Current recommendation for flash drive?

[quicksilver]

Looking to possibly move all my ROMs off of my SD card and move them to a USB flash drive. Probably something around 128gb size probably. I would prefer the low profile design so that it doesn't stick out too far from my case. I have read that the SanDisk mini flash drives have overheating issues, so I wanted some advice before I purchase anything. If anyone has had a good experience with a flash drive or has a recommendation I would appreciate it. Thanks!

[jonnykesh]

@quicksilver I see the Samsung ones being recommended and they don't seem to have the issues the SanDisks are reported to have. Not sure what country you are in but here is a link to amazon US https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017DH3O5A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&pldnSite=1

[BobHarris]

@jonnykesh Good call. I will soon be in the market for a 128 gb usb flashdrive too and didn't know these existed.
I have the small Sandisk flashdrive but keep it away from my Pi with an extension cable.

[tashman]

@quicksilver
The Sandisk Ultra Fit is very compact but does get very hot and I'm suspicious that the write speeds have dropped now it's nearing capacity. I'm still using it though in one of my Retropie setups (that's 128gb). I've had a 64gb Sandisk Ultra Fit completely fail on me so they are not on my list of recommendations.

I've also had a Lexar Jump Drive 128gb which is also very compact but that failed too (I reformatted it but it seems to write at wildly varying speeds in Windows so I don't trust it). At this point you're probably thinking it's something that I'm doing to wreck them but I've always been careful with usb sticks. These are the only ones I've ever had that have failed - I've still got usb sticks that work ok from around 2005.

As well as the Pi with the boiling hot 128gb Sandisk Ultra Fit, I've got another Pi 3 with a PNY 128gb usb 2.0 which works absolutely fine. It's not all that small though.

Anyway, the prices seem to be dropping slightly at last. They've been sky high in the UK with the weak pound and general costs of NAND being high because the industry needs to adapt to 3d storage (or something like that - according to Mr Google).

[sxcccy]

There are more types of flash drive sales on Amazon you can look for what you want.

[sxcccy]

Here are some big - Capacity flash drive recommendations that are sold on Amazon.

[Beldar]

I have had good luck with the Samsung low profile flash drives. I have two of them running right now.

[kikinaak]

I am presently using a Seagate ultra slim backup plus drive. Its flat and only slightly longer and wider than the pi in a case. With the right cable it could sit unobtrusively underneath the pi. It also gives me 2 TB of storage, something that comes in handy once you start getting into the CD based consoles and a decent collection of media for kodi.

The flash drives overheating make me wonder what kind of power they are drawing off the usb.

[Beldar]

Those tiny low profile drives always heat up really quickly during large transfers. I think they are just so tiny that there isn't much material to act as a heat sink. In general use they don't heat up nearly as much. Honestly, I'm not too worried about it. I've been using dozens of USB drives of all kinds for many years and I've never had any sort of dramatic failure. In fact, I have only ever had one USB drive ever fail and it was an old 2GB from long ago.

[sxcccy]

Sorry,I should recommend the Amazon UK
Here is "flash drive 128G" search results on amazon.co.uk
And Here are some big - Capacity flash drive recommendations that are sold on Amazon UK.
SanDisk Ultra Flair 128 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive, Upto 150MB/s read - Black
SanDisk SDCZ50-128G-B35 128 GB Cruzer Blade USB 2.0 Flash Drive - Black ( Standard Packaging )
SanDisk iXpand (MFI) 128 GB USB Flash Drive for iPhone and iPad
SanDisk Ultra 128 GB USB Flash Drive USB 3.0 up to 100 MB/s - Black
SanDisk Ultra 128 GB Dual USB Flash Drive USB 3.0 Type-C

[mediamogul]

@tashman said in Current recommendation for flash drive?:

I've had a 64gb Sandisk Ultra Fit completely fail on me so they are not on my list of recommendations.

Same here. I've never had a drive get as hot as this one did. During even the briefest of file transfers, it would always overheat my Pi. It failed within three months and I certainly wouldn't order another.

@jonnykesh

here is a link to amazon US https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017DH3O5A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&pldnSite=1

This is the one I'm currently using as well. It seems to be a nice, reliable choice.

[quicksilver]

Thanks for the recommendations guys. I have decided to go with the 128gb Samsung.