Author Topic: 4GB thumb drive for $21 (Read 3961 times)

Xairbusdriver · « **on:** April 05, 2008, 11:05:10 AM »

I bought one of theses Kingston 4GB Thumb drives last year and have had nothing but great service. I didn't get it from Amazon and the price was actually a bit less but $21 is still a good price, AFAIK.

<Kingston DTI 4 GB USB Flash Drive>

There would be shipping unless you're buying something else, of course.

Paddy · « **Reply #1 on:** April 05, 2008, 06:51:23 PM »

I've got one similar to that on order from http://www.tddirect.ca - a Canadian distributor.

http://www.tddirect.ca/products/86731/DT10...IGITAL%20MEDIA/

Same size - just retracts.

Best Buy here had the 4GB Duracell flash drive on sale for $19.99 last week - I got one of those too, because the Kingston one hadn't arrive and I needed it! The Duracell one is actually made by Dane Elec.

Amazing isn't it...considering what a 4GB hard drive used to cost not so long ago!

kimmer · « **Reply #2 on:** April 05, 2008, 08:37:41 PM »

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Apr 5 2008, 09:05 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There would be shipping unless you're buying something else, of course.

Ooooohhhh .... eligible for free shipping with Amazon Prime.

I saw.
I liked.
I coveted.
I ordered.

gunug · « **Reply #3 on:** April 08, 2008, 10:11:30 AM »

I really wanted the 16Gig thumb that they had a Microcenter last weekend ($50) but it was in store only and I didn't have time to go to Kansas City!

daryl66 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 08, 2008, 01:49:38 PM »

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Apr 5 2008, 11:05 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I bought one of theses Kingston 4GB Thumb drives last year and have had nothing but great service.

A bit of a departure:

My better half travels around the country doing continuing education seminars for the medical community. I purchased a 4gb Sansdisc(sp) Thumb drive as a back-up for her PowerPoint presentation of 69MB 174 slide presentation (lots of JPEG's) which she has never had to use fortunately . Because each trip is somewhat unique there are changes each time, I put the appropriate file on the thumb drive, and test it on both the 12"PB she travels with and the G5 Imac desktop, before she leaves. What I have discovered is that it takes several minutes(5-6) for the presentation to load from the Thumb drive,(seems forever when you are waiting) about 1 minute from the HD's on both machines.

No big deal but I did not realize just how much slower they are.

Daryl

Paddy · « **Reply #5 on:** April 08, 2008, 03:10:54 PM »

Typical hard drives have sustained transfer rates of over 100MB/second - USB 2.0 flash drives have sustained write speeds in the neighborhood of 3MB/second. Big difference!

krissel · « **Reply #6 on:** April 09, 2008, 04:34:10 AM »

While I have a couple of that kind of drive, I prefer to buy SD cards that can be used in my camera as well as in a thumbdrive that takes SD cards. I get double use out of them that way.

Xairbusdriver · « **Reply #7 on:** April 09, 2008, 10:10:21 AM »

Saw an add recently for SD cards with WiFi built in. Using one will allow you to download the images without taking it out of the camera or even connecting a cable to it (assuming you have a wirless network). I'm waiting for a 'decoder ring' with WiFi built in...

Parker · « **Reply #8 on:** April 09, 2008, 09:07:11 PM »

if it's cheap, it's not necessarily good.
I bought an 8gb MicroCenter flash drive for 30 bucks
it's slow as heck!

just because the flash drive is USB2 doesn't mean it's fast. I would have much rather spent the extra few bucks for a better drive

Paddy · « **Reply #9 on:** April 09, 2008, 10:19:02 PM »

Yeah - it would appear that speeds vary from about 3MB/sec to a high of around 27MB/sec (write) - so there is a lot of variation. I guess I didn't consider that, since I needed some way of getting files to and from my son's school computers in a hurry. They don't have any optical drives capable of writing CDs or DVDs, so my only other alternative was reformatting one of my external hard drives, plugging and then praying that it was recognized without additional software, since I couldn't install that either. Anyway - they're much slower than a HD; internal or external!

Xairbusdriver · « **Reply #10 on:** April 10, 2008, 06:12:19 PM »

I believe USB speeds are highly dependent on what else the computer is doing, no matter that it is 1.0 or 2.0. 2.0 has been sold as being equivalent to Firewire 400. But it rarely is. USB is entirely dependent on using the computers cpu, FireWire is not. But few PC makers bought into either 400 or 800 since USB was always cheaper. How else do PC makers make money: offer the lowest common denominator and hope no one ever compares it to Mac hardware. That's a pretty safe bet since we all know that, first, there IS no Mac software and, two, Macs are sooo expensive.

Of course, if your computer is only capable of USB 1.0 any USB 2.0 device will run at the slower speed (assuming it will work, at all).

So, these things aren't meant for speed but convenience. And maybe safety when you consider sending an external HD to school!

LR827 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 10, 2008, 06:30:25 PM »

I've been thinking of buying a used iBook for a couple of reasons. One, would be a back-up rather than buying an external HD. Two, I never like to take my 15" PB traveling -- I just worry too much about it. So I could take the iBook whenever we travelled.

Any thoughts about that? And if it is a reasonable idea, any leads on a good used iBook?

Ah, home again...
Nothing like it.

Xairbusdriver · « **Reply #12 on:** April 10, 2008, 06:37:14 PM »

QUOTE

I've been thinking of buying a used iBook for a couple of reasons. One, would be a back-up rather than buying an external HD.

Well, that would be quite a lot more space than any thumbdirive I've ever heard of...But it will certainly be much more expensive! It will also probably be running at 5400 rpm. Slower than a desktop/external drive that can easily be using 7500(?) rpm.

But if you are also planning on actually using the iBook as a 'computer' there's no way any external, much less thumbdrive, that can provide that kind of service!

Seems to be two different needs, IMHO.

Paddy · « **Reply #13 on:** April 10, 2008, 09:47:43 PM »

Lorraine, have you looked in the refurb section on Apple's web site? Sometimes some very good deals on quite recent machines to be had there. (There are at least three models there right now, at 23% to 31% off) Also have a look at MacMall to compare the deals.

Or there is always eBay; you could try to limit it to a seller in the Chicago area AND someone who is willing to have you pick it up, so that you can inspect it before parting with your cash.

Or Craigslist - there are two on the Chicago Craigslist for $950 at the moment.

What vintage were you thinking of? I'd stay with an Intel machine if I were you - you'll get more years out of it, and the HD will be bigger etc. (not to mention that it will be faster!!)

LR827 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 11, 2008, 07:17:56 AM »

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Apr 10 2008, 05:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Seems to be two different needs, IMHO.

That's what I want -- I never take my PB traveling -- just too paranoid about it, I guess -- and also the need for a backup drive that I've been putting off (& off & off). So I figured out a small, used laptop would serve both purposes.

QUOTE(Paddy @ Apr 10 2008, 08:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What vintage were you thinking of? I'd stay with an Intel machine if I were you - you'll get more years out of it, and the HD will be bigger etc. (not to mention that it will be faster!!)

Paddy, I wasn't thinking of any particular vintage -- I am happy to take your recommendations, though. What meets those specs?

These are the 2 iBooks I have looked at (found them on Amazon.com):
iBook G4 for $697: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00...H4/ref=dp_olp_2
iBook G3 for $350-410: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00...3E/ref=dp_olp_2

What do you think?

News:

Author Topic: 4GB thumb drive for $21 (Read 3961 times)