"Best" USB flash drive for backup to grab-and-go if evacuating?

[Sooz]

Hello!

Two different friends were/are on high alert for evacuation due to the Camp Fire that's continuing to rage its terrible destruction--they know they're welcome here along with all of their pets & we're ready for them.   One of my cyberpals lived in Paradise and almost didn't make it out -- she lost *absolutely everything* except the clothes on her back and what she could grab at a moment's notice--the fire moved that fast!

In addition to my external HD backups, I have a couple of very old thumb drives that I've used to back up photos and documents from my iMac, but they're really old, and doesn't the data decay or something?  I haven't plugged them in to check on anything.

I'd appreciate any recommendations for getting a new flash drive/thumb drive ... and how do I effectively get rid of the data on the very old ones I have (and then do I recycle them? Drill holes in them? Soak them in salt water?)?   Thanks in advance!!!

Smiles,   
Sooz

[jwboyd]

I recently bought a 120 Gb solid state thumb drive from OWC (Other World Computing aka MacSales.com) for $80 USD. Am very happy with it. I use it as a CarbonCopyCloner backup and it is bootable. They also have larger-capacity versions of the same drive.

Sorry, I cannot speak to shelf life or recycling.

I hope you never have to "grab and go."

Joe

[Xairbusdriver]

then do I recycle them? Drill holes in them? Soak them in salt water?

Usually strong, week old coffee is sufficient... It's also fun to watch a train run over them, especially at night.

Don't pay extra for ones that say "Formatted for a Mac". 99.8% of the time they are formatted for Windoze, but all you have to do is stick it in the Mac and tell Disk Utility to format it. Should take all of ten seconds (including getting the drive out of the package).

[Paddy]

Remember, you can always grab your cloned hard drive too - if you're backing up regularly (daily? weekly?) that would be your best bet. I have a bunch of the Seagate Backup Plus slim drives - they would easily fit in a reasonable sized pocket. I also have a (far more expensive when I bought it) Samsung solid state T3 1TB drive - it's about the size of 2.5 average thumb drives. There is a T5 model out now - it's faster and much cheaper than they were just a couple of years ago. You can get a 500GB one for a mere $114 at Amazon.com, and it's a lot faster than most thumb drive SSDs. If you want small and fast AND reliable, it's a good option. https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-T5-Portable-SSD-MU-PA2T0B/dp/B073GZBT36?th=1

The Envoy thumb drive Jon bought from OWC is almost as fast as the Samsung SSD - but you pay almost twice as much for the same capacity and same length of warranty. They sell a 480 GB one for $179. Most of the other SSD thumb drives I've looked at don't seem to be as fast or get so-so reviews. (PNY make one that gets good reviews, but it's less than half the speed).

[Sooz]

Thanks, everyone, for the helpful input!  As for the suggestion of a train running over the "old" ones I have, that had me grinning! It might be my only option as we don't drink coffee   

I really appreciate the specifics, as noted by Joe and Paddy, and good to know about the formatting stuff from Jim!