Maximum flash drive GB. The actual size of the flash drive. Password protection and data encryption

Flash drive– an essential accessory not only for any modern PC user, but also for owners of devices such as a media player, stand-alone acoustic system, car radio, tablet and smartphone.

How to choose the right flash drive, taking into account the purposes for which it will be used, its speed, quality, durability and other equally important parameters?

1. Flash drive capacity

Modern flash drives have capacities from 4 GB to 2 TB.

To transfer office files, a flash drive with a minimum capacity of 4 GB will be enough for you, but you can add a little and take an 8 GB flash drive, because the price difference is not significant.

If you plan to store music on it, then it is better to take a flash drive of 8 GB or more, which will also be optimal if you need to install Windows from a flash drive.

The optimal price/volume ratio are flash drives from 16 to 64 GB, be guided by your real needs and financial capabilities.

To exchange video files and a media player, it is advisable to take a flash drive of 16 GB or more; it is also slightly more expensive than an 8 GB flash drive.

To transfer images operating systems And software You may need a 32 GB flash drive, which is already significantly more expensive.

For high-quality videos, the size of which can reach tens of gigabytes, you will need a flash drive with a capacity of at least 64 GB.

Please note that flash drives are relatively unreliable, easily fail, deteriorate and are lost. Therefore, you do not need to invest significant funds in it with an eye to the future.

To transfer game images, the size of which today reaches 50 GB or more, Reserve copy system and files, some serious work projects, a flash drive of 128 GB or more may be required.

2. Flash drive interface

The connection interface is a collection of connectors and corresponding data transfer algorithms. Modern flash drives can have different interfaces with at different speeds data transmission.

Maximum interface speed:

USB 2.0 – 480 Mbps (60 MB/s)
USB 3.0 – 5 Gbps (640 MB/s)
USB 3.1 – 5 Gbps (640 MB/s)
USB 3.1 Gen 2 – 10 Gbps (1280 MB/s)

The maximum possible theoretical data transfer speed over the interface is indicated above. The basic units of measurement are megabytes per second (MB/s).

But there are several nuances here. Firstly, the standard specifies the total transfer speed in both directions (read + write). Thus, the one-way transmission speed will be 2 times less.

One way speed:

USB 2.0 – 30 MB/s
USB 3.0 – 320 MB/s
USB 3.1 – 320 MB/s
USB 3.1 Gen 2 – 640 MB/s

In addition, transmission overhead (service code) is not taken into account. Therefore, in reality, the maximum speed is still about 10% less.

Real maximum speed:

USB 2.0 – 27 MB/s
USB 3.0 – 290 MB/s
USB 3.1 – 290 MB/s
USB 3.1 Gen 2 – 580 MB/s

This means that a USB 2.0 flash drive will not be able to copy files at speeds higher than 27 MB/s. For comparison, the speed of modern hard drives is 120-150 MB/s, which is 4-5 times higher than the fastest USB 2.0 flash drive.

At the same time, the USB 3.0 interface is 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and 2 times faster than modern hard drive. Therefore, the speed of a USB 3.0 flash drive will not be limited by the speed of the interface and will be limited only by the speed of the memory that is installed in the flash drive.

Of course, to achieve high speed file copying, a USB flash drive with a USB 3.0 or 3.1 interface must be connected to a USB 3.0 or 3.1 connector on your computer or laptop.

3. Interface compatibility

USB flash drives are compatible with the nearest higher and lower versions of this connector.

Interface compatibility:

USB 3.1 – 3.1, 3.0, 2.0
USB 3.0 – 3.1, 3.0, 2.0
USB 2.0 – 3.1, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

This means that a USB 3.1 or 3.0 flash drive can be connected to a USB 2.0 connector and it will work fine, but the file copying speed will be limited by the speed of the USB 2.0 interface (27 MB/s).

In this case, a flash drive with a USB 3.1 or 3.0 interface will not work when connected to a USB 1.1 or 1.0 connector. Such connectors may be found on very old computers and some other devices.

At the same time, a flash drive with a USB 2.0 interface can work successfully both when connected to more modern USB 3.1 or 3.0 connectors, and to younger 1.1 or 1.0. If suddenly you are still dealing with such antediluvian computers or devices, then it is better to take a flash drive with a USB 2.0 interface. Although in most cases this is not justified due to the very low speed of the USB 1.1/1.0 interface (1.5 MB/s) and the possible incompatibility of modern flash drives with older devices. For such purposes, it is better to have a separate flash drive of an old model of small capacity (up to 4 GB).

