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Hi-speed USB2 Flash Drive Round-Up

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-hid-it-in-my-space-cavity dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Ars Technica has a USB 2.0 Flash drive review featuring 8 drives from different manufacturers. What's so interesting about the review is that not all Flash drives are created equal. Some have very unique features while some are clearly better than others. They also took a detailed look inside one of the drives as well as put two drives in a RAID-0 array (a la Mac OS X). Now that's cool!"

13 of 264 comments (clear)

  1. Putting USB flash drives... by technogeeky · · Score: 5, Funny

    in a raid array has to be the geekiest thing I've ever heard of. What is this world coming to?

    1. Re:Putting USB flash drives... by Adriax · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is quite a big geekier if you ask me.
      Striping floppies to get better speed and storage...

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
    2. Re:Putting USB flash drives... by ilikejam · · Score: 5, Funny

      So the 'R' is redundant then?

      --
      C-x C-s C-x k
  2. I flashed my USB once... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...damned schoolgirl called the cops. Who knew she could see it?

    On the playground?

    In a raincoat?

    I'm just saying...

  3. special features are useful but.. by patrick.whitlock · · Score: 5, Informative

    not always, in my office we share usb drives to save time, so far they're the handiest things i've found so far... but if you really need biomectrically locked drive that looks like an inkpen, go right ahead

  4. Durability/Reliability by rot26 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The issue of durability and/or reliability wasn't addressed in the review but I have to say that I was impressed as hell when my Cruzer-mini went through both my washer and dryer with no apparent effect. That was several months ago and it still works great.

    --



    To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
    1. Re:Durability/Reliability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      That's to be expected, after all, to raid other villages by sea you have to be pretty durable. Still, I'm impressed you were able to cram him into the washer and dryer.

  5. MRAM by AnwerB · · Score: 5, Interesting

    NAND Flash is what's making this possible. It's denser and faster than NOR Flash.

    If you haven't heard of MRAM, that's definitely another technology to be on the lookout for. According to IBM and Infineon Technologies, it's supposed to start shipping this year.

    Basically, it has the density of DRAM, 15ns access time, and doesn't loses it's state even when powered down.

    Google turns up some articles: here, here, and here.

  6. Strapping 1GB around your neck by kyoko21 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, for those that are interested in the 'bulk' data, you can pickup a 1GB SanDisk Cruzer Mini for only $162 after an instant rebate...

    http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/m as terid=1956584/search=1gb%20usb

  7. How about... by jwr · · Score: 5, Informative

    How about fixing USB 1.1 support in Linux first?

    USB must be the crappiest kernel subsystem in existence: I can crash 2.4 in a number of ways just by plugging in and removing USB devices. Bug reports are being ignored, sometimes people sugggest moving to 2.6.

    Well, 2.6 freezes dead hard when I plug in my USB audio device.

    USB is the primary reason for the short (several days) uptime on my laptop.

  8. Re:Encryption with specification is pretty useless by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 5, Funny

    I believe it's rot-26 encryption. I've heard that the next model will support rot-52, but they're not for export.

  9. Can you dual boot a bootable USB drive? by DroppedAtBirth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Can you dual boot a bootable USB drive? Sounds like a fun way to waste a few hours....

    --
    Rob
  10. Does write protect work with Linux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I noticed that some of these flash drives have "write protect". However, I noticed that some manufacturers claim that Linux cannot use the write protect functionality:

    " When you put the write-protect switch to "ON" position, you cannot write any file or data into the device. You still can view and read the files and data in the device. You can switch the "Write-Protect" switch even you do not disconnect the device. Due to Linux OS limitation, the write-protect switch will not work on-line."

    Flash drive manual

    But I see in status messages when people plug in the flash drives that it says "write protect is off".

    Does anyone have experience with these products in Linux and whether write protect works with the flash drive connected?