SLOW. Jeeze- you'd think it'd be a little faster. I hate that the light is always on. I got used to the light flickering when the drive was working.

Others:
Lexar Jumodrive Secure I and Lexar Jumpdrive Secure II
Both are excellent drives (the Secure II is much better then the first becuase it does something sorta like truecrypt, except you don't need admin privelages) but not really "portable" because they leave processes running months after your drive has left the connector (and never returned!) I just figured that out and though I would add it. The processes don't appear to take any cpu power off the computer, but they are still there.
Seagate 2.5 gb Portable Pocket Hard Drive
It doesn't appear to share the process problems that those two lexars do, but it is so slow. 3200 rpm's for $80 buck on clearence. Bypass it and do something else. It has special temperature change requirements, so I don't like to carry it.

There are 10 types of people in the world.

Those who understand Binary
and Those who don't

I have the A-Data P2D in 8gb.
Pro's: It is the absolute perfect form factor. It is very small and slim. The cap fits very snugly and it has never come off on its own.
Con's: It is not as fast as it should be.

Will be upgrading to the 16gb version, or I might wait until the 32gb comes out (shouldn't be too much longer).

My Favorite Drive: Seagate FreeAgent™ Desktop External USB Hard Drive
Capacity: 500GB
Rating: 8 (Size)
Pro's: SuperFast & SuperSized!
Cons: Doesn't fit in my pocket. (7.5"H x 6.4"W x 1.6"D, 2 lbs.) But easy to fit in a briefcase or computer bag.

Memorex Rotodrive
2GB
10
Tiny, High capacity, did I mention tiny?
None, literally, does it's job (maybe cuz I'm not a tech snob)

I use mainly two drives.

Drive 1 : WD Passport 120GB
Rating : 10
Pros: Very small factor in a portable drive, only needs one cable to connect to PC. Cable is a mini USB to normal USB and most of us have tons of those around.
Cons: Can't really cary it in your pocket, but most places I go where I would use it, I'm carrying a backpack anyways.

Drive 2 : Lexar 360 2GB
Rating : 8
Pros : To me this drives writes pretty fast, but i'm probably not a good judge. No cap for me to lose.
Cons: Little large on the form factor, but doesn't block second port.

My Flash Drive: Kingston Data TravelerMini
Capacity:2 gb. actual capacity 1.92
Rating: 9
Pro's:supper small height=38mm with cap on , cap doesn't fall off, cap connects to the back, steady strap, works fine for Portable programs and PAM.

Cons:Very easy to lose, Firefox slows when to many tabs are open, Very bright colours.

Never curse the alligator till you done cross the bridge.

Tried full PA installation each.

Kingston Datatraveller II 4 Gb
Random write of 9MB/s according to HDTach.
Great carry size, fits in a wallet, but risk of loosing. No external power supply needed. Felt too slow even though good speed relative to other flash drives (impatience threshold crossed too often).

iRiver HP140 (new Toshiba 60 Gb drive to replace failed old one).
Random write of 14.1 MB/s according to HDTach, but feels significantly quicker than Dataraveller above (impatience threshold rarely crossed.
Downside is relative bulk - 3"x2"x1". Risk of damage through dropping. power hungry (though I am waiting to see how it to runs off USB when a Minisync cable arrives so don't have to carry bulky power adapter).

Dream machine - 100 Gb flash media player with storage fitted onto watch strap with 80 MB/s read speed. I guess I'll have to wait a while..

MY FLASH DRIVE: Corsair Flash Voyager GT
Rating: 8
PROS: EXTREMELY fast read/write speed, programs take an average of 1-2 seconds to open on my home computer, Extremely durable, shock resistant, water resistant.
CONS: Lint sticks to the case of the drive, cap comes off relatively easy.

I have three flash drives and one portable HD.

I'll start from the bottom to the top.

My Flash Drive: Geeksquad
Capacity:512mb
Rating: 5
Pro's: Small lightweight. It was my first one. Flip over cover means you can't lose it.
Cons: Flimsy cover. Small capacity, by today's standards. U3, I had so many issues with U3 when I first used it. I am so glad I dumped it.

My Flash Drive: Toshiba
Capacity: 1Gb
Rating: 7
Pro's: Bigger capacity. Price. I only paid $9.99USD for it.
Cons: Cap seems like it would be easy to lose.

