Some drives are offered with either a USB-A connector or USB-C, and some come with adapters to convert from USB-A to USB-C or vice versa. One thing to keep in mind while you're shopping is what type of ports you'll be plugging your flash drive into. However, if fast performance is important to you and you can live with a device that's just a little bit bigger, one of the best external SSDs might be a better buy.īut because these drives often seem to work forever, and storage companies are always working to increase speed and capacity, you could be hanging on to a drive that's pitifully slow by today's standards, and too cramped to hold all the things you might want to store on it. To help you choose, we’ve tested more than a dozen different products from leading brands and listed the best USB flash drives below. If you've been hanging onto a drive for several years, now's a good time to upgrade. Capacities of up to 2TB are possible (and 1TB is becoming common), and performance on the best flash drives approaches that of some SSDs. However, because these drives last forever, you could be hanging onto one that’s pitifully slow by today’s standards and too cramped to hold all the data you’d want. Over the years, I've had flash drives go through the wash and I even drove over a flash drive with my car, but in all cases, my data remained intact. Plus, a good flash drive can be shockingly tough to kill. You may also need a USB flash drive to do a clean and quick install of your favorite OS (see how to do a clean install of Windows). For many, a flash drive that you can carry around in your pocket or on your keychain is still a better option – and faster if you don't have a fast internet connection on every device you use.

Flash drives usb 2 vs usb 3