Manufacturers of miniature SD-drives and external SSD-drives convinced us that bulky, familiar types of flash drives will sink into oblivion. But time passes, and consumers are in no hurry to abandon the "inconvenient" media. Moreover, the speed and stability of the Internet connection does not allow you to completely switch to cloud storage.
Therefore, there is a demand for all types of flash drives and, judging by independent statistics, is in no hurry to fall. And in some countries, including Russia, such drives in spite of such predictors are enviable.
We will try to understand this issue and outline the most popular types of flash drives, their features, as well as the advisability of buying a particular model. Let's start with the areas of application, and continue with specific types of external drives and other important parameters.
Fields of application
Before you go directly to the types of flash drives, for a start we will understand the areas of application. That is, where, according to the logic of things, this type of drives can and should be used. Such positioning will allow you to decide on the purchase of the model you need in the future.
Data storage
This is the first thing an external drive is designed for. Despite the widespread Internetization, far from all areas of our vast homeland are available wireless technology and Putin, in particular.
Potential owners of flash drives are employees of small offices on the outskirts and users of personal computers somewhere in the outback. In addition, government employees prefer small physical drives rather than another cloud storage for data transfer, because this type of information transfer is sometimes much safer and more reliable. Yes, and flash drives are very often used for authorization in large payment systems.
This also includes data backup . If the latter has accumulated quite a lot, but it’s much more practical not to pay solid money for the used volumes in cloud storage, but to use some capacious types of USB flash drives.
Appliances
The home appliance market, albeit not by much, but nevertheless keeps behind modern desktop computers. Support for wireless technologies in players, players and televisions has not yet become widespread. Therefore, it is easy to help out a flash drive with micro-USB or a conventional USB interface.
In addition, you should not discount the monetary value of wireless technology. For the same difference, for example, a TV with a wi-fi module and without it, you can buy expensive expensive flash drives for the future.
It is also worth noting that many routers are equipped with USB ports and can work with an external drive as a network drive. The same interface can also serve as a kind of access to the Web, that is, in this case we are dealing with a flash drive key.
Drive Types
Regardless of the scope of the drive, they are divided into types, where the main criterion is the speed of data processing. Even the most expensive and original flash drive can give way to a nondescript model in the speed of information processing.
The USB interface has been present on the market for almost 20 years now, and over the entire period of its existence, it has managed to acquire various kinds of standards. Together with the latter, the connected peripherals, including flash drives, also changed.
USB Standards:
- 1.0 - transmit / receive speed - from 1.5 to 12 Mbps;
- 2.0 - from 25 to 480 Mbps;
- 3.0 - up to 6 Gb / s;
- 3.1 - up to 10 Gb / s.
It is visually impossible to distinguish the first two generations of drives, because they have the same interface design. Unprincipled manufacturers, mainly from China, continue to use this feature. Therefore, it’s quite simple to buy even a visually attractive gift flash drive, but with a port 20 years ago it’s quite simple.
The interface of the latest generation has received a significant difference from previous models. The inside of the drive has a pronounced blue color plus five massive contacts. Some manufacturers paint this part in red, but the interface version should still be indicated under the flash drive logo.
It should also be noted that for the correct operation of the device similar support is needed on the other hand, that is, the motherboard must be able to work with the USB 3.0 standard. Otherwise, you will either receive a limited data rate (like 2.0), or the drive will completely refuse to work. So before you buy an external USB drive, be sure to check the port standard in the receiver.
Data volume
Here you need to decide how much information you are going to write to the drive. You should immediately warn that this parameter is growing in parallel with the price, so buying a device with features that you are unlikely to need is completely useless.
The appearance of the drive, as a rule, does not affect its volume. That is, an almost flat flash drive in the form of a card can also easily cope with the storage of big data, just like a device of a familiar shape. Let's consider volumes in more detail.
2 GB
A drive up to 2 GB is useful if you work with photography, documentation and other information that does not take up much space. Such volumes are also enough to store a small collection of music in an economical MP3 format.
16 GB
Flash drives up to 16 GB can easily cope with the storage of photos in specific formats such as RAW, as well as tracks in high bitrate. You can use it for movies, but only if they are in HD-resolution, because high-quality video for an hour and a half in Full HD-scan will occupy at least 3 GB.
