Which brand/model of USB sticks have you found are the most durable and reliable? What about the least durable and reliable? I mean when you get out that USB stick from 10+ years ago and it seems to work flawlessly. For example, you could read the data successfully without errors and you also could write something such as new data or an OS that successfully boots on another machine without errors.

My guess is that this is only discovered in hindsight, kind of like cars, and may not apply to new models from the same brand. At the same time, the brand probably does matter, because the brand affects QA.

#asknostr

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I have had some Kingston all metal data travelers for years & they have been fine. I haven't abused them terribly either tho.

I'm using a Kingston DataTraveller 2GB USB stick for over 15 years now. It works flawlessly. And it's not even showing it's age.

Thanks to you and nostr:npub1ajv7m32k0cpgzha32qszsh304qusjvwwmavus0ttktzldms4xzusuftppj for your replies. Is it weird that my first thought is "hmm, two replies both mention the same make and model, perhaps Kingston Data Travelers are backdoored"?

Here's someone doing a longevity test, apparently on the same make/model: https://blog.za3k.com/flash-media-longevity-testing----5-years-later/

I see various posts claiming data only is guaranteed to last one year without powering on or up to ten years ten years or more for flash storage.

I see many variations on Kingston Data Traveler. The easiest difference to spot is some are assembled in Taiwan, some in China, some in United States.

I would guess that less dense components, meaning smaller data capacity in a larger physical space, should all other things being equal last longer, but that's a hunch. Maybe the reliability of smaller and smaller bits is increasing. Maybe the onboard processors and software are getting smarter and smarter.

There is too much depth to this seemingly simple question. In any case, the answer seems to be the same. People like Kingston Data Travelers.

Well, that's a good analysis. You could try SanDisk too. I have heard good things about it, though haven't used one myself.

P. S. whichever brand you buy, don't buy the flip-flop models. They might give you issues while inserting them into ports after sometime.