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"No Name" Flash Drives
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May 3, 2021 06:55:08   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
I don't like seeing so many "no name" flash drives on Amazon and elsewhere - name like Topesel, Koontion, and Pnstaw. And there are also drives that literally have no names. The prices are low, and I suspect the quality is, too. As for capacity, who knows? I've seen reports online about 1TB flash drives that have nowhere near that capacity. For such an inexpensive item, I'd gladly pay a few dollars more and get the real thing. Unfortunately, there are also counterfeits of the real thing.

EDIT: Speaking of flash drives, these things are great for putting music into a car. My Honda Fit has several USB ports, and I have two of these with different kinds of music. They're about the size of my thumbnail.

https://smile.amazon.com/SanDisk-64GB-Ultra-Flash-Drive/dp/B077VYCV37/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=usb+drive&qid=1620039376&refinements=p_89%3ASanDisk%2Cp_n_size_browse-bin%3A10285016011%7C1259716011&rnid=1259751011&s=pc&sr=1-16

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May 3, 2021 07:01:27   #
ejones0310 Loc: Tulsa, OK
 
jerryc41 wrote:
I don't like seeing so many "no name" flash drives on Amazon and elsewhere - name like Topesel, Koontion, and Pnstaw. And there are also drives that literally have no names. The prices are low, and I suspect the quality is, too. As for capacity, who knows? I've seen reports online about 1TB flash drives that have nowhere near that capacity. For such an inexpensive item, I'd gladly pay a few dollars more and get the real thing. Unfortunately, there are also counterfeits of the real thing.
I don't like seeing so many "no name" fl... (show quote)


I’ve always been leery of flash drives. I’ve never had one fail, I always lose them first. But, I hear that they have a high failure rate. I’ve not seen any empirical data on them, but if you hear it enough, you start to believe it. I really don’t see why they would be different than flas memory cards though. Maybe it’s because of their form, people tend to bang them around.

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May 3, 2021 07:39:39   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
From Tom -

https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-usb-drives

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May 3, 2021 07:43:43   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
ejones0310 wrote:
I’ve always been leery of flash drives. I’ve never had one fail, I always lose them first. But, I hear that they have a high failure rate. I’ve not seen any empirical data on them, but if you hear it enough, you start to believe it. I really don’t see why they would be different than flas memory cards though. Maybe it’s because of their form, people tend to bang them around.


I've never had one fail, but I would never keep anything essential on one without having it backed up somewhere else. They're great for transferring files.

I just ordered three of these.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/cart/view.html?ref_=abn_tools_cart_nf

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May 3, 2021 07:58:32   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
ejones0310 wrote:
I’ve always been leery of flash drives. I’ve never had one fail, I always lose them first. But, I hear that they have a high failure rate. I’ve not seen any empirical data on them, but if you hear it enough, you start to believe it. I really don’t see why they would be different than flas memory cards though. Maybe it’s because of their form, people tend to bang them around.

Where did you hear that they had a high failure rate???
I've been using them for years with absolutely no problem.
One of mine is so old it's only 4Gb.
The IC's in them are potted, 99.9998% chance dropping one won't hurt it.
Static electricity will though!
I don't buy "no names". Probably NO quality control for them.

Yea, ya hear anything long enough it must be true.....
Someone says it in a video, must be true also.
That's ONE problem with society.

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May 3, 2021 09:24:26   #
JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois
 
Jerry, my sister and brother-in-law do not have a smart phone. Yes sad but true. So the Bluetooth in their Subaru doesn't get used. During their last trip to visit me in September I downloaded around 700 songs from my computer to a flash drive for them to listen to in their car.

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May 3, 2021 13:20:38   #
jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY
 
JRiepe wrote:
Jerry, my sister and brother-in-law do not have a smart phone. Yes sad but true. So the Bluetooth in their Subaru doesn't get used. During their last trip to visit me in September I downloaded around 700 songs from my computer to a flash drive for them to listen to in their car.



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May 3, 2021 14:39:20   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
Longshadow wrote:
Where did you hear that they had a high failure rate???
I've been using them for years with absolutely no problem.
One of mine is so old it's only 4Gb.
The IC's in them are potted, 99.9998% chance dropping one won't hurt it.
Static electricity will though!
I don't buy "no names". Probably NO quality control for them.

Yea, ya hear anything long enough it must be true.....
Someone says it in a video, must be true also.
That's ONE problem with society.
Where did you hear that they had a high failure ra... (show quote)


4 GB, I have one that is only 512MB around here somewhere, I use it to transfer files and images from one computer to another.

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May 3, 2021 14:58:58   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
robertjerl wrote:
4 GB, I have one that is only 512MB around here somewhere, I use it to transfer files and images from one computer to another.


The 512 will hold about 25 20Meg images.
Sometimes that's all one needs to transfer some files.
That's why I'm keeping the 4Gb.

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May 3, 2021 20:43:00   #
ejones0310 Loc: Tulsa, OK
 
It was so long ago I don’t recall the exact source, but I remember it was one of the PC Magazines.

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May 3, 2021 21:00:14   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
ejones0310 wrote:
It was so long ago I don’t recall the exact source, but I remember it was one of the PC Magazines.

Maybe they got better since so long ago.....
Or once they are bad, they bad forever.
I have some over ten years old, still working great.

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May 4, 2021 09:51:46   #
JBRIII
 
I bought one of the no-name 1tb on Amazon a couple months back. I bought it for a telescope which failed to recognize it, but my laptop ha no problem with it. Just did it for test, so if my experience is any indication, one might have issues which would be aggravating.

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May 4, 2021 10:32:48   #
EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace
 
robertjerl wrote:
4 GB, I have one that is only 512MB around here somewhere, I use it to transfer files and images from one computer to another.
I have a couple dozen flash drives the first one being a 512mb Lexar that has a chromed metal case. Anymore they are plastic. I just copied a photo to it so I know it still works OK.

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May 4, 2021 11:08:46   #
John_F Loc: Minneapolis, MN
 
In that flash drives have no moving parts and are solid state devices the most common failure would be due to damage to the contacts or dropping onto a hard surface.

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May 4, 2021 11:17:57   #
Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States
 
John_F wrote:
In that flash drives have no moving parts and are solid state devices the most common failure would be due to damage to the contacts or dropping onto a hard surface.

Or internal component failure (memory & controller IC) My vote for primary failure mechanism.
I would seriously doubt dropping one would harm it in any way as the IC and bond wires are encapsulated in a dollop of epoxy type material. I'll bet if you threw one across the room it would still be fine as long as the connector portal was not damaged.

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