Flash drives with USB 3.1 and 3.0 interfaces are the most optimal today, since USB 2.0 is much slower and is rapidly losing relevance.

4. Flash drive connectors

Flash drives with the same interface can have different connectors that differ in size and shape. The connector of the flash drive determines which devices you can connect it to.

The following flash drive connectors are available:

USB Type-A (computers, laptops, players, TVs, radios)
Micro-USB (most smartphones and tablets)
USB Type-C ( modern smartphones and tablets)
Lightning ( Apple devices– iPhone, iPad, MacBook)

The majority of flash drives have a regular USB connector (Type-A).

For many users, this is enough, as it allows you to connect a flash drive to computers and to most other devices where it may be needed. But there are also flash drives with an additional smaller format connector for connecting to various mobile devices.

If you have a smartphone or tablet with a Micro-USB connector and you feel the need to connect a flash drive to it (for example, to watch movies from it on the road), then it is convenient if the flash drive is compact and has an appropriate connector.

This is more convenient than using an OTG adapter, but is mainly justified in the case where it is not possible to install a memory card.

Also, using such a flash drive, you can easily and quickly transfer large files from one smartphone or tablet to another and exchange them with other people anywhere.

Many modern smartphones and tablets are equipped with a USB Type-C connector.

In this case, you will need a flash drive with a similar connector, but to exchange files with devices equipped with a more common Micro-USB connector, you will have to use an OTG cable and look for a rare “Micro-USB to USB Type-C” or “Micro-USB to USB” adapter. .

Much more common is the USB Type-C to Micro-USB adapter.

When choosing a flash drive for mobile devices Focus on the connector of the device to which you will connect the flash drive most often to avoid the need for an adapter.

If you are the proud owner of an Apple device such as an iPhone, iPad or MacBook, then you cannot do without a flash drive with a Lightning connector.

But these are already noticeably more expensive and instead of them you can use a regular flash drive and a “Lightning to USB” adapter, which you will most likely need anyway.

There are adapters from Lightning to full-size USB (Type-A), to Micro-USB, USB Type-C, various combined options and compact solutions.

Buy a flash drive with multiple connectors only if you really need it, as they are usually slower and less reliable, and if necessary, you can use an adapter.

5. Flash drive speed

Flash drives can vary significantly in read and write speeds. The write speed of flash drives ranges from 2.5 to 380 MB/s, and the read speed from 5 to 450 MB/s.

The writing speed is always much slower than the reading speed, and it can be critical at the moment when you need to quickly transfer something to a flash drive.

The cheapest flash drives are usually very slow, with write speeds of 3-5 and read speeds of 10-15 MB/s. But for a small flash drive (4-8 GB), which is mostly used for office documents and sometimes music may not be critical.

The criticality of write speed greatly increases on large flash drives when copying large files onto them. Therefore, the larger the flash drive, the faster it should be.

Lyrical digression

One day, a friend brought a new 64 GB flash drive to my work with a request to send me a collection of educational films. At the same time, I was surprised at the low price for which he bought it. But everything quickly fell into place.

In the morning, I started copying files to the flash drive and it lasted almost the entire working day (about 8 hours), despite the fact that only half of the flash drive was occupied. Since it was the cheapest 64 GB flash drive, its speed was very low.

As a result of hellishly long waits when copying files to different computers, a friend just decided to give this flash drive to his colleague for his birthday. Friends, don’t repeat his mistakes, because you could buy a faster flash drive for not much more.

For an inexpensive USB 2.0 flash drive with a capacity of 4-8 GB, the normal read/write speed is about 5/15 MB/s.

For a 16-32 GB USB 2.0 flash drive, speed values should be closer to 15/30 MB/s.

Please note that USB 2.0 interface speed is limited to 30 MB/s for both writing and reading. In reality, the USB 2.0 interface cannot transfer data faster than 27 MB/s, which has been confirmed by many tests.

Flash drives with a capacity of 32 GB or more (by and large 16 GB) should have a faster USB 3.0 or 3.1 interface and a speed of about 30/70 MB/s. This is usually enough for a 64 GB flash drive.

Higher speed may be needed for flash drives with a capacity of 128 GB or more. For comparison, external drive 1 TB capacity, has a speed of about 120/120 MB/s.