My Flash Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Micro
Capacity: 2Gb
Rating: 8
Pro's: Retractable USB prongs, very nice. Smallest form factor I own. Capacity. Relatively fast.
Cons: U3. (Uninstalled now). Heat, this drive can get kinda hot if pushed or used for a while.
UPDATE: Having trouble with this drive now. I am mainly using the PHD listed below, but it is kinda bulky. This SanDisk got damaged (I think) when it had one too many quick poweroff's at my workplace. We had some issues with brownouts for a couple of weeks. This can be murder on a flash drive. FFPE would not load until I tweeked it to reduce the size.

My Hard Drive: I/O Magic Data To Go
Capacity:120 Gb @ 5400RPM with 8Mb Cache
Rating: 9
Pro's: Size. 4 7/8”L x 2 7/8”W x 1/2”H. Capacity 120GB!! Speed. At least twice as fast as any flash drive I own. Price, $89USD OfficeMax on sale. Heat. NONE.
Cons: Cable, comes with a y cable in case the device you are hooking up to does not provide enough power, I suspect this is more of a USB 1.1 issue. Size, I know I said it was small already, but it is kinda clumsy in the pocket. Durability, I doubt this would make it through the wash like ALL my other flash drives have.
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Life is about the journey not the destination!

My site * My Blog

The Kazoo Spartan

Time for mine. I'll probably edit this later, but you can reply anyway (advantage of mod privileges ). I'll only briefly mention the generic ones: I've also got a 128MB generic one I got for $50 a few years back, a 256MB one I got a year later for the same price, then a year later I got this for the same price...

My Flash Drive: SanDisk Cruzer Micro
Capacity: 1GB, but comes in other sizes.
Rating: 8
Pros: Durable. Has been stepped on multiple times, but due to the retractable connector, it survived. Retractor switch also acts as light; very cool.
Cons: Comes with U3. I've left that on for testing purposes. Can't measure speed, as I only have 1.1 on this computer, but seems to be quite quick for transferring large files.

My Flash Drive: Lexar JumpDrive
Capacity: 1GB
Rating: 9.9
Pros: Fast. Really fast. Transfers large and small files with ease. Cool chrome covering, even comes with a cloth so you can see your reflection better Security software included for a secure partition, which seems to work on even the most locked down of systems. Free. Got it from John
Cons: Doesn't come with a lanyard; had to attach it to my other one. Scratches, but not a real problem for me as I use it for functionality. Nothing else.
----
Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.

Drive: Memorex
Cap: 256Mb
Rating: 9 (only because it's small)
Pro: $10 at Wal-mart.
Cons: Not really, so far. (Only using it with PA for a week or so, otherwise never really).

Who are all you people and, what are you doing on my computer?

My Flash Drive:U3 cruzer micro
Capacity:1GB
Rating: 9
Pro's:Really fast, is retractable, small (U3)
Cons:U3 takes up a drive
I know I said U3 for both however unlike portable apps I can still use Firefox 1.5x and this in turn allows me to use Firefox in school.

My Flash Drive: Western Digital USB Hard-Drive
Capacity: 120GB
Rating: 9 out of 10
Pro's: Large Capacity, Very Fast Read and Write, Multiple Partitions & File Formats, Install and Boot Operating Systems
Cons: Slightly too large to put in pocket (comfortably), Vibrates Slightly, Comes with annoying software, Only 1 foot USB cable

Lexar Secure II
494 Mb
Rating: 8
Pro's: Small; Secure Cap; Real fast.
Cons: Leaves a footprint of itself, by installing the Lexar Secure II app on the computer.

PNY Attache
1.8 Gb
Rating:9
Pro's: Real fast, has a good amount of space, no footprints
Con's: Blocks USB Ports, cap is always loose.

My Flash Drive: Kingston Data Traveler DTI/1GB
Capacity: 954MB
Rating: (1-10) 6
Pro's: Small, cheap, good support.
Cons: Slow

My Flash Drive: Kingston Data Traveler DTI/1GB
Capacity: 938MB
Rating: (1-10) 6
Pro's: Small, cheap, good support.
Cons: Slow

I have two of these Kingston drives. One runs XAMPP with Apache, MySQL, and FileZilla for personal web development. The other has FireFox 2.0.0.8, Thunderbird 2.0.0.6, Robot Battle (not Portable App, but works well as one), Notepad++ PE, 7-Zip PE, Putty PE, NvU Portable, Virtual Dub PE, and FileZilla Client PE.

These drives came formatted at FAT, but I reformatted them as FAT32. I found instructions to format in NTFS but I haven't tried that yet. I use these disks on at least three different machines;

• IBM Thinkpad T30
• MSI KM4M-V Via Socket A MicroATX motherboard
• ASUS P5WD2-E Premium Intel-based motherboard

Of the three PCs, the Portable Apps running on Kingston USB drives runs fastest on the MSI motherboard (running Windows 2000 Pro and USB 2.0). Not sure why.

