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PQI intelligent sticks are physically not much larger than the iDisk. I have 2, 128m and 1G, which I bought because they're so small, not bulky in my pocket like the POS Sans disk I used to have. They've both been through the wash machine, and one was stepped on, and they still work. Also, the PQIs come with 2 nice-to-haves, a "sleeve" that makes them sturdier (never use mine), and a hard plastic wallet carrier that fits 2 drives in it (I use this all of the time, but not in my wallet).

They're not the fastest around (don't remeber the numbers right now), but are fine for small storage.
Also use on mac, linux, and windows boxes at home. I got 1 drive from Newegg, and 1 from microcenter. Highly recommended...

if they were any smaller they'd just be impractical.

Speak for yourself! I have a PQI I-Stick, which is teh tiny. It comes with an optional housing so you can carry it like a normal USB drive, on a keyring, etc, but it also comes with a credit-card sized plastic holder that can hold two keys, and slips into your wallet. It's great. I always have my wallet, so I always have my USB drive. I don't particularly want something else hanging off my keyring either.

And I've had it over a year without losing it :-). And it's 512Mb. Fast, too. I like it big time ten dollar.

(The USB consortium don't like it, as it breaks their rules for USB connectors/packaging, but never mind.)

The only real problem is it needs a powered hub (or a direct computer-powered USB socket, obviously). So I can't stick it into the back of my MS keyboard. But I can live with that.

The only things important to me are data integrity (a non-issue with 99% of the drives, even the cheapest ones)

I totally agree. What surprised the hell out of me was that one day (for some odd reason) I copied a large file from a USB stick to the HD twice (different names). I was totally baffled when I found out that the files didn't compare 100%. Tried it several times, and everytime I copied the file off, it was different by 5 or 6 bytes (a 64MB file or something).

This was on a 128MB PQI Intelligent Stick, which granted, should make you wonder when you see it's size.

what's most worrysome to me is that this thing fails silently...

Anyways, perhaps the OCZ will be better, because it's Extreme!

ps. why did Rosco's post get moderated funny??

I use the PQI intellistick (http://www.pqi1st.com/products/istick.asp) and its the smallest flash drive that I have seen. Its the best flash disk that I have ever used. It's about as easy to keep up with as any other flash drive IMHO.

they suggest making a list of all of things like Social Security and credit card numbers, scanning birth certificates, marriage license and tax returns, and saving it all on a USB flash drive.

Why not just use a CD (full size, or 180 meg)? They are cheaper and more durable than a flash drive. Before I had my new, larger, flash drive I used to carry a 50 meg business card CD in my wallet. It would have to be replaced every 3-6 months from being repeatedly sat on :). I would imagine they would hold up better outside of the pocket, though :).

Since this would be a complete identity kit, encryption is of utmost importance. What's the best solution? A flash drive that claims to encrypt or a platform-independent, self-extracting, encrypted file on a regular drive?

I wouldn't use the software that comes with the drive. If I were doing this I would use GNU Privacy Guard. You should probably store the key in a safe location far away from home, and preferably with a strong passphrase.

Any suggestions for sturdy drives?

I currently have a PQI I-Stick. I have only had it about a year so far and I haven't doen anything stupid with it yet. It mostly just sits in my wallet in its little wallet case. I very much prefer keeping my flash drive in my wallet as opposed to my keychain. I also like that the little wallet insert will hold two drive. The only thing I dislike is that the wallet holder is so much thicker than the drive.

What other data would you put on this piece of "contingency hardware",

I have all of my revision control repositories mirrored to my flash drive and also any documentation or notes that I write. That is basically everything that I created myself and would have to do work to replace.

how would you protect the drive itself in case you did have to "swim for it"?

I would probably make sure the data was out of town before I was. Most of this data either doesn't change often (credit card numbers), or it never changes (SSN, birth certificates). Encrypt it, put it on some media of some sort, and send it out of town. Most people probably have friends or family living out of town that they can trust, send it to them. If this is not an option for you, you can probably get a box at a bank out of town I suppose...

PQI makes ones that are smaller than you'd believe. I just got a 512MB USB 2.0 one for under $50 and it works better than any previous USB flash drive I've tried (on both Mac and PC). All my family's cameras are CF (various elphs). But if I could I would choose this over CF. (Here's a review.)

After all, SanDisk has done something mildly clever with their flash memory offering. While I don't use the Sony MS myself, the size and shape looks like they could do something similar on the other end of their product, giving something reminiscent of these USB flash drives.

http://www.pqi1st.com/products/istick.asp

This company makes a memory stick so slim it'll fit in your wallet... it's about as thick as 3 credit cards. Works great, very geeky... I keep my backups in my butt.

Last year I bought a PQI Intelligent Stick PQI I-Stick at Fry's for $40. It's just 128MB and USB 1.1 but I was looking for the smallest USB drive I could find and this was it. It has been durable and unfailing for the past year. A friend saw mine for the first time a couple of weeks ago and went right out and bought a 512MB USB 2.0 at Fry's for $60 minus $20 rebate. That's good money right there. What Victorinox needs to do is integrate one of these in the handle of my Cybertool right next to the toothpick. I never go anywhere without either. Both devices have been reviewed previously by ThinkGeek: Cybertool I-Stick

I've now got two of these in my wallet. They are about the only USB drives thin enough to allow this.

USB1 version has a write-protect switch and an activity light. USB2 version doesn't have a switch but fewer moving parts on something so tiny is probably a good thing. (I'm not affiliated with PQI. I just like their stuff.)

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=intelligent+st ick+usb&btnG=Search+Froogle
http://www.pqi1st.com/products/istick.asp

Does anyone know of cross platform security software for removable drives? PGP/GPG doesn't count!

I've seen 2GB USB keys. Do you have a >2GB ACT! database? (I have a 1GB USB 2.0 one of these. Yes, it's tiny. And it looks cool. :-) )

I wish they had tested the PQI Intelligent Stick. It's the smallest drive around and looks pretty sweet. Pricing isn't bad either if you look on Froogle.

I guess I could always pick one up and return it if it sucks. But really, how much could it possibly suck as long as it works? I can't imagine I'm going to get horrible transfer speeds with it.

Only $35 for 128MB at Googlegear.