Please note that the speed of flash drives is cheap Chinese brands does not correspond to the declared one and can be 1.5-2 times lower, while for decent brands such as Corsair, SanDisk and Transcend, these figures, on the contrary, are slightly higher than declared.

6. Design of flash drives

Flash drives can have different designs and this affects not only its appearance, but also on convenience, functionality, security, durability, speed and restoreability.

Classic design

The classic design is a regular flash drive in a plastic case with a cap that protects the connector from damage, contamination and oxidation.

Plastic comes in different qualities and thicknesses. In Chinese flash drives brands and even cheap models from decent brands are thin, fragile and can break.

For example, the company Transcend produces flash drives of good quality, but the plastic in older models, although of high quality, was too thin, which is why pieces broke off over time. The company took this drawback into account and in the new models the plastic became much thicker and stronger.

Among the disadvantages of this design, one can note only the possibility of losing the cap if it is not tied to the flash drive body with a leash.

Metal body

Flash drives in a metal case of a similar design are distinguished only by higher strength and can survive brutal handling, but they usually cost more and do not have any other advantages.

They can also be equipped with slower memory in order to reduce the cost that has increased due to the use of metal, pay attention to this.

There are also all-metal flash drives, but they may not have a cap to protect the contacts.

A flash drive in a case with a combination of metal and leather looks stylish.

Due to their large dimensions, this is not always practical and often such flash drives do not have fast filling, but they will do as a gift for a respectable person. Unless, of course, he is particularly interested in computer technology and doesn’t have something cooler.

Swivel mechanism

Flash drives with a rotating mechanism can be plastic, a combination of plastic and metal, or completely metal.

This design is convenient because there is no cap, but it does not protect the connector contacts, and the mechanism often wears out and becomes loose.

Retractable mechanism

Flash drives with a retractable mechanism look interesting and modern.

But they are less reliable, since the mechanism may break over time. The fixation of the connector after extension is not always at the proper level and it slides back when inserting a flash drive into the USB socket.

Such flash drives are also often wider than regular ones and in some cases it is difficult to insert them into a recessed USB socket when the protrusions around it or other connected devices get in the way.

Again, due to the lack of a cap, the contacts are not protected; in addition, any debris easily gets into the slots of the retractable mechanism. So this design is the least reliable.

Compact flash drives can have different designs, from monolithic to cunning sliding mechanisms.

Their distinctive feature is often that they do not use full-fledged printed circuit board with a memory chip and a controller, or something like a memory card.

Such models are usually slower and cannot be restored in case of failure. However, some of them do not have a full metal connector, which is why they dangle in the USB socket and lose contact.

Many people, when ordering a miniature flash drive on the Internet, expect to receive a compact model for a low price, without even realizing how small and inconvenient it is.

In addition, a small flash drive is easier to lose and inconvenient to give to someone else to use. Keeping it on your keychain all the time and constantly removing it also turns out to be far from the most convenient option.

The best compact flash drives are the mid-sized ones with a quick-release mount that are really convenient to keep with you at all times.

Protected flash drives

There are flash drives with protection from moisture and minor mechanical impacts in a rubber casing.

Of course, you shouldn’t swim with them or sit on them, but they will withstand jogging in the rain or falling from a height onto a hard surface. Accordingly, they are more suitable for lovers of an active lifestyle or just a sporty style.

There are also more protected options in a sealed metal case that will withstand immersion in water and higher mechanical stress.

You can take this one with you to a sailing regatta or to the mountains; water and excess pressure in your backpack are not scary for it.

Everything has its price and protected flash drives cost 1.5-2 times more, but many of them can also offer fairly high speed, which will be a pleasant bonus in terms of protection and unusual design.

Children's flash drives are often shaped like animals and made of rubber or plastic.

They usually have the cheapest components inside, and the flash drives themselves are quite slow. But they are interesting for the child and large enough not to lose.

Disadvantage big size It may be impossible to connect a flash drive to some computers.

Unusual ones include curved flash drives, flash drives in the form of a cable, flash drives-bracelets, key rings, pens, tie clips, etc.

Sometimes the design of a flash drive is practical, making it easier to use and making the flash drive more functional, but often it is purely a design decision.

Approach the choice of a flash drive wisely, knowing already a lot about the pros and cons of a particular design. In most cases, the simplest flash drive will be the most reliable and practical.

