128GB USB 3.0 Flash price/performance/durability recommendations?

[MilesAhead]

The subject says it I guess.  I need to get a 128GB USB 3.0 stick.  I'm looking for moderate performance and high durability for the buck.  I prefer a solid design rather than "sliding guts" or "sliding collar" types.  Also slim. No turtle shaped rubberized doodads.

Something along the lines of AData s102 type but a bit cheaper would be ideal.
Backing up my C: partition with Macrium takes about 34 GB.  I'd like to be able to get 3 backup images on the stick total.  If I could get > 20 MB/s write speed for cheap that would be great too.  

Edit: Primarily I'm looking to buy online.  Walmart, BestBuy and Tiger Direct exist down here.  But they are a hike and a half from here.

[Deozaan]

Edit: Primarily I'm looking to buy online.  Walmart, BestBuy and Tiger Direct exist down here.  But they are a hike and a half from here.

Wait, Tiger Direct is a brick & mortar store? I thought it was online only.

Anyway, I can't really help much, except to say that I bought this 128GB HP USB 3.0 thumbdrive (for less than the current listing price) and it seems OK to me. I think I get at least/about 20MB/s write speeds, if not faster. But USB is still pretty slow in general. Large file transfers, such as filling the drive up or making backups, take a long time.

I bought it to use it as an external drive for my WiiU, but the WiiU partitions USB drives using a proprietary format, and something about this particular drive kept losing the formatting details or something. I kept losing all the data on it. Other USB thumbdrives drives I tested in the WiiU (8GB or smaller) didn't have a problem with keeping the data.

But it's been working perfectly--without data loss--when formatted using NTFS or other "standard" (exFat, ext4, etc.) formats.

[x16wda]

I bought a Corsair 128gb stick with a slide-out connector (which I despise from all vendors). It quit working within two months, although it was reasonable to return and the replacement has worked flawlessly. They don't make that model any more, but I would have preferred the Flash Voyager GS model if it had been available (looks slim & sturdy) with the caveat that I'd really prefer the mini (but it maxes out at 64gb).

[Stoic Joker]

I've had really good luck with the JDV10 style/series of Lexar drive for the past several years. Unfortunately they only seem to go up to 64GB that I know if (I carry a 32 now).



On the plus side, I can vouch for them handling getting wet (motorcycle...) and surviving quite well.

[MilesAhead]

Thanks for the replies.

@Deozaan  TD does have a physical store in Miami.  But it's about 2/3 of the way to Walmart.  The train ride wouldn't be so bad.  But it is set so far back in the parking lot just walking from the sidewalk to the front door dragging my suitcase would be a chore. 

The other thing limiting my choices is the shipping.  I managed to get a drive from NewEgg where I get my mail.  I have a 32GB and 64GB Adata s102.  Not blazing speed but very rugged.  I can back up my C: partition with Macrium to the USB 3.0 in about 1/2 hour.  The image file is about 33GB.  So it is acceptable.  The drive has no place to attach a chain and the cap just snaps on the back.  But I do like the no moving parts design.

I got a pretty good deal.  About $60 including tax and shipping for the 128GB s102.  I should probably get a capsule necklace or something so that I have at least one backup not in the Laptop bag.

[MilesAhead]

I've had really good luck with the JDV10 style/series of Lexar drive for the past several years. Unfortunately they only seem to go up to 64GB that I know if (I carry a 32 now).
(see attachment in previous post)
On the plus side, I can vouch for them handling getting wet (motorcycle...) and surviving quite well.

I see Lexar has come out with P20 128GB claiming 400 MB/s read and 270 MB/s write.  They seem to sell at discount houses for around $120.  I'd like to test drive one of those. 

[Vurbal]

You're not likely to do better for flash storage than Lexar. There's a reason most professional photographers swear by their SD cards.

[MilesAhead]

You're not likely to do better for flash storage than Lexar. There's a reason most professional photographers swear by their SD cards.

If I see one on super duper discount maybe I'll spring for it.  The Sata II spinner that's in my Laptop does Sequential Read at only 82 MB/s so that's all I'd be able to feed it unless/until I get an SSD.

Edit:  TigerDirect has them for $104.  Tempting but I'd probably only use 1/3 of the write speed.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9620384&SRCCODE=CHANNELINC&cisrccode=cii_7240425&cpncode=42-6746958

[MilesAhead]

I got my Adata s102 128GB stick.  After formatting it to NTFS I did a single sequential read/write test using Crystal Diskmark.  This is freshly formatted no files on the stick.  I got 111 MBs read and 65 MBs write.  Not too bad.  I did a Macrium backup to the stick.  A 33 GB image file.  I copied that to another partition on the HD from the stick.  Transfer was 50 MBs according to the info shown by TeraCopy during the transfer.  So for the Laptop I have to figure if the stick proves as durable as the other s102s I purchased, that I got a pretty good balance for my circumstances.  At roughly $60 it is just over $.51 per gig.  After formatting the stick had 114 GB capacity.

A possible explanation for the slow transfer is that I sliced off about 130 GB at the end of the drive to park stuff like ISO downloads and a backup image.  Sata II that's probably not the fastest part of the platter(s).