okeee

I would like to get an usb stick. I don't know much about them, so are there any things that I should keep in mind? There are no special requirements, only that it should be working whenever I need it, and it should not easily break.
Also, what brands are good? And what brands should I AVOID?

smz

I've had many. No brands I would stay away from except my usual two. Emperex and OCZ.

As far as flash, there are about 4 different speeds depending what you get.

First and Second revs are just basic and are very sluggish. Then the higher speed ones are pretty respectable. for overall compatibility, you should leave it formatted as FAT16.

any OS but Win9x or Winme won't even need a driver. any software provided is just bells and whistles and at most will offer security protection.

The 4th option is SSD and due to it's pricing, i'd stay away for now.
Most people are fine with the first two revs of flash drives. The 150x flash drivers are very respectable. Some people will opt for a combo unit like a-data sells. it's a 150x sd memory card so it will also work in a camera, includes a usb tiny little card reader which essentially turns it into a flash drive with some pretty good throughput.

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okeee

thx for your advise

smz

Don't mention it. I noticed your posted OS is Windows ME.

I would stick with flash drives only. you need a driver for them as well so make sure in advance they are supported under win9x. many Are Not.

SSD drives which I hinted about have no place in an OS earlier than Windows 2000. Any of the dos based windows systems are out of the question. Good Luck!

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okeee

actually, this is for win xp, so it's ok.

smz

With windows xp and/or Vista. You are free and clear of any imcompatible issues.

Do youself a favor, now that flash ram is at an all time low. Fork out the few extra dollars and get a 60x or 150x flash drive. Some are not labeled that way as the SSD modules use that description but what you probably want to avoid are the first generation cheap flash drives that are 1.5/mb sec write and maybe 5.0mb/sec read. Horrible. If you need any advice on something you are considering and want to make sure it's not one of the first generation ones, shoot out a reply out here. I have plenty to recommend.

Though, I should eat my own words. My local Fry's had an A-DATA 2GB flash drive for $11 and that was with NO REBATE just out the door at the store. It's the next step up from the entry level flash drive and for that kind of money it's hard to say no. Most good deals on flash drives have a rebate attached to them. I am not a fan of them and never have been. Rate of success is 75% but 25% of my rebates don't come back or get denied. It's like gambling but odds aren't that much better than winning a few dollars in Las Vegas, NV.

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okeee

I don't need any extra programs or software on the USB-stick. I saw a few USB-sticks that have "U3" software, is that some extra (not nescessary) program as well?

There were a few USB-sticks which specifications did not mention any data reading speed. Is it better to avoid these? I don't need any super fast data reading, but not too slow as well.

I heard that u can't pull out an USB-stick when it's inserted in a computer, without clicking "safely remove hardware". Why is this exactly?

smz

well a stock flash drive is set at usb 1.1 standards and it's dog slow.

software is not required to run any of these drives on XP & Up. Anything you see are just free perks like backup utils, compression, encryption, etc.

You don't need to fork out money for the highest speed available at this time. I suggest find one in the middle that won't take all night to transfer things back and forth. If I had more these here, I would post some examples of medium speed vs slow entry level but I don't.

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Leticron

Oh...sure you can pull it out but you shouldn't :D
Because you might lose data if the flash is accessed the moment you pull it out, or some cache hasn't been written back yet.

-le

smz

I have a simple answer/explanation for this.

In theory if the drive is plugged in and is set to default settings. THat means windows sees it as a Quick removal device therefore no write cache is involved. So once your os finishes a transfer to the drive, in theory the copy is complete. However, there is also a setting to optimize flash drives (or other types of drives as well) for "quick performance" as opposed to the stock quick removal setting. This is great for those slow flash drives if you have lots of onboard ram. It sort of buffers you transfer and long story short, does the transfer pretty much to ram and then the write cache takes over and little by little drops the copied data still in ram to the flash drive or any drive set as performance vs quick removal.

If the drive is set as performance, you have a VERY GOOD chance of data loss if you pull the drive out soon after a transfer. Now if the drive has been idle for quite some time, my first thought is no, you're all good. But honestly, safe than sorry is my rule. Windows isn't that nasty anymore in XP & Vista about removing external plug & play devices without stopping them in windows first, but that doesn't take away the risk. I like the way Macintosh does it. They mount them as a drive on the desktop and instead of thumbing through the system tray for the safely remove hardware icon, you just right click on the mounted flash drive and choose eject. if it's in use, you've just been told not to do it. i then just logoff and relogon without restarting the machine. THat normally does the trick.

Hopefully that sheds a little inside on why this is a necessary process when dealing with removable storage more than anything else.

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okeee

I saw some usb-sticks, but they have software on it such as "encryption and password software". I don't need these, so can I remove all software completely? so that it would be as if I'd buy one without any software.