7. Flash drive manufacturers

One of the most important conditions when choosing a flash drive is right choice manufacturer, since its quality, durability and actual speed will depend on this.

The best flash drive manufacturers:

Corsair - sporty, secure and fast
SanDisk - stylish and high quality
Transcend – high-quality and inexpensive
Leef – high-quality flash drives with USB and Lightning interfaces
PhotoFast – expensive USB/Lightning flash drives with password and encryption

Corsair– an expensive brand for enthusiasts and their flash drives do not have an affordable price. But the range includes many models for people leading an active lifestyle - in rubber and metal casings, characterized by increased water resistance and shock resistance. There are also simply models with a stylish modern design. At the same time, they all differ in high and very high speed, on which the price greatly depends.

SanDisk– produces beautiful, stylish and unusual flash drives with traditionally high quality and good speed for this brand. Their price is no longer so high and is only slightly more expensive than the cheapest Chinese brands. Models are mainly with a retractable system and in miniature format.

Transcend– produces flash drives High Quality at a very tempting price. The range is quite wide, there are classic flash drives with a cap, retractable, miniature, stylish, sporty, and protected. At the same time, speed indicators are often higher than stated and there is a unique program for restoring flash drives, which we will talk about later.

Leef- expensive, unusual and fairly high-quality flash drives with USB and Lightning interfaces, which are suitable for connecting to any equipment, including Apple.

PhotoFast– even more expensive and advanced devices with USB and Lightning interfaces, support for password protection and encryption functions, are suitable for those for whom data confidentiality is paramount. Among other things, it is also a cable that allows you to synchronize files and charge mobile devices.

Just look what they can similar devices, it's simply amazing.

Popular flash drive manufacturers:

Kingston – average quality, there are large, fast models
Toshiba - cheap flash drives of average quality
Goodram – Polish brand, high-quality memory, unimportant case
Verbatim – low quality and speed
Team – good quality and design, average speed
Sony - stylish but slow

Kingston is a very popular brand that produces flash drives of average quality and mostly at low speed. But the range includes relatively inexpensive models with ultra-high capacity and speed (from the HyperX series), which have no competitors.

Toshiba- a once popular Japanese brand, now produces the cheapest flash drives that do not deserve special attention.

Goodram– flash drives are stable good quality from a well-known Polish manufacturer of high-quality memory, but not always in a good package.

Team- a well-known memory manufacturer for enthusiasts, makes quite interesting flash drives in an unusual design with average speed performance.

Here is an interesting example of using one of these flash drives.

Sony– flash drives from a well-known brand in a strict design, but with low speed characteristics, so they are suitable only for ardent fans of the brand.

Cheap flash drive manufacturers:

A-DATA – stable quality, good case
Apacer – average quality, poor body
PQI – average quality, metal case
Silicon Power - average quality, poor case

All these manufacturers make flash drives of average quality and speed; they can be purchased if you are talking about significant savings.

Manufacturers of designer flash drives:

ANYline – children's flash drives based on American cartoons
Iconik - cheap children's flash drives in assortment
Mirex - good children's flash drives and flash drives with a unique design
SmartBuy - inexpensive flash drives from a Russian brand, there are children's ones
Tribe – flash drives in the form of comic book superheroes
Uniq – good flash drives with a unique design in a huge assortment

Such flash drives are suitable if design is more important to you than anything else or if you need a unique gift. But pay attention to the speed characteristics.

There are still many unpopular and little-known Chinese brands that produce the cheapest low-quality flash drives, as well as flash drives for children and with unique designs, but their quality and speed leave much to be desired.

8. Software

Some manufacturers develop software for their flash drives for different purposes. For example, for Transcend these are mainly utilities that make it easier for active users to synchronize files, while for SanDisk they provide password protection and encryption, which is more in demand in the corporate sector.

Transcend also has a wonderful utility “ JetFlash Online Recovery", which allows you to independently restore a flash drive in case of failure, even when the computer does not see it.

Such cases are often not associated with a failure file system, which is restored by simple formatting, but with a power failure in the flash drive controller.

This utility finds a flash drive connected to the PC, automatically determines the type of controller, downloads the necessary firmware from the manufacturer’s website and re-flashes the flash drive controller. You just need to insert the flash drive, run the program and click “OK”, after which the work of the flash drive is restored in most cases.

This utility has already saved many flash drives of my friends and clients, while flash drives from other manufacturers were usually simply thrown away, since their recovery requires specialized software, native firmware and a lot of experience.

