Best USB Flash Drives

Best USB flash drives for general use

Something that becomes evident in reviews of USB flash drives is that the "best" drive is often a matter of personal need; not everyone requires enough space on their flash drive to download years' worth of home videos or enough durability to survive being submerged in 200 feet of water, or enough security to cause the device to self-destruct should it ever slip from its owner's fingertips. Extra features mean extra money and even though flash drive prices have dropped substantially in the past year, an increased cost of 30 to 50 percent is not insignificant.

Corsair leads the pack in terms of top-performing USB flash drives, both basic and enhanced. The original Corsair Flash Voyager (*Est. $40 for 8 GB) has had the most staying power of any competing product on the market; some experts indicate that this life span means the drive's design is becoming outdated, while others hold it up as an example of a product so well-designed that it has yet to be improved upon. Both camps seem to argue valid points but even the critics eventually arrive at the same conclusion as the fans: the Flash Voyager is a reliable drive that performs well and offers adequate security and durability for the majority of users. It's selected as an Editor's Choice at Phoronix.com, is recommended by DriverHeaven.net, receives similarly high marks in reviews from I4U News and TopTenReviews.com, and is highly rated on owner-opinion websites.

The Flash Voyager is encased in water-resistant rubber and is accompanied by a lanyard and USB extension cable. Bundled in the drive is the TrueCrypt utility for creating a password-protected, encrypted hidden partition for your most sensitive data. The Flash Voyager is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems. Experts have had a virtual field day testing the durability of the drive's casing, submerging it in water, laundering it and throwing it off the top of a building -- the Flash Voyager survives all but being crushed beneath an SUV. (Older models of the Flash Voyager and Flash Voyager GT contained a manufacturing weakness that caused them to occasionally split into two; Corsair corrected this flaw over a year ago.)

The Corsair Flash Voyager flash drive is available in sizes from 4 GB (*Est. $40) up to 32 GB (*Est. $75) and even 64 GB (*Est. $130).

The Corsair Flash Survivor 8 GB (*Est. $40 for 8 GB) is the ultimate in flash-drive durability, according to the vast majority of reviewers who have tested it. It's selected as an Editor's Choice by Phoronix.com, and earns equally high recommendations from EverythingUSB.com, MaximumPC.com and a host of others. Reviewers went to every extreme to try to destroy the Flash Survivor, or at least put a dent in its aircraft-grade aluminum exterior. Michael Larabel of Phoronix.com threw it in a swimming pool, whacked it with a hammer and boiled it in water for ten minutes. Scott Clark of EverythingUSB.com also dropped it off a roof and repeatedly ran it over with his SUV. Other reviewers froze it, burned it, threw it at a brick wall, stabbed it with screwdrivers and/or ran it through a washing machine. They found the Corsair Survivor flash drive worked normally after each round of abuse. As with Corsair's Flash Voyager, the Flash Survivor comes with the TrueCrypt security application (Windows only).

Some reviewers ding the Survivor for its so-so speed, but the majority indicates that the Survivor is at least very competitive. Gordon Mah Ung of MaximumPC.com writes that it was faster than the Flash Voyager model he tested. Phoronix's Larabel, on the other hand, found that the Flash Survivor lagged behind the Flash Voyager -- but only slightly. PC Magazine reports faster speeds from the SanDisk Cruzer Contour, since replaced with the Extreme Contour. However, DriverHeaven.net, I4U News and EverythingUSB.com all laud the Flash Survivor as having some of the best speed results of any USB flash drive ever tested.

One possible drawback to the Survivor is that the sturdy housing is heavier, larger and more awkward to carry than many other drives -- one reviewer describes it as just heavy enough to be annoying in a pocket. The Flash Survivor is also available in 16 GB (*Est. $55) and 32 GB (*Est. $80) sizes.

The Lexar JumpDrive Lightning (*Est. $25 for 4 GB) is another rugged speed demon. A lifetime limited warranty is a strong selling point. Lexar bundles security and PowerToGo software. PowerToGo is comparable to U3 in that it lets you run a variety of Windows programs directly from the drive.

Scot Finnie spent months searching for the best cross-platform flash drive (which can interoperate between Mac and PC computers), and tested models in real use for Scot's Newsletter to reach a conclusion. After trying the JumpDrive Lightning for six weeks, he concludes it is the best. The JumpDrive Lightning is a little faster than the now-discontinued Kingston 4 GB DataTraveler Secure, which was the closest competitor in performance. Finnie says that the JumpDrive Lightning software works fine with Macintosh computers, although Lexar doesn't mention it. It's also Vista-compatible. Australian PC World says, "The Lexar Lightning does pretty much everything you could want or expect from a USB flash drive -- combining lots of storage with a fast and reliable performance."

Lexar doesn't offer much in the way of high-capacity options -- the only available sizes in the JumpDrive Lightning are 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB and 8 GB. As of this writing, the pricing for these models is a puzzle -- we're left to assume that recent fluctuations in the USB flash drive market have led to the illogical price structure. Currently, a 1 GB-capacity JumpDrive Lightning runs approximately $20, a 2 GB is around $23 and a 4 GB model costs $25. The 8 GB version, however, cannot be found for anything less than $120. It's possible that the price of the 8 GB JumpDrive Lightning will drop in the near future (or it will be discontinued).