Sandisk Cruiser 16GB $30 at Staples B&M this week

[VirtualLarry]

Started sun, 8/15, runs through this week. Sandisk Cruiser USB flash drive 16GB for $30.

Probably uses 3LC flash though, you might not want that due to reliability problems. Some reports that it can only take ten write cycles before bits start to fail. Then again, who is going to write 160GB worth of data over the lifetime of the drive.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Even if the flash memory is sub-standard, it's still a decent deal for someone that needs a flash drive for school or simple home use. If you want something to be a workhorse, you'll want to pay more for a quality drive just for the speed anyway. The OCZ Diesel series has really impressed me.

 

[Auric]

Started sun, 8/15, runs through this week. Sandisk Cruiser USB flash drive 16GB for $30.

Probably uses 3LC flash though, you might not want that due to reliability problems. Some reports that it can only take ten write cycles before bits start to fail. Then again, who is going to write 160GB worth of data over the lifetime of the drive.

Me. 😛

Seriously. I would have most likely used it either for copies of successive backup images or for transporting video to another device. In which case, the "lifetime" of the drive would apparently be rather short indeed.

 

[Mojoed]

It's nice to see prices like this again. I paid $30 for a 16GB flash drive on Black Friday 2007. Damn SSDs driving flash prices up lately.

 

[MadScientist]

6 Kingston 16GB drives under $30., free shipping, no tax (for me).

http://www.adorama.com/searchsite/default.aspx?searchinfo=16gb flash drive

 

[zephyrprime]

Probably uses 3LC flash though, you might not want that due to reliability problems. Some reports that it can only take ten write cycles before bits start to fail. Then again, who is going to write 160GB worth of data over the lifetime of the drive.

Lots of people write that level of data. That's not a lot of data.

 

[Pardus]

for the same price, newegg has a 2.5" 80gb ext hard drive.. unless you need to put this in your pocket, flash drives are still overpriced.

 

[htne]

for the same price, newegg has a 2.5" 80gb ext hard drive.. unless you need to put this in your pocket, flash drives are still overpriced.

I have had a lot of problems with the 2.5 inch external hard drives. Most of them get their power from the USB port, and this causes multiple problems. If you get a separate power supply, no problem -- but a lot of trouble to hook up both the USB and the 110V power.

 

[Schadenfroh]

These things have a write protect (read-only) switch ?

 

[VirtualLarry]

These things have a write protect (read-only) switch ?

No, they don't. You would think that with the prevalency of USB-based malware, that there would be a demand for mfgs to add the write-protect switch, but most do not. It seems bizarre, from a computer-science perspective, adding a write-protect switch to ALL removable media would seem a prudent and useful thing to do.