The Transcend flash drive recovery utility is the most important and in demand for most users. But it only works for full-size flash drives, and not miniature ones based on memory cards.

9. Conclusion

I recommend purchasing full size Transcend flash drives, they have an optimal price/quality/speed ratio and can be restored independently in the event of failure. Flash drives produced by Corsair and SanDisk are also noteworthy.

If you need a flash drive for a modern computer or laptop, then definitely take a model with a USB 3.0 or 3.1 interface; it will also be compatible with USB 2.0 connectors.

If you plan to use a flash drive on very old computers, an ancient media player or car radio, then it is better to take a model with a USB 2.0 interface (compatible with USB 1.0/1.1), since modern USB 3.0 flash drives are not always detected correctly on older devices.

To use it with a tablet or smartphone with a Micro-USB or USB Type-C connector, it is better to take a flash drive with a second corresponding connector; this is more convenient than using an OTG adapter.

And to connect to an Apple device (iPhone, iPad, MacBook) you will need a flash drive with a Lightning connector, unless of course you already have a USB adapter.

Well, don’t forget that if you need high volume and speed at an affordable price, that is.

10. Links

Transcend JetFlash 790 16Gb
Transcend JetFlash 790 8Gb
Transcend JetFlash 790 16Gb

In the modern computer world, it is difficult to find people who have not heard of flash drives. However, many still do not have a complete understanding of these devices. In this material we will fill this gap and talk about the main parameters and characteristics of USB drives.

Introduction

Nowadays it is difficult to find people who have not heard of such electronic devices, like flash drives or simply “flash drives”. Technical characteristics and optimal shape allowed them to take a leading place among portable storage media, and practically replace optical disks and floppy disks.

However, despite the popularity of flash drives, not all users have a complete understanding of these devices. In this material we will try to fill these gaps so that you can independently choose the appropriate flash drive for yourself in any computer store.

As is the case with other storage media, flash drives have a number of basic technical characteristics by which they are selected. Let's look at the main ones and figure out what you should pay attention to first when buying a flash drive.

What is a flash drive

A flash drive is a storage device with an interface USB connections, which uses non-volatile flash memory to store information. The main advantages of flash memory include its low cost, compactness, noiselessness, mechanical strength, operating speed and low power consumption. Thanks to all these advantages and ease of use, flash drives managed to gain popularity among users in a fairly short time and oust other competing solutions from the market.

The main purpose of compact USB drives is to store, exchange and transfer data that is not too large. In addition, flash drives can be used to store backups and loading operating systems. At the same time, flash drives can be connected not only to a computer, but also to various household appliances, for example, TVs, players, record players and others with USB connectors.

Despite all its advantages, flash memory still has a number of certain disadvantages. First of all, this is a limited number of cycles of writing/rewriting information (up to 10 thousand times for MLC memory, which is installed in most devices, and up to 100 thousand for SLC type memory). Flash drives also have a limited storage life. And although most manufacturers claim that their products can store data for 10-20 years, in fact, the company warranty for this type of media is no more than 5 years.

Like any low-voltage electronics, flash memory is very sensitive to electrostatic discharges, which are quite common in everyday life. Another reason for the fragility of a flash drive can be the USB connector, which can simply break due to frequent connection/disconnection of the media.

True, all these shortcomings do not prevent flash drives from remaining for many years one of the most common storage media and favorite means of transferring data among ordinary users.

Flash storage capacity

Volume is one of the key characteristics of any data storage device, since it directly determines how much information can fit on the media. That is why most ordinary users, when purchasing storage media, primarily focus their attention on this parameter.

The first flash drives had rather modest volumes, amounting to tens or hundreds of megabytes. Modern flash drives in this regard are far ahead of their predecessors, and today the minimum volume of a cheap USB drive can be considered 4 GB or even 8 GB, since there is practically no difference in price between them. The most popular volumes on this moment 16 and 32 GB are considered, since the cost of such flash drives is still not high and amounts to less than 1000 rubles.

As you may have already noticed, the amount of flash memory, like random access memory, is the number obtained from two raised to the nth power (2 n). That is, each subsequent value is obtained by doubling the previous one. Therefore, after 32 GB, the volume of flash drives begins to grow rapidly, and along with them, their cost begins to increase very significantly. So, if USB drives measuring 64 GB and costing about 1,500 rubles are still in active demand, then 128 GB flash drives can have a price of over 3,000 rubles, which sharply reduces consumer interest in them.

