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Home » Computers & Internet » USB Flash Drives

Cheap USB Flash Drives, Best Cheap USB Flash Drive

Related Guides: Ereaders and External Hard Drives

A cheap USB drive is something everyone who uses a computer should have. About the size of a thumb and easy to carry around, a cheap USB flash drive serves multiple purposes.

At home or in the office, a cheap USB thumb drive is a simple way to store or transfer personal computer files, be they documents, images, or video. Computer system administrators use USB flash drives to reboot computers and install new software. And some digital media players, including some car stereo units, can play music files directly off of a cheap USB flash drive. This small storage device has been known by a number of different names in the past, such as memory stick or memory key, but recently most manufacturers have agreed to use the term USB flash drive.

There's no shortage of choices in the cheap USB flash drive market. Some of the big names in the industry include Kingston, Patriot Memory, LaCie, HP, Lexar, Transcend, and SanDisk, to name a few. Most manufacturers produce a wide range of products, which complicates the choice of a cheap USB drive. High-priced USB flash drives like the Patriot Xporter XT Rage 64GB (starting at $144, Amazon) offer more storage capacity and faster data transfer speeds than cheap USB thumb drives, and they generally come with extras like data encryption or anti-virus software. But if you're simply looking for a flash drive to store or transfer your personal files, these costly features aren't necessary. You can confine your search to the cheapest USB flash drives, and there are plenty of reliable and low-cost products to choose from.

The key features to look for when buying a cheap USB flash drive include storage capacity, file transfer speed, ruggedness of the unit, and warranty. The storage capacity you need depends upon the amount and the size of the files you plan to store. We found some good cheap USB drives for less than $20 that offer storage capacities of 4GB or 8GB. The actual file transfer speed depends upon your computer system as well as the cheap USB flash drive. In other words, if you're transferring large files from a reasonably fast computer, you might save several minutes in transfer time with a faster USB thumb drive, but if your computer is slow, the overall transfer speed might be slow even if the USB flash drive can theoretically handle fast transfers. As for the amount of abuse a cheap USB flash drive can withstand, we found that some products are built to last and others not so much. We also noted that cheap USB drives no longer come with pre-installed encryption or anti-virus software, as some did in the past; if you're interested in such included software, you'll have to spend more than our $20 Cheapism ceiling. Warranties range from lifetime to one year.

We identified two best cheap USB flash drives: the Patriot Xporter XT Boost 8GB USB flash drive (starting at $18, Amazon) wins fans due to its rugged design and high file-transfer speeds and the Kingston DataTravel I DTI 8GB (starting at $17, Amazon) finds favor as a reliable, no-frills USB thumb drive that offers excellent value for the dollar. Our picks for good cheap USB flash drive are the LaCie iamaKey 4GB 130869 (starting at $18, Amazon), which boasts a unique key-shaped design, and the HP v100w 8GB (starting at $14, Amazon), which is a no-frills flash drive that offers good value. We also found two cheap USB drives that disappoint many consumers: a large number of users report the PNY Micro Swivel Attach 4GB P-FDU4GBSV-EF (starting at $11, Amazon) and the Corsair Flash Voyager Mini 4 GB CMFUSBMINI-4GB (starting at $14, Amazon) are unreliable and/or perform poorly.

Flash Drive Capacity.

Capacity refers to how much space -- that is, how many gigabytes (GB) -- is available for file storage on a cheap USB flash drive. The capacity you need depends on the type of files you'll be storing. Document files, for example, fit just fine on the cheapest flash drives with capacity of 2GB or 4GB. If you're storing audio or video files, you'll probably want 8GB or more, depending on how many files you have; an 8GB flash drive holds about 2,000 music files and 2,100 image files.

Most USB drive models are available in a range of storage capacities. We set our cheap price ceiling at $20 and then for each make of flash drive we've indicated the largest storage capacity you can buy for less than this maximum. For example, the Patriot Xporter XT Boost flash drive comes in 4GB, 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB versions, but we're focusing on the Patriot Xporter XT Boost 8GB because it sells for $18. If you like the Patriot Xporter line but don't need 8GB of storage, you can buy the same cheap USB flash drive with 4GB of capacity and save a few dollars.

