USB Flash Drives Review

Sizing up USB flash drive reviewers

USB flash drives -- also called thumb drives, USB keys and, in Britain, pen drives -- are the best way to quickly store and transport smaller amounts of data. If you need to back up your entire hard drive, or need extra storage for multimedia files, a USB flash drive won't give you enough capacity. For storage over 64 GB, see our report on external hard drives. Because these flash-memory-based drives have no moving parts, they are more reliable than hard drives. Some are made to be indestructible, and reviewers test them by running them through washing machines and dryers and driving SUVs over them.

The best reviews of USB flash drives pit multiple models against one another in a series of standardized tests that evaluate file read/write speed, durability, security measures and other practical considerations, and use the results to identify clear winners. Three expert sites currently deliver this kind of robust reporting on USB flash drives. DriverHeaven.net offers the most comprehensive, thorough and well-documented flash-drive roundup we've encountered. The reviewer documents 19 models, with extensive photographic and video evidence, beautifully rendered graphic representations of test data and evidence-based determinations of top performers in three categories: normal, mini and tough drives.

Eric Griffith, of PC Magazine, compiles reviews of five popular flash drives in his article, "The Best USB Keys," naming a single, winning model in the conclusion. And veteran technology editor Scot Finnie writes an excellent sequential review of four USB flash drives in his blog, Scot's Newsletter. Neither of these sites has the comprehensive testing or extraordinary comparative value seen in DriverHeaven.net's head-to-head, but they are very good reviews nonetheless.

Several sites maintain databases of USB flash drive reviews. Phoronix.com, TrustedReviews.com, PC Magazine and I4U News all cover several drives each year. Ratings and rankings are based on solid testing processes, findings are well documented and top models are identified. Many of the most well-known technology publications offer surprisingly sparse coverage of USB flash drives: EverythingUSB.com, Tom's Hardware, Geek.com, ExtremeTech.com and CNet.com all fall short of their usual technology reporting, with sporadic (at best) reviews.

We didn't find a single USB flash drive that is absolutely panned by reviewers. That's because most of them work as intended, and reliability is very good in general. That's not to say there's nothing to criticize. But in a market where most products meet a similarly high performance standard, the difference between a recommended flash drive and one that's not often comes down to details that are relatively minor. Experts point to slight variations in price, aesthetic appeal, features and manufacturer service in order to differentiate between middling USB flash drives and great ones.

This distinction is apparent in reviews of flash drives from technology manufacturer PNY. The PNY Attache (*Est. $30 for 8 GB) does everything it's supposed to do -- namely, reading and writing files. Unfortunately, that's about all it does. The utilitarian black drive comes with absolutely no extras, competing with better-looking drives that are bundled with pre-installed software and handy lanyards for easy transport. Further, while most manufacturers offer a minimum warranty of five years, PNY guarantees its drives for just one year. Add to this some of the slowest sequential read/write times seen in tests (as reported by PC Magazine) and its lack of Linux compatibility, and there just doesn't seem to be any good reason to seek out the Attache. TopTenReviews.com cites the same shortfalls for PNY's Mini Attache (*Est. $25 for 4 GB), ranking the drive last out of 12.