Also, I saw a USB-stick without cap to protect the USB connection, but the connection will actually retract back into the case. Are these ok to use? Im worried they may break easily.

smz

I'll address both of your questions. I think the retractable ones have an advantage and disadvantage as you pointed out. The advantage is avoiding the things that can happen when you take it portable and the plug is exposed because lets face it, how many people know where that little plastic cover tab is at all times? I certainly don't have a clue as the flash drives are meant to be used on multiple computers. They are priced cheap enough where I don't need to protect them with my life either. So If I were to buy another one, I could buy a retractable one, because I don't like having to constantly worry about the protective cover and keep in mind that can break or start losing it's soldered connection quite easily. This has already happened with a USB Wireless Key I've owned for about a year. I used it on my bench so it was treated like a flash drive per say. Going from one machine to another. Well the plug hasn't broken off, but it's favoring a bend in one direction and is no longer fully soldered on to the pcb inside. It needs to be positioned just right to work now. So I put electrical tape on the surrounding parts where that connection is and it's about 50% reliable so it's tossed in a pile of my other useless computer parts.

Long story short, my feeling is you are more likely to have an "accident" with the connector always sticking out. If you are unlike the rest of the population and will know where that rubber cap is at all times and aren't bothered by constantly having to keep track of it, it is probably a better connection for inserting into a usb port. Other than that, I favor the retractable.

I bought a Fry's special so I can't complain I paid $11.99 3 months ago for an A-Data 2GB flash drive. I've already lost it but that's a different story. During the time I was actually using it, that whole thing with the cap was like a nuisance to me. Any computer I plugged it into was 100% solid so that was the plus, but the whole time, I always thought back to the experience with the same sized Wireless Key that the connector turned into jello.

Next time a small size drive goes on sale at that price without a rebate, I will grab one with a retractable or deal. The disadvantage with that of course is how many times can you push the connector in and out before it gives? Maybe another manufacturer has a better solution then others? This reminds me when Megahertz (Bought by USR) made the first modem cards for laptops before they were built in standard and came out with a phone jack that you pressed in and out just like these flash drives. Yes, much better than the universal dongle standard but far less reliable and prone to breakage in many ways which of course I did. Not covered under the warranty either.

Long story short, go with the solution that bothers you the least. The only other risk with a retractable one is the seeding of the jack inside a port. I'm sure the depth of a USB port varies slightly from machine to machine, so I don't know if a retractable fixed length connector may come up too long or too short in some cases, so seeding could be a problem if that is the case. But on the other side of the picture is it's definitely more compact for taking it with you.

OK, other question about encryption software. That to me is more of a safety issue than anything else. You lose your flash drive and don't want it's contents viewed or stolen, then that encryption is for you. Assuming they are using a universal standard like AES or Blowfish and not some proprietary thing that can be hacked without limiting yourself to brute force only methods.

Other than that, I've only seen one flash drive where I could not delete both partitions from the drive but it was a demo flash stick from Verizon that emulated a CD and was probably set to read only from the factory. All other drives I used are treated the same way as if you plugged in a removable drive into your computer.

Assuming you are on a Windows 2000, XP, or Vista box, goto the run command and type "%SystemRoot%\system32\compmgmt.msc /s"
use the quotes. Then you'll see on the left side storage and disk management. click it and on the right side will be all your fixed and removable storage.

Don't mess with anything that you don't know exactly what it is. But in the case of a USB key, it is pretty easy to tell the difference. As an Example, on my system. My boot drive is shown as Disk 0 and shows a capacity of 298.09GB which is really 320GB, but regardless it isn't close to the size of a USB flash drive which if it was a 1GB flash drive, you would see perhaps DISK1 - 976MB or a 4GB flash drive will say 3.9GB give or take. That is obvious that it will be smaller than you fixed hard drive. If it has a partition, it is already has that encryption software installed and it probably runs autostart similar to a cd-rom and is launched when you plug it in.

You can do one of two things. Just format the partition or delete it and re create it. Use the right click menu and it should be easy to follow.

One thing to keep in mind regardless is on a stick 4GB and less, you want to keep the partition as FAT and perhaps FAT32 most of the time. I know that natively I can't plug a usb drive into my mac and mount it as NTFS unless I use 3rd party software. Also if you ever use it for recovery purposes, standard dos boot up tools only see FAT and most will see FAT32 drives.

Too much info about all this stuff but I just got lost in my response here and rambled on for a half hour.

I just woke up so some of this may be repetitive or make no sense but hopefully I addressed the bulk of both your questions.

Take Care.
SMZ

__________________
{{{{ Scott - 25+ Years HW & SW Expertise - Dos, Linux, Mac OS X, & Windows }}}}
Abit IP35 / Core 2 Quad Q6600 / APC 650 UPS / Antec 900 ATX w/Antec Trio 550 PS
XFX GeForce 8400GS w/512MB / 320GB Maxtor SATA II HD / 4GB Corsair CAS4 DDR2
HP Laser P1006 & PS 2610 / D-Link DGL-4500 Router / Dell 24" LCD / Asus G1 Laptop

okeee

I just got a usb flash drive, but the strange thing is that it can't be insterted into a computer. Keyboard, mouse and all other can be inserted, but the usb flash drive not. It's seems a (very little) bit too big. But the package says that it is USB 2.0. How is this possible?