USB sticks

[admin_exported]

My brilliant little Buffalo 4GB USB stick decided to go for a swim in a puddle the other day so here I am with a 8GB Sandisk cruzer copying some work to take home and do over the weekend.

It's soooooooooooo slow compared to the Buffalo. I've already missed my usual train. How can it be this slow? I thought all these flash based doo-daa's would transfer at roughly the same speed?

 

[Anonymous]

28 minutes to copy 226.3 MB, they weren't messing about when they named it. That must be a world record.

 

[professorhat]

Yup, different sticks have different access and write speeds. I've always used the Kingston DataTraveler range - I like them as there's no cap to lose (which always inevitably happens for me!) and Kingston is one of the "name" brands when it comes to memory in the IT business.

Read / write speed is very good - comparison table here to show you the difference between the models, but mine is just Standard and I have no complaints.

 

[John Duncan]

Some mistake Shirley. Has it still got that rubbish U3 utility on it? Try removing it and reformatting (if necessary). If that doesn't work, I'd take it back and get a one for a tenner from A Well Known High Street PC Retailer. They work for me.

Is it that one with the rubbishest design in the world 'slidey' mechanism thingie that totally prevents you from inserting it into a USB slot?

 

[up the music]

Is it being recognised as a USB 2 device and not a 1.1?

 

[aliEnRIK]

Try putting the buffalo stick in a bag of rice (It sucks the water out)

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Has it still got that rubbish U3 utility on it?

Yes...ÿ

JohnDuncan:If that doesn't work,

It does.

[It was hiding though, I had to use Onyx to show hidden files before I could delete it]ÿ

JohnDuncan:Is it that one with the rubbishest design in the world 'slidey' mechanism thingie that totally prevents you from inserting it into a USB slot?

Yes, that's the one.

Thanks everyone.ÿ

 

[Andrew Everard]

JohnDuncan:Is it that one with the rubbishest design in the world 'slidey' mechanism thingie that totally prevents you from inserting it into a USB slot?

That's the one - unless you hold it by the sides rather than the obvious top and bottom surfaces.

 

[John Duncan]

Andrew Everard:
JohnDuncan:Is it that one with the rubbishest design in the world 'slidey' mechanism thingie that totally prevents you from inserting it into a USB slot?

That's the one - unless you hold it by the sides rather than the obvious top and bottom surfaces.

So two hands then? I refer the right honourable gentlemen to my use of the word "rubbishest" a few moments ago.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Hey, I wasn't defending it, having just spent ten minutes trying to install one in a hidden socket up behind the dash of the car before giving up and plugging in a USB extension lead to take it.

But you can do it one-handed, so to speak. Slide out the USB connector with your thumb, then change grip so you're holding it by the sides and - oh, OK, it's rubbish.

 

[Crocodile]

Those Cruzer Micro's are ridiculously slow. I bought one last week & it's write speed was only 1.7MBs so I sold it straight on. Bizarrely though there are reports of others achieving around 12MBs so it seems as though they're not all created equal. Probably why Sandisk don't publish any performance data on their site.

This is a nice quick one:

http://www.7dayshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=777_6&products_id=103935

 

[visionary]

As mentioned above, use Kingston!

I put a Data Traveller through the washing machine and it still works perfectly

 

[Tonya]

Watch for "Readyboost" compatable sticks, they have to be certified to transfer data at a higher speed than the average stick and the price difference is usually minimal. U3 enabled sticks are a *** to reformat if you don't know how, a simple format will not remove the utility. To do that effectively, insert the offending stick into your PC and visit the manufacturer's website where you will find the utility to completely remove the U3 stuff online. As long as the memory stick wasn't powered when it got wet, there is little reason for it to be damaged as there is no short circuit. However, corrosion of the actual USB contact pins may eventually occour, so I would advise you get the data off the newly washed stick and transfer it to a newly unwashed one. You can use the old stick as ReadyBoost memory or for non-critical data situations until it eventually fails.