Curious if anyone has any recommendations for USB memory sticks.

I know they're a dime a dozen now, but I seem to have got 3 sticks that have all died within a few months of each other. Ranging from cheap ones, to an "ATV" memory stick. I'd ideally like something fast and reliable with decent storage.

Ideally it doesn't want to be flimsy either. The ATV and Corsair flash voyager I have were touted as rugged, but all they were were rubber. I always felt it'd be very easy to sit on one and snap the insides as it flexed. I also have a Sandisk Cruzer Blade which is great and portable, but at the same time the plastic is starting to snap and I don't trust the lanyard hole. Given how small it is, it's very easy to lose.

So, what's everyone using at the moment, and any recommendations?

I'm going to try an OCZ Diesel 16gb...Shame that it'll be a few years till it surpasses the OCZ ATV in terms of lifespan...

I have a few free memory sticks that are ~1-4gb, however I really need 8+ as I primarily use them for transferring large chunks of data, rather than a few word docs etc. IE, as an alternative to a couple of DVDr's...

I always use SD cards and an adapter, much easier tbh.

I use one of these, partitioned, for both my Xbox 360 profile and saves and for transferring data between computers. Never had a problem with it.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/16gb-kingston-dt100g2-16gb-hi-speed-usb-black-capless-push-pull-design

Well so far the OCZ Diesel 16gb has proven to be pretty fast and reliable. Feels solidly built too, so it gets a thumbs up from me. With the OCZ and Sandisk on my keyrings, I feel the OCZ (at the moment) will be my preference when transferring files, the Sandisk I'm never sure if it will snap of the keyring, and is a bit slower.

I've not done any proper tests, is there a program that can generate a 100mb file and measure transfer speeds? (and is free)? It would be interesting to see the difference. It's one thing reading these figures on review sites, another to do the test yourself.

OCZ Diesel
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :    29.442 MB/s
          Sequential Write :    16.668 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :    29.709 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :     1.540 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :     5.590 MB/s [  1364.8 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :     0.016 MB/s [     4.0 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :     5.713 MB/s [  1394.7 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :     0.013 MB/s [     3.3 IOPS]

  Test : 100 MB [H: 12.6% (1.9/15.1 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2011/07/12 22:08:29
    OS : Windows 7  SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)
 



Sandisk Cruzer
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
                           Crystal Dew World : http://crystalmark.info/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

           Sequential Read :    18.929 MB/s
          Sequential Write :     3.828 MB/s
         Random Read 512KB :    19.240 MB/s
        Random Write 512KB :     0.948 MB/s
    Random Read 4KB (QD=1) :     4.082 MB/s [   996.6 IOPS]
   Random Write 4KB (QD=1) :     1.170 MB/s [   285.6 IOPS]
   Random Read 4KB (QD=32) :     4.255 MB/s [  1038.9 IOPS]
  Random Write 4KB (QD=32) :     0.610 MB/s [   149.0 IOPS]

  Test : 100 MB [I: 62.8% (9.3/14.9 GB)] (x5)
  Date : 2011/07/12 22:20:44
    OS : Windows 7  SP1 [6.1 Build 7601] (x64)