On the ASUS motherboard setup every application (especially FireFox) pauses to read/write to the USB drive every 15 seconds or so. The read/write lasts for about 3 seconds. I figure there is a piece of software scanning the disk intermittently.

My Flash Drive: IronKey S200 2GB

Capacity: 2GB

Rating: 10

Pro's: Both physically and electronically secure:
Iron casing, filled with an Epoxy Potting compound. You cannot access the memory (or seperate encryption chip) without first destroying it. Not to mention if you do, it will detect the change in electrical resistance and when power is applied, fry its self)
Can unlock the drive easily in read only mode so it cannot be infected on a insecure system
Has a randomizable virtual keyboard to type in your password to folley screencaps and keyloggers.
Locks after inactivity (manually disable-able though)
Permanently destroys encryption chip after 10 incorrect password attempts (you can have it secure wipe the drive if you forget your password, but you have to turn the availability of that feature on before you forget your password)

Cons: Price, $100 for 2GB (you can find them cheaper, I paid $75 for my 2GB), capacity/price ratio is pretty flat, 16GB is $300. You can get lower performance MLC flash with a lower read/write lifecycle, and you can get up to 32GB for $300.

Flash drive 1
Drive: Lexar Jumpdrive SecureII
Rating:7
Capacity:2GB
Pros:Good speed, could be faster. small, but not tiny
Cons:Comes with crap encryption software (Which I've replaced with TrueCrypt), Lost the USB Cap.

Flash drive 2
Drive: Kingston DataTraveler
Rating: 7
Capacity:2GB
Pros: Sliding USB, no cap to lose. Write speed isn't terrible.
Cons: USB can be hard to slide out, a little big.

Portable hard drive
Drive: Western Digital My Passport Essential SE (How's that for a long name, eh?)
Rating: 9
Capacity: 750GB, 700GB formatted
Pros: USB Powered, don't need to plug into wall or use a "Y" cable. Small.
Neutral: WD tech support.
Cons: Uses (what I believe to be) a microUSB port, which I can't use for any other device that I have.

My Flash Drive (1): SanDisk Cruzer Micro
Capacity: 2 GB
Rating: 7
Pros: Pretty fast reads/writes, decent capacity
Cons: Not very strong: I've already (accidentally) bent the connector

My Flash Drive (2): Duracell
Capacity: 8 GB
Rating: 8
Pros: Huge storage size (even big enough for all my portable apps, which is hard to do), physically strong design (no way I can bend this one)
Cons: Very slow reads/writes

Drive: Patriot Xporter XT Boost
Capacity: 8Gb
Rating: 9.5 (Only 0.5 deduction bc of the rubber case)
Pros: Unbelievable speed. Very rugged. Handles TrueCrypt partition well.
Cons: Just the rubber casing. It can be hard to fit into some older systems slots for the usb on the front. It really is not a big deal.

This is the best flash drive I have ever owned. Speed, size, quality all are unmatched. I got it for $15 after a rebate from Newegg also. It is currently running around $25.

For those looking for a new drive, check out the submitted results of NirSoft's USBDeview Utility which Nir has compiled into a sortable webpage if five or more results have been returned for that drive.

Here's the summary sorted by average write time. (you have to scroll to the bottom of th page for the highest results) Make sure you're not looking at a USB hard drive's results too.

http://usbspeed.nirsoft.net/usb_drive_speed_summary.html?o=9

Here's the full list of results:

http://usbspeed.nirsoft.net/

Flash drive:sony microvault usb 4 gig, really is 3.72 gigs
Rating: 9 1/2 or 10 1/2, cant decide.
pros : works with other operating systems including my ps3, has usb 2.0 so its faster(but not on the computer im using right now, because my computer only has usb 1.1 ports.) made by sony my favorite company.the metal part of the drive retracts into the water and shock proof shell that covers the drive with a push of a button on top of the drive. Its also built tough. its survived 5 trips through the washer and dryer, and it still works, theres also no dents in the metal or shell and no melted parts, and the software in it was never effected by the stuff in the washer and dryer either.
Cons: I dont know how much longer it lasts, i only have a few megs of memory free left. Besides that nothing else.

I also have a 256 megabyte flash drive, but that one just sucks, And im going to get a 1.5 terrabyte external hard drive this weekend, so I will do a pro and con list once i get it and set it up.

