[Jsnuff1]

Im getting tired of burning CD's for transporting small files so im looking into usb flash drives. Are they any good? I dont need one any larger than 32 megs, any suggestions would be of great help.

[alfric]

Any USB flash drives that work on both USB 1 (MacOS 8.6) and USB 2 (MacOS 10.3) - I'm looking for an easy way to transfer data from my old to my new laptop and back again...

[chabig]

Any drive you purchase that says USB 2 will work on all USB Macs. I bought a Sandisk 256MB Cruzer Mini for $45 two weeks ago, and it's very nice.

Chris

[NYCFarmboy]

I love my little flash drive.

I have a Kingston 128 meg flash drive..usb1.

It is the size of a cigarette lighter and is so perfect for jumping files between my computers.

I absolutely love it. I did lose it one time, but it turned back up.

You just stick it into one of your USB ports (I use one of my keyboard slots), or on my ibook just put it in on the side.

No software needed to install on any of the macs I've used it on.

I purchased mine last spring and I think it was almost 100 dollars. I'm pretty sure the prices have dropped since then. It has saved me having to burn at least 20 or 30 CD's so far.


As to size: I like the 128 meg size, but of course 256 would be nice. However I've never found occasion when I really needed a larger drive than the 128 size anyhow. I think a 64 meg size would have worked just fine for me as well.

[fulmer]

It's very useful. I have a lexar jumpdrive I picked up in a best buy and I've been very happy with it. unfortunately the only color they had left was pink.

[Grrr]

www.crucial.com do these now too. And for a good price. Especially for those people in Europe where other brands seem to cost twice as much. Only USB 1.1 but for shunting small/medium size files about then it's fine.
I have a 256mb one and I can't fault it.

[Cellery]

A couple other helpful USB flash drive threads in the past week:


"USB Key Chains"


"What Keydrive to get?"

[vcutag]

Originally posted by chabig:
Any drive you purchase that says USB 2 will work on all USB Macs. I bought a Sandisk 256MB Cruzer Mini for $45 two weeks ago, and it's very nice.

Chris

I just bought one tonight, and I can't get it to work... I'm running OS 10.3.2 on a 15" Albook. Any suggestions?

[Ambassadeur]

Originally posted by NYCFarmboy:
As to size: I like the 128 meg size, but of course 256 would be nice. However I've never found occasion when I really needed a larger drive than the 128 size anyhow. I think a 64 meg size would have worked just fine for me as well.

Mine is a 64 mb Transcend JetFlash and the size is just fine. Price (got it for 22€) and reason were the limit For songs it's a little cramped, but then a CD is maybe better for 100+ mp3s. USB 1.x was enough for my demands, but I'd get USB 2 for a larger drive/bigger files. Price difference shouldn't be too bad nowadays.

[Ambassadeur]

Originally posted by vcutag:
I just bought one tonight, and I can't get it to work... I'm running OS 10.3.2 on a 15" Albook. Any suggestions?

If you plug it in, is it recognized somehow? do you notice any action, any hardrive noise, anything? Does System Profiler indicate there is something at your USB bus when it is plugged in? lights on the flash drive?

have you tried it on another computer? This should help to locate the source of the problem.

[vcutag]

Originally posted by Ambassadeur:
If you plug it in, is it recognized somehow? do you notice any action, any hardrive noise, anything? Does System Profiler indicate there is something at your USB bus when it is plugged in? lights on the flash drive?

have you tried it on another computer? This should help to locate the source of the problem.

Since then, I've gotten it to work on the Albook, but it doesn't work in my partner's iBook. No lights, nothing on the desktop, Disk Utility doesn't recognize it, and nothing on System Profiler.

On my Albook, it just... started working. I'm not sure what I did, it just didn't work one minute, and worked the next. I plugged it into both the left and right side ports, I usually use it on the right side, as I have my graphics tablet plugged in on the left.

::shrug:: I have no idea.

[slider]

www.diskonkey.com

check out review on techTV

Available at Apple store as Iomega usb mini drives, but they are not made by Iomega, they are made by diskonkey.

[Jens Peter]

I have a 256 Mb pen drive, this.
It works great, both on os x and windows.

The site I'm linking to is a danish site, but it's not made by that company (there is a manual in japanese and english in the box), but there are no compagny name on the box. It only says "Pen Drive (Super-Slim)".

The only problem is, that I can't plug it into my keyboard, then I get a 'USB Low Power Notice'...

[Ambassadeur]

Originally posted by Jens Peter:
The only problem is, that I can't plug it into my keyboard, then I get a 'USB Low Power Notice'...

Well, obviously your "Super-Slim Pen Drive" is kinda thirtsy for power, probably to make up for its small size

Do you have anything else plugged into that keyboard? Mouse, printer etc. that consumes a considerable amount of power? Normally these flash drives don't draw enormous amounts of power...