Among the cheap USB thumb drives that we researched, five models offer 8GB of capacity in our price range: the Patriot Xporter XT Boost 8GB, the Kingston DataTraveler I DTI 8GB (starting at $17, Amazon), the HP v100w 8GB (starting at $14, Amazon), the Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn 8GB LJDTT8GBASBNA (starting at $18, Amazon), and the SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8GB SDCZ6-8192-A11 (starting at $17, Amazon). Three of the cheapest flash drives in our survey offer 4GB of capacity: the LaCie iamaKey 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive 130869 (starting at $18, Amazon), the PNY Micro Swivel Attach 4GB P-FDU4GBSV-EF (starting at $11, Amazon), and the Corsair Flash Voyager Mini 4GB CMFUSBMINI-4GB (starting at $14, Amazon).

USB Flash Drive Transfer Speed.

The file transfer speed is the speed with which you can write files to your cheap flash drive and read files from it. The write speed is often slower than the read speed, meaning that on many cheapest USB flash drives it takes more time to copy files to the drive than to get files from the drive. If you'll be using your USB drive several times a day to transfer large files back and forth between computers, than the write speed is critical. However, if you'll only be using your cheap flash drive occasionally, then the write speed may not matter much. If you really need a fast write speed, you might want to consider investing in a more expensive USB flash drive; the higher-end flash drives use a more advanced technology that delivers faster speed. Among the cheapest USB flash drives, the Patriot Xporter XT Boost 8GB receives the highest praise from reviewers for its fast write speed.

One note of caution: the write speed is only as fast as the computer system from which you are copying the files. This means that even if the cheap flash drive has a fast write speed, if your computer system is slow, then the write speed will be slow. Having said that, if you do have a fast system, a faster write speed can save you a noticeable amount of time when transferring large files. For example, if you're transferring a 1.5GB movie file to your cheap USB flash drive, the process could take anywhere from 50 seconds to eight minutes, depending on your system and the speed of the cheap flash drive.

Ruggedness.

Several of the cheapest flash drives that we researched are specifically designed to withstand external stresses and strains. The Patriot Xboost XT features a water- and shock-resistant rubber housing, as does the Corsair Flash Voyager Mini. The LaCie iamaKey looks like an ordinary house key with a metal exterior that is also resistant to water and scratches. Other cheap USB drives, such as the Kingston Data Traveler and the HP v101w, are designed for simplicity and are not meant to be handled roughly.

The USB connector in cheap flash drives is protected in one of several ways. The Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn and PNY Micro Swivel Attach rely on a permanently attached cover that pivots on and off. The Kingston Data Traveler, SanDisk Cruzer Micro, and Corsair Flash Voyager Mini feature a retractable USB connector. The Patriot Xporter XT Boost and HP v101w come with a rubber and a plastic cap, respectively, to protect the USB connector from dust and dirt; in practice, however, many users lose these little covers within a few days and the flash drives work fine without them.

USB Flash Drive Warranty.

Most of the cheapest flash drives come with generous warranties. The Patriot Xporter XT Boost offers an impressive lifetime warranty, which means that as long as this company makes this product, it will send a replacement if your cheap flash drive fails. Next best among the cheap USB thumb drives on our list is the five-year warranty on the Kingston DataTraveler. Other cheap USB flash drives, like the LaCie iamaKey, HP v101w, Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn, SanDisk Cruzer, and Corsair Flash Voyager Mini offer a more typical limited two-year warranty. The PNY Micro Swivel Attach features a one-year warranty.

USB Flash Drive Software.

Pricier USB drives typically come loaded with software, such as password protection or anti-virus software. Until recently, some of the cheapest USB flash drives, including the SanDisk Cruzer Micro, also included such extras. But this pre-loaded software isn't really necessary and manufacturers, including SanDisk, no longer install it on their cheap USB flash drives. If you're a power user who wants the extra software, you'll have to buy a more expensive model, like the SanDisk Extreme Contour, which starts at $30 for 8GB of capacity.

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Lexar JumpDrive TwistTurn 8 GB LJDTT8GBASBNA
SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8 GB SDCZ6-8192-A11
PNY Micro Swivel Attach 4GB P-FDU4GBSV-EF
Corsair Flash Voyager Mini 4GB CMFUSBMINI-4GB
LaCie iamaKey 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive 130869
HP v100w 8GB
Patriot Xporter XT Boost 8GB
Kingston DataTraveler I DTI 8GB

 

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