My Flash Drive: LaCie iamaKey 8GB (www.lacie.com)
Capacity: see name
Rating: 9 (some iffy transfer times)
Pros: 3mm thick, 8GB, really cool looking
Cons: Cap falls off occasionally.

Does anyone know where I can get a new cap for my iamaKey?

My Flash 1st Drive: Sony MICROVAULT TINY
Capacity: 1.75 GB on old computer; 2 GB on new one
Rating: 8 (would be ten if not for con)
Pros: Quite possibly the smallest flash drive ever made. You know the space between the contacts and the bottom? The ENTIRE THING is that thin! It's insane. Acceptable read/write speed.
Cons: Randomly died one day for no apparent reason. Couldn't even get it to mount except once. Windows machines said it needed formatting. The computer then couldn't format it. Nothing at all happened on my Mac. Got it to mount once on my Mac, managed to recover half the data. Other half was missing, locked, or labeled as "Unix Executable File" (the default for any file the system can't identify).

My Flash 2nd Drive: PNY something or the other (doesn't really say what)
Capacity: 3.87 GB on old computer; 4 GB on new one
Rating: 10 (no problems so far)
Pros: More space than I know what to do with (but that's just me). Nifty swivel to swing plug into cover. Also very small, not quite as small as the MICROVAULT. Acceptable read/write speed.
Cons: None so far.

My Flash 3rd Drive: PNY Attache
Capacity: 7.5 GB on old computer; 8 GB on new one
Rating: 10 (no problems so far)
Pros: Nifty retractable cover for plug.
Cons: Bulky. Blocks other ports (assuming horizontal rather than vertical layout of ports). Will need bigger drive in about 1.5 years, less with movies (I use it to back up all my pictures).

I have spent a crazy amount of time and money in my quest to find this drive, so I'm hoping that my post will help others skip the trial and error phase(s) that I went through and save them some money in the process.

I have been using PortableApps for a long time (i.e. many years) and I have had a lot of flash drives (including the PortableApps branded drive). I have only recently found what I would consider the ultimate flash drive. I won't go through the whole history, but here is my use case and my conclusions.

My Setup:
I live off my flash drive. I don't have a dedicated computer, I rotate through 6-7 different computers weekly (home, cottage, many offices). My data is in a 15GB TrueCrypt volume, and my Apps are in a different 20GB TrueCrypt volume. Notably, I use Postbox for my email (6 accounts with close to 10GB, all in IMAP), and Firefox for my web browsing. I also use DropboxAHK to sync my data to the cloud.

The SuperTalent RC8:
After many years and a lot of flash drives, I recently made the mistake of running my setup on an SSD drive (in a USB 3 enclosure), just to see what it would be like. I was blown away. There was no way I was ever going back to a "classic" flash drive after that. However, SSDs are not quite pocketable, so I kept looking for a smaller form factor. That's when I found the SuperTalent RC8. Its specs, on the surface, are comparable to other "high-end" flash drives, but what sets it apart, is that it's a flash drive with the internals of an SSD drive (including an actual 8-Channel SSD Controler). It performs extremely well under load, and I was able to let go of my SSD and use the RC8 instead.

I then wondered why I had failed at finding such a drive in the past. I had read lots of reviews, and had bought and benchmarked every "fast" flash drive I could find, especially the ones that were supposed to be awesome (like the Kingston DT Ultimate G2 or the PortableApps branded one), I had a lot of trouble matching what the CrystalDiskMark tests showed with what my real life experience was. That is until I tried running two CrystalDiskMark tests at the same time on the same drive. You would think that the times would simply be divided by two, but in fact, a lot of flash drives completely collapse under simultaneous requests. This was explaining my real life results much better.

For people running a single program at a time, that doesn't access more than one file at a time, then most reviews are correct and most 'fast' drives are fine. However, when you use mail programs with lots of accounts and apps that can multi-thread, that's when most drives (and reviews) fail.

I get that I may have an unusual use case, but if you want the best for this use case, here are my recommendations:

1) SuperTalent RC8 (awesome in every way, but a bit pricey)

2) Kingston DT HyperX 3.0 (not quite at good as the RC8 above, but more rugged)

3) An actual SSD drive in a USB3 enclosure (superb performance, much cheaper, but much more bulky)

Everything else I owned, I wouldn't recommend.

Note that specific drive models have specific characteristics. I have owned other SuperTalent drive models (like the Duo 2CH) and other Kingston drive models (like the DT Ultimate G2) that didn't perform well at all.