I just tried to operate an ordinary apple mouse along with my pen drive - works like a charm. My normal MS mouse might draw some more power, just to illuminate that stupid second LED (just for show), but then it's plugged into another hub anyway.

[-Q-]

Originally posted by chabig:
Any drive you purchase that says USB 2 will work on all USB Macs. I bought a Sandisk 256MB Cruzer Mini for $45 two weeks ago, and it's very nice.

Chris

I just picked up one of these also and it works great on every machine I've plugged it into so far (TiBook, G5, Win2K and WinXP boxes).

And it's also washable!

(I left it in a pocket and ran it thru the washing machine the other night. Let it dry out and stuck it in the G5 and it came up like nothing happened! *whew*)

[Ambassadeur]

Originally posted by -Q-:
And it's also washable!

Should we start a thread about all the stuff that's not supposed to go in those washing machines but nevertheless did?

Which temperature did you wash it with? Did it shrink? My flash drive is a little thick and if this helps I'd give it a try... Or does it only shrink the data on the drive?

[dav]

i have a sandisk cruzer 256 as well. works great on both a non-descript windows xp box and my g4 cube (osx 10.3.2). staples had it for $40 during the holidays (after mail-in rebate).

[fmalloy]

Originally posted by dav:
i have a sandisk cruzer 256 as well. works great on both a non-descript windows xp box and my g4 cube (osx 10.3.2). staples had it for $40 during the holidays (after mail-in rebate).

SanDisk Cruzer 256 is not working on my PowerBook G4/500 Titanium. When inserted:

Mar 7 18:27:26 localhost kernel: USBF: 593.322 AppleUSBOHCI[0x1194000]::MakeDevice error setting address. err=0xe00002ed device=0x141dc00 - releasing device


Beware.

Frank

[cambolo]

I have an older Sandisk 64MB flash drive I bought from Staples. Since I only transfer files from Mac to Mad I redormatted from MS-dos to Mac Standard using Disk Utility and it works even better.

[fmalloy]

Looks like reformatting the Cruzer mini flash drive using Disk Utility did the trick for me! I formatted it for MS-DOS (so I can bring files to/from the work PeeCee) and now it seems to mount successfully on my TiBook and iMac.

Frank

[Eug Wanker]

Lexar USB JumpDrive Secure.

Anyone try the Secure part? I'm considering one of these.

[iluvmypowerbook]

Originally posted by Jens Peter:
I have a 256 Mb pen drive, this.
It works great, both on os x and windows.

The site I'm linking to is a danish site, but it's not made by that company (there is a manual in japanese and english in the box), but there are no compagny name on the box. It only says "Pen Drive (Super-Slim)".

The only problem is, that I can't plug it into my keyboard, then I get a 'USB Low Power Notice'...

I bought the exact same pen drive today only it's called Vmax here in Sydney. Otherwise it is exactlt the same in every feature. Cost me A$100 for 256mb.

[turtle777]

I have had nothing but trouble with USB Flash drives, in particular USB2 models. They wouldn't work on a USB2 hub connected to my Mac mini, and also wouldn't work in a USB1.1 hub. I'm getting a "low power error, although both hubs are powered. WTF ? Why would the flash drive need more than 500 mA ?

The only way to use the USB2 flash drive is to connect it directly in one of the two USB ports of the mini. What a PITA.

I think something is going on with APple"s USB drivers. Even if I plug in my Apple keyboard in my USB2 hub, it would give me that farkin "low power error".

-t

[hedgehogfrenzy]

Originally Posted By: Eug Wanker
Lexar USB JumpDrive Secure.

Anyone try the Secure part? I'm considering one of these.

Yeah, I have a 1GB Lexar JumpDrive Secure. The drive is very fast and has no problems mounting on either my Mac or a PC that I use sometimes.

You actually format the drive into 2 partitions, one is secure, one is not. Once you mount the drive, you then have to launch the seucre drive and type the password to mount the secure portion.

I like it. But, I don't put much in the secure portion. I don't have much that is that sensitive.

Every once in a while, I have to disconnect and remount the drive to make it work on my Mac.

I got my 1GB drive for $52.00 afterr a $25.00 mail in rebate. www.ecost.com You should certianly check out ecost. They'er prices rock, shipping is free, and overnight is only $10 for everything under 20 lbs. The bargian countdown section usually has some sweet deals.

[romeosc]

I bought 5 JumboDrive 1 GB for $48 each at compusa sale before Christmas..... Great! Keep eyes on Sunday paper etc!

[rambo47]

Thread revived.

I just bought a Sandisk Cruizer 4 GB USB flash drive and I couldn't get my Macs to mount it. I used a pc to reformat it for FAT32 (MS-Dos) and it then worked fine. Funny how the pocket Cruizer drive is larger than the internal hard drive on my first Mac!

[olePigeon]

iPod nano is pretty cool for 4GB. '

iPod Shuffle ain't bad either.