2009 USB Flash Drive Roundup
May 14th, 2009 by ComputerBob
Just a few years ago, USB flash drives were a very expensive geek toy. We paid top dollar to buy flash drives that only held 8MB or 16MB of data, and transferred data really slowly.
My how things have changed.
Last year — I think it was on Black Friday — I managed to buy an 8GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro USB flash drive at Office Depot for only $15 (USD). That was less than half of its normal price. The first thing I did was reformat it to delete the Windows software that comes installed on it.
And I’ve been carrying on my keychain and using it on both Windows and Linux PCs almost every day since then. Its retractable USB connector makes it really convenient to carry and use.
Then, several weeks ago, my wife needed a flash drive. She probably could have gotten by with a 2GB model, but after shopping around online for the best deal, I ended up buying her an 8GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro just like mine. I got it at Walmart for $19.99 — which was then its every day price. At that point in time, the 8GB drives were at the “sweet spot” in terms of price versus capacity — 4GB drives were only a couple dollars cheaper and 16GB drives cost twice as much.
That may still be the case right now, but everyone knows that it won’t be long until 16GB models move into that sweet spot.
If you haven’t already bought one, it’s probably only a matter of time before you do — and before you find it to be incredibly useful and well-worth its cost.
For an informative comparison of various brands and models, see Small Wonders: The 2009 Ars USB Flash Drive Roundup.
It even includes the 4GB version of my Sandisk drive.
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Consumer Info, Hardware, Linux, Windows