But the producers didn't stop there. Today on the market there are flash drives with a capacity of 256 GB and even 512 GB, which are essentially solid-state drives (SSD) enclosed in a compact case. Their cost is already so high that calling them ordinary flash drives is simply incorrect.

Communication speed

Despite the fact that volume does matter, one of the most important parameters of any drive is the speed of its data exchange with the device to which it is connected. In the case of flash drives, this characteristic is formed from three components: read speed, write speed and connection interface.

The read speed of all flash drives is always higher than the write speed. However, in some cases the difference can be very large. Therefore, before choosing a USB drive, it is better to decide how it will be used. If the information on it is rarely updated, then of course you can turn a blind eye to the recording speed. In the most budget models, the maximum read speed usually ranges from 10 to 15 MB/s, and the write speed from 3 to 8 MB/s. This option is better to choose if the flash drive is intended for exchanging or transferring files small size, for example documents.

But a flash drive with read speeds above 20-25 MB/s and write speeds above 10-15 MB/s can be called not very expensive, but at the same time a universal solution that is suitable for any task. There are flash drives with more attractive speed characteristics that make working with them a real pleasure. True, the price for such products is set accordingly.

As a rule, the maximum speed indicators affect the flash drive connection interface, which can be of two types - USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. In the first case (2.0) we are dealing with a maximum throughput of 480 Mbit/s. Thus, the maximum read or write speed of a USB2.0 flash drive cannot exceed 60 MB/s. In practice, manufacturers do not strive to reach this ceiling and provide their products with speeds barely exceeding 30 Mb/s.

As for the USB 3.0 interface, the throughput here reaches up to 5 Gbps, which makes it possible to transfer data at a speed of 640 Mbps. Of course, for flash drives this is an exorbitant figure. However, even if we do not take into account devices with a capacity of 256 and 512 GB, some solutions already offer users read speeds of over 220 MB/s, and storage speeds of over 130 MB/s.

At the same time, the presence of a USB 3.0 interface in a flash drive does not guarantee that it will have high speed characteristics. Buying a USB 3.0 flash drive is most advisable if the drive has read/write speeds above 60 MB/s. If this is not the case, then a flash drive with a USB 2.0 interface may be a better purchase, both in terms of price and its characteristics. So in some situations there is no point in overpaying for a newfangled interface.

And one last point. It is important to understand that a flash drive with a USB 3.0 connector must be inserted into the device also into a USB 3.0 connector to realize its full speed potential. If your equipment does not have these, then you should again think about the advisability of purchasing a drive with such an interface.

Designer design

In the classic version, the flash drive looks like an elongated rectangle or a flattened cylinder, 5 to 8 cm long, with a removable cap that covers the USB connector. However, modern flash drives can come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, as well as ways to protect the connector.

In general, flash drives can be divided into four groups based on the type of connectors:

Classic . The connector is closed with a cap. A good and reliable option. The only inconvenience is the possibility of losing the cap.

With retractable connector . They have one common disease. Over time, the mechanism that secures the connector becomes loose, which makes it much more difficult to install the flash drive into the end device.

With swivel mechanism . A fairly reliable option, in addition to giving the flash drive an original look.

With open connector . A practical and reliable option. The main disadvantage here is the possibility of contamination of the connector and moisture getting on it.

Another important external quality of a flash drive is the material from which it is made. It must be selected taking into account the frequency of use and the degree of care for it. The housings of these devices come in plastic, metal and rubberized types. Plastic cases can be called the most unreliable. This is especially true for flash drives with a retractable connector. Flash drives with metal casings are reliable and often look solid. Although to some their weight may seem excessive. As for rubberized cases, they are designed to create optimal conditions that resist impacts, shocks and prevent moisture from getting inside this technical device.

Now it has become fashionable to make souvenir flash drives, whose bodies have a non-standard appearance, for example, in the form of some figures or various household items. But all this “beauty” may backfire on you, since there is a possibility that in most cases you will not be able to use such a USB drive due to the dimensions of its case. Please note that when you buy a flash drive that is irregularly shaped or thick, it may simply not fit next to other devices installed in adjacent USB connectors.

