If I were to use it for backups I would go for the pricier ones. The other ones are okay for non critical stuff. I mean 128 - 256 gb of data if lost would be a pain.
I’m actually looking for ones that have a led in them. Makes it so much easier to gauge what’s going on. I don’t see many that have this feature anymore. Gotta keep looking. 
I like reliable flash drives, but the data is not critical.
The data on my flash drives are also on at least one hard drive, so if the flash drive fails, I don't lose any data.
The Mushkin flash drives that I linked to have a red LED light on the tail that blinks when the drive is active.
If you duct tape the cap to the tail like I do, you cover up the light, so you could just keep the cap in a ziplock bag and never use the practically useless cap.
Alternatively, you could use clear duct tape (or other transparent tape.) 
SSD M2 case with disk of size you need. Light years ahead fastest USB thumb drive.
Mike
Really! I’ll look into it. Oh good tail cap trick too.
Those look quite a bit bigger than a thumb drive.
If I want to transfer data with something bigger than a thumb drive, I use a portable (laptop) hard drive.
It's nice that they're so fast, but I don't think my PCs can take advantage of the speed.
My gaming PCs are so old, that they can only transfer data a little bit faster than 100MB/s.
...
Seems like a good choice for someone else. 
Best ones are the 32gigameg ones I get for free at MicroStore when they send out those postcards trying to luuuuure me back in.
This is the fastest one I own…
ARCANITE
It is really fast in Windows, but on a Pi 4 running Debian 10 it is not seen as a SuperSpeed drive.
I have used these in Windows and Linux, the fastest I have worked with yet.
Corsair
If you use a Pi 4, this is the best way to go… SSD native case with active and passive cooling.
Argon 1 V2 SSD
yea the corsair flash voyager series is my goto if I want speed
The pny 3.0 turbo attache series is also pretty good.
There’s a benchmark site at http://usbspeed.nirsoft.net/ but it’s not very user friendly
Don’t get the ones on Vipon—They are Turds — They work great for giving someone software or a movie though
That’s about all I use ’em for, just temporary storage or sneakernetting something from A to B.
What’s everyone else use ’em for?
^ what he said.
99% of “fast” USB 3 drives are only fast at sequential reads and writes (few large files), and choke HARD on lots of tiny files.
Actual fast USB drives will use actual SSD controllers. Or just get a m.2 to USB adapter and buy your own m.2 SSD (careful to check compatibility though)
What is special about this drive that you can’t boot to it if the boot files are loaded? Does a computer bios not recognize it?
I use a flash drive to boot laptops to run and restore from Easus to do image files. It is rare, but in a day of ransomware, and the possibility of total failure of my SSD hard drive, I am somewhat paranoid about backing up my 5 most used laptops. I actually do a 1:1 clone of my most used one monthly. I keep image files for a year in case a corrupt file had been around longer than I knew. I have not done a traditional re-install in 10 years at least.
@sarge12:
The flash drive uses a nonstandard sector size, and will not boot anything that I have tried on Windows 10 machines.
Here's the error message that I get:
OK…well Easus to do uses a modified linux file to boot, it is after all a program to recover from total hard drive failure, so windows has no effect. At boot, all that matters is the computers bios and whether the usb has a bootable operating system. It only has files to boot and load better USB files that will allow the usb to search an external usb hard drive for image file. You put in the usb stick and set the bios to boot to it, then after the simple OS and Easeus to do program loads in memory you unplug it and plug in any usb external hard drive to find the image file. It is almost like dos used to be. It may not boot into a windows boot, but as long as the bios can see the drive, it will boot to the modified linux boot. It is a pain to create the bootable stick, because easus to do does not just supply the necessary files and they are open source. I have never encountered any flash drive that I can’t make bootable. How to Create EaseUS Bootable USB, CD/DVD, and ISO Image with EaseUS Todo Backup - EaseUS It also makes that flash drive useful only for the boot drive, as it creates a boot file that does not play well with windows. It is made from an ISO cd file and it is not just very simple. It will boot even if there is not even a hard drive in the computer. It has been a while since I made about 5 of the bootable flash drives, so I would have to read up on how to do it now.
Mmm, I hear dat.
I wanna do away with the last laptop by blasting it with a shotgun. No, seriously. I want it dead, killed and re-killed. Pissed me off no end…
Sticky keyboard (crap gets under the switch contacts, then either nothing or 5 copies of the same key), cat-hair already clogged the sucky fan/vents that it would overheat just looking at it, and I banged on it one too many times that the disk went all to shiite.
Thankfully, other than temporary files I didn’t yet copy offline and had to re-get), everything of importance was already off the main drive. Just stragglers here and there.
I keep install .exes/.msis/.zips so if needed I can get back the exact version as what I had. Used to keep all those on a “rescue-flash”, but now all that’s on spinny-disks.
So, didn’t take very long to get resettled on a different laptop.
But yeah, my gf’s old laptop that was taking a slow but progressive dump, yeah, I stuck Ubuntu-live on a flash-thingy and pulled off everything I could, most important, then pretty important, then important, etc., ’til the disk just went teats-up completely.
I figured they were good for sneakernet connections, but who’d actually “store” stuff on them?
Except some 4-8 TB external drives for long term storage, all my drives are SSD. I have over 30…mostly samsung and crucial…SSD’s between 500GB and 2TB. I have 5 laptops I use, and more that I don’t due to them dying. I used to have 5 identical dells, that I could swap the drives between them, All but 2 of the dells are dead, and most due to the same BSOD that is a known issue with the dells, caused by weak solder on the MB. My fastest one is now a gaming laptop with 3 SSD drives…2 NVME and 1 SATA. It actually had 3 drive slots. Unfortunately, this beast was too much to buy multiple laptops, so now I have some cheaper ones that has mostly the same programs and files. Still have 2 of the dells, but they both have the same issues starting that the other 3 died from. I have 2 other cheaper, lighter laptops.
I run all my laptops pretty much into the ground. Anything “too old”, I’ll use for 24/7 disk activity and other torturous stuff, and if it crokes, it crokes. And all of them were hand-me-downs from people or work, and I think only once did I buy one “new”.
Always thought of laptops as disposable anyway, doesn’t pay to fix, so why spend big bux only to have something go teats-up and then hope any “warranty” comes through? Gnope. I take ’em as junk, treat ’em as junk, run ’em into the ground, then rinse, repeat.
Whups, nope, sorry, I do have one that I bought new. Dual-disk HP, gaming machine only, typically only my flightsim, never ever saw Duh Innernet, not even a peep.
Wow, forgot I even still have it…
I'm in charge of three computers.
Each of them has one SSD, the system drive.
I do research every time, but I always end up getting the latest Samsung EVO.
All of the other hard drives are the traditional type.