SSDs or Pen drives.

john3850

Golden Member
Oct 19, 2002
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We are now seeing 64GB SSDs with a sale price of $44 which is very close to pen drive cost.
Is there any reason not to start using SSDs to replace your flash pen drive collections such as bios updates memtest or Ubuntu etc.
I also have a few extra Apricorn Sata to usb adapters left from retail SSDs packages.
 
Feb 25, 2011
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If you want to, go right ahead.

But $44 is still about 9x the cost of a USB flash drive. (For the stuff you mentioned, you need, like, a 4GB thumb drive, tops, not a 64GB one.)

Most of an SSDs advantages disappear if you plug it into USB. Depending on the bridge adapter you use, of course.
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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There's a very good reason: size. Why would I want to have something else as big as my phone to lug around, when something key-fob-sized can do the job just as well? Sure, it's not as fast for the money, but it's much smaller. Now, that said, I have no doubt that Sandisk is making a mint on their Extreme USB 3.0 drives, selling them for >$1/GB, and could probably still make quite a profit at a much lower price.

@Dave_the_nerd: my 10.5GB used, primarily with OSes and installers, all strictly for work, tells a different story. That would take 3 4GB drives, with only a couple hundred MB free. 4GB will work for a single OS, sure. It won't do for much more, and pulling some of this stuff over the WAN (VPN) would take an hour or more, which would be the other option, oftentimes.

I have a personal and work thumb drive of some size, and that's it (well, plus my phone's SD card). My, "collection," disappeared once 16GB thumb drives were $20.
 
Feb 25, 2011
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Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
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That may work (I wouldn't buy it--I only buy capless--but my 32GB for $8 works great). I'm sure for others, it may not. The convenience brought by larger storage being readily available has lead to larger storage being useful, ot move more data around, even in one's pocket.