Secondary functionsUSB- drives

We have looked at the main parameters for choosing drives, now let's move on to considering the auxiliary functions of these devices. In order to expand the sales market and increase the popularity of their products, some manufacturers are trying to provide flash drives with additional capabilities. Thus, a device activity indicator can be integrated into modern USB drives, which will make it possible to show the period of safe removal of the drive from the USB port, Digital Watch and even a flashlight. There may be a function that provides protection against data overwriting and the possibility of hardware encryption of information. You can also find a drive with a built-in fingerprint scanner or card reader.

By the way, immediately after purchasing a new drive, do not rush to format it, as it may contain useful supporting software. These can be formatting utilities or applications for organizing data backup.

Conclusion

So, now you know the basic parameters, according to which you can now independently select a USB drive for certain purposes. The only thing we did not mention in this material is the manufacturers of these devices. In fact, there are many of them, and even a lot, especially if you take into account the many small unknown Chinese manufacturers united under the general name NONAME.

However, in conclusion we will name several leading players in this market, so that it will be easier for you to navigate among the numerous foreign names. The most widely represented and promoted companies on the Russian market are TRANSCEND, KINGSTON, SANDISK and SILICON POWER. No less popular are the products of A-DATA, CORSAIR, KINGMAX, VERBATIM, EMTEC, SMART BUY and some others. But in any case, when purchasing, first of all, be guided by technical characteristics and external parameters of the flash drive, if you don’t want to ruin your mood and get a product under a big name that will not meet your expectations.

It is unlikely that anyone reading this article does not know what a flash card is, but I will still allow myself to remind you that it is a storage device that uses flash memory. The latter received enormous success due to its low cost, compactness, strength, fairly large volume and speed of operation. Most often, flash memory is found in portable devices.

The creator of this ingenious technology is Toshiba engineer Fujio Masuoka. The event took place in 1984. He came up with the name of the technology together with his colleague, it comes from English word Flash (“Flash”), because the process of erasing memory resembled a flash.

According to data at the end of 2008, the world leader in flash memory production is Samsung company, and Toshiba, together with its enterprises, is in second place. It is unknown who is the leader at the moment (end of 2013).

Now let's go directly to , namely internal memory. So, in 2009 the world saw the storage device Kingston Data Traveler 300 , one of the leaders in this field. The company presented a flash drive, the volume of which reached a fantastic 256 GB of memory! At that time, the result was simply phenomenal! The read speed is 20 MB/sec, and the write speed is exactly half that. Externally, the flash drive is no different from other devices. The only negative is that, for unknown reasons, the drive can only operate at above-zero temperatures. Whether the Kingston DataTraveler 300 goes on sale or not is unclear.

The premiere took place in 2013 Kingston HyperX Predator USB 3.0, flash cards whose memory capacity reaches 1 TB! In fact, a whole HDD in your pocket! The read speed is an incredible 240 MB/sec, and the write speed is 160 MB/sec, which is even faster than the average hard drive. It’s a pity that few people will be able to afford the Kingston HyperX Predator - the preliminary cost of the gadget is just over $3,000 (there are no more accurate data at the moment), and for the version with 512 GB of memory the manufacturer is asking about $1,700.

Well, in the end I will tell you HyperStor-6200— a flash drive with a capacity of as much as 100 TB! Is this possible? Certainly! And right now you will understand why this is so. ViON Corporation introduced HyperStor-6200 back in 2009. The manufacturer claims that the device is capable of performing about five million operations per second, and the average speed of one operation is only 0.07 seconds. HyperStor-6200 is used for work in corporations and is a rather impressive unit that will not fit in a pocket, or even a bag. However, it can also be considered a flash drive, but with a very big stretch. The cost of the device could not be determined, but it is likely to be in the tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Often on forums there is a question about which flash drive to choose and what you need to pay special attention to. There seem to be thousands of variants of this device in retail chains. It’s not difficult to understand the configurations; the main thing is to understand the purpose of the acquisition. This will be the basis for selecting the right USB flash drives.

USB standard

Before choosing one or another flash drive, study the device into which you are going to connect it. Currently on the market USB flash drives There are several interfaces.

2.0 - this is an outdated standard, whose throughput is very modest - less than 400 Mbit/s, but this is theoretical, but in reality it is several times lower - the speed of such flash drives is 30-35 Mbit/s. However, many devices are equipped with just such connectors, which is their bottleneck.
3.0 - a more modern standard. Here the throughput is an order of magnitude higher. The connector differs from the previous one in several additional contact groups.

