Like any electronic equipment and most things in life for that matter there are varying qualities of the same thing. What I`m looking for is the 'highest quality' thumb drive.

I don't need it waterproof, or able to withstand a car driving on it, I simply want the most reliable drive in terms data loss prevention from faulty hardware, wearing out, etc.

I`m looking at this:
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-DataTrave...203&sr=1-20

But was curious if anyone else had any ideas ???

This will not be for occasional use, it will be used almost daily, and transported between two locations in a laptop bag too.

The reliable thumb drive is the redundant thumb drive.

:0)

Seriously tho, one thing you might consider is to see if you can find some anti-conductive epoxy and dip the uncased unit in that.

So far I've had pretty good luck with most units, and it seems physical damage the mostly likely issue (move the computer and bend the drive, or whack it with your knee, or smash it in the bottom of your bag).

Oh, I've heard of people doing this with clear epoxy and embedding contact information in case lost.

http://dmitrybrant.com/2009/08/27/make-your-usb-flash-drive-indestructible
http://wwwebb.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-to-waterproof-thumb-drive.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Clear-USB-Drive/

Oh, don't forget encryption (as appropriate). I like Truecrypt (free!).

-john

I keep losing the removable caps. There's a PNY 4GB mini-attache that I've had for almost a year--chained to a whistle and nailclippers--in my front pants pocket. Instead of a removable cap, it swivels to reveal the contacts.

The first (and only) PNY I bought was bad from the get-go. I never gave that brand a second chance. I've had maybe three SanDisks, of which one went bad (intermittantly). The most durable and long-lasting ones I've had? Don't laugh. Some unheard of brand called "A-Data". I've got four of those from back in the day when 256Mb was considered large. All four still work perfectly.

My A-Data's are similar to this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...1-357-_-Product but mine are many years older.

I agree redundancy is probably the shortest path to a reliable drive. I have two on my keychain, a Verbatim Store n Go, and a Verbatim Tuff n Tiny, like this - http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-TUFF-Driv...197&sr=1-1. I've been impressed with the Tuff n Tiny, not only is it very small, there are no caps or moving parts, its literally the most convenient thumb drive I use. I keep an OS image on it, also store docs and other things I need. I've only had it about a month so I can't rate it's durability, but others have reported that it stands up to a beating well.

Cool thanks!

This is a moving target. It's hard to know where the failure point of a thumb drive is ... unless you destroy it. And by then, it's been replaced by a whole new line.

As previous posters have said, redundancy is key.

FWIW, I have been using SanDisk thumb drives for many years and have never had a failure. I have a couple of Verbatims too, but they are annoyingly slow.

I used to use cheapo thumb drives; some years ago, when I dropped one of these onto a wooden floor, it permanently scrambled. Note to self: don't use no-name stuff for important data.

My $0.02.

I'm not a big fan of thumb drives. You are right - too many brands and not many reliable ones. Instead I'm carrying everything on micro SD cards, inserted into tiny USB readers. This way you have a chance that if the reader electronics fail, the card may survive (I had such a situation just a week ago). And it is very easy to carry the additional duplicate of an important card simply taped to the reader's outside (or in some other place). Kingston cards never failed me. The only disadvantage of such a solution is the speed of reading/writing, which is generally lower for the cards compared to the thumb sticks.



One of the greatest advantages of this approach is that you can read your bare micro SD card almost with any mobile phone (if the documents format allows, and JPEG - is the most compatible), so your information can be accessible even if there is no computer survived in a close proximity.

Note you can also do the same thing using the SDHC format:

http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Reader-Writer-MiniSD-MiniSDHC/dp/B001L41QO8

-john