Devices with such a volume are very often used for advertising and other marketing purposes. Here we are talking, for example, about branded flash drives with the company logo for a narrow circle of employees. Many large concerns and enterprises use such solutions not only for advertising purposes, but also protect their information. This group also includes gift sticks with an original design. Sometimes, the latter are even more expensive than devices with the maximum volume, but you have to pay for beauty. So be prepared to give a lot of money for some original form or engraving on a flash drive.
64 GB or more
Storage devices up to 64 GB have found their application in the hands of moviegoers and professional photographers who store all the content in a specific, as well as choosy, free space quality and format. Devices over 64 GB are needed only in rare cases when you need to transfer some massive databases or arrange a serious move from one computer to another. But here it is much more practical to use an external hard drive for these purposes. Well, for the "pluses" - this is the best option for storing everything and everything.
Read speed
This parameter is worth paying attention to those who use the USB flash drive as a movie carrier. That is, this indicator directly affects the video playback speed. If it is not high enough, then the films will begin to slow down.
In this case, you will either have to look for a video in a lower resolution, or change the drive. In addition, the read speed is especially noticeable when transferring data from a USB flash drive to a hard drive.
Write speed
This option is not so important for watching movies, but for a long time recording them on a USB flash drive can make any user crazy. Some manufacturers devote attention to this indicator on a residual basis, so it is obviously not out of place to ask before buying about the maximum recording speed.
Design
Here we have the original appearance of the drives, and for it the manufacturer asks for an additional fee, and sometimes quite substantial. For example, engraving on a flash drive autographed by some celebrity will cost you twice as much as the face value of the drive.
Similar devices find themselves in the gift market. A flash drive is just a universal present for all occasions. You can give the car enthusiast a flash drive in the form of a car, fans of George Lucas's work - a drive in the form of Yoda or an imperial attack aircraft, etc.
But be careful. As mentioned above, many dishonest manufacturers under the guise of such a “beauty” sell outdated or completely defective devices. So before buying, it will be useful to check the flash drive on any benchmark. If the store is branded, computer or any other that respects itself and the client, then access to a PC for the test should be hassle-free.
Additional functionality
It is immediately worth noting that for it, as well as for an attractive appearance, you will have to pay extra. But in the case of the professional field of application, we can say for sure that the sheepskin is worth the candle.
Fingerprint Sensor
Similar solutions were introduced recently, after a similar boom in the segment of mobile phones. Such functionality allows you to protect your data from unauthorized copying, deletion and even simple reading.
The principle of the fingerprint scanner is very simple. When using the drive for the first time, the sensor reads your fingers and gives you full access to data. This solution proved to be excellent in tandem with the flash keys that are needed to access the bases and wallets of payment systems.
Backup
In this case, the drive at the first start on a personal computer offers to allocate some hard disk space for backup data storage. This section is marked as official, and you cannot accidentally delete it.
Special software on a USB flash drive clearly distributes all the information by dates, volumes and other parameters, and when the computer is idle (and the drive is connected) it makes a backup of the data, as they say, just in case. This solution very well helps with frequent overwriting of data on external media.
Protection
This is about the physical protection of the drive. Some owners use flash drives very actively and they break down almost every week. In these cases, it is better to overpay a bit and purchase a more protected option, for example, with a rubberized case and protection against moisture. So you not only save the information stored on the flash drive, but save on the purchase of new devices.
Do not buy a drive made of thin glass or plastic. Cheap options from dubious manufacturers may crumble in your hands under the pressure of your fingers. So it is better to take the good old thick plastic and not carry a USB flash drive in the back pocket of jeans.
Overwrite Protection
More advanced flash drives are often equipped with special overwrite protection. Such a solution will come in handy, if you very often work with data or content similar to each other, as well as external drives that are identical in appearance and can accidentally write information on top of the information you need. In this case, there is a special latch on the case, which just protects against re-recording.
Summarizing
Choosing devices of such a plan, it is necessary first of all to evaluate the tasks that it will perform. If you watch movies on TV using a flash drive, then look for an option with a high reading speed, and you can save on recordings. When it is necessary to work with databases and backups, both of these parameters are important here, that is, saving is inappropriate.
Do not buy a drive with a retractable connector. On the one hand, such solutions seem to be convenient, but the design from this becomes much less protected and fragile. Once you simply cannot push the interface, you will have to break the case to access important data.
It will also be useful to pay attention to the brand. The backbone of intelligent manufacturers has been formed for a long time and does not allow itself to produce low-quality products. Here we are talking about the brands Kingston, Sandisk, A-Date, Silicon Power and Transcend.