3.1 and 3.1 Type C– interfaces of a more recent generation. The 3.1 standard is backward compatible with interfaces 2.0 and 3.0, and the Type C option is also a completely different connector from the previous ones. Please pay attention to this, because if there is no such input, you will have to buy an adapter. Standard 3.1 has a declared speed that is twice as high as 3.0 - up to 10 Gbit/s. But in practice, it is better to look in the product description, from the seller or on the product box.

Whatever USB standard you purchase, you need to understand that read and write speeds will only be optimized when connected to the appropriate port. If you connect 3.0 to 2.0, the performance will be slightly higher, but not at the same level as when connecting the device to the native 3.0 connector.

Main characteristics of a USB flash drive

Memory
To be honest, most of us, when choosing a flash drive, pay attention only to this characteristic. First, greed kicks in - you want to take the device with the largest amount of memory. Today there are flash drives from 4 GB to 2 TB. Many still remember the times when a drive smaller than a gigabyte was considered cool, but technical progress in the field of computer technology is so rapid that today, seeing the cost of an 8-16 gigabyte device, the brain reacts to “shouldn’t we look at more?”

You can conditionally divide all flash drives into several groups according to cost:
4–8 GB- budget, but low-volume;
16–64 GB- accessible;
128 GB and higher – the cost is high, but it is useful for certain purposes. And if funds allow, then it’s very good - you can take it.
The most important thing here is to understand that a large volume is not always justified and is not at all synonymous with the quality and speed of the device.

Maximum throughput
Exactly maximum reading speed, from which the device reads information, allows you to easily watch movies directly from a flash drive or quickly transfer information to a computer. The available value of this indicator can range from 5 to 420 Mbit/s and higher. If the reading speed is too low, then you will not be able to use the flash drive as a removable drive - it is recommended to first transfer the information to the hard drive of a stationary device, and then work from it. At low speeds films are played in "jokes", accounting and graphics programs They slow down so much that work turns into hell.

Maximum write speed will allow you not to waste a lot of time copying files to a flash drive. Imagine that you went to a friend’s house to record a new movie and “hanged” with him and his flash drive for several hours. Today, USB flash drives vary in this indicator ranging from 2.5 to 380 Mbit/s and higher. This is a practical speed; the theoretical possible value can be higher.

You can find both indicators on boxes from serious brands. You should not trust unverified manufacturers, since you don’t know what you will run into when purchasing. Be especially wary of large flash drives that claim respectable reading and writing speeds, but are low in price - most likely, the stated parameters will not correspond to reality.

OTG support is a universal device that can be connected to both a computer and a smartphone, which is very convenient. That is, it has two connectors on both sides. Otherwise, its indicators are selected in the same way as those of a regular flash drive.

Design features

If it seems that there is nothing complicated in choosing a case, then you are only partly right. The flash drive has an accessible work area for mechanical damage or exposure to moisture. Exist several basic types of USB connectors:
The body is connected to the cap- the most practical type of protection. Caps are usually made of the same materials as the body - rubber, plastic or metal. Rubber ones are better fixed and protect the device from moisture and dust.
Rotary body– the whole structure looks like a bracket that is fixed from the outside and can be rotated from side to side, which makes it possible to cover the USB connector. Here the protection is very questionable and only against mechanical damage.
Retractable connector– the connector is hidden inside and removed using a movable key. The main disadvantage is that the latch may break, and it will be inconvenient to use the drive. It is worth mentioning here slider with auto close, it's more modern look retractable connector, but the disadvantages are the same.
Carbine– the working surface of the device is hidden inside the body according to the principle of a folding knife. Disadvantages of protection, like the rotary housing.
Flash drive with compact body does not have protection against moisture and mechanical damage, but is convenient to use. It can be used for work, but not for long-term storage of files since it has open contacts.

It is best to purchase a device with waterproof design, especially if it has to be constantly moved from place to place or used as data storage for a long period.

Housing material There are different types: metal, plastic, rubber, aluminum. The most common is plastic, and the most reliable and comfortable is rubber.

The flash drive often has indicator light, which shows that the device is connected correctly and is working, and mounting hole to a keychain or bracelet.

Gift case design I can only recommend it specifically for a gift, and for a person whose activities are not related to the frequent use of this device. Various models, made to look like sandwiches, cats, minions and other cute designs, are not very convenient. If you need to connect another device to the adjacent socket, it may simply not fit.