Travel Technology - Hard-to-lose USB drive recommendation

I'm on my third USB drive, and am trying to find one I won't lose.

I carry it on my keyring. I had one with the ring on the drive itself; that ensured I wouldn't lose the drive (only the cap), but it seemed to be a bad idea to suspend all my keys from the USB port (and too hard to pry the darn thing off the keyring everytime).

I've had two with the ring on the cap; this works fine for a while, but eventually the cap kind of loosens up and the drive can (and does!) easily fall out of the cap with normal use.

What I'd really like to find is a drive with some sort of positive lock into the cap - does anybody have any ideas?

I once saw a drive (on TigerDirect, IIRC) where the USB connector retracted into the drive itself. That might meet your needs.

Yes, the new Sony Microvault has a retractable USB connector along with the Sandisk Titanium & others.

A long brightly colored tie wrap keeps mine in view in my bag. It is easy to spot on the desk or plugged in also.

I've got a Lexar Jumpdrive Sport (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0003009E4/ref=ase_internetinfidels/103-8305547-8176648?s=electronics&v=glance&n=172282&tagActionCode=internetinfidels) that I think is a very good design.

The drive itself isn't actually attached to the keyring. Rather, it has a rubber holder that is attached to the keyring. There's no way the drive is coming out of it's holder by accident (it's not merely a cap, the holder goes around all 4 narrow sides and covers the USB connector completely.) and it doesn't have the problem of the keys pulling down on the drive while you're using it.

Unfortunately they haven't kept them up to date, the largest on their website is 1gb.

I've got a Lexar Jumpdrive Sport (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0003009E4/ref=ase_internetinfidels/103-8305547-8176648?s=electronics&v=glance&n=172282&tagActionCode=internetinfidels) that I think is a very good design.I have the same one but in 64MB so it has seen a few years of use and can attest to really being rugged. Much better made than anything else that I've seen. It is just about impossible to break or lose.

Seagate makes a disk-shaped USB pocket drive that has something like 6GB capacity.

Bigger than a keyring flash drive so I can see how some people would say it's a pain, but the pain of losing a typical keyring drive would be far a greater inconvenience in my book.

if you plan to carry around a usb drive on your keychain, be sure to use

truecrypt

http://sourceforge.net/projects/truecrypt/

this software allows you to create an encrypted partition or have the entire drive be encrypted

that way if you happen to lose your keys, the person finding them is not able to use the usb contents to figure out where the house and car is that the keys belong to.

Sandisk Cruzer Titanium. Its retractable and has a lanyard.

you can drive over it and it wont break. I've had a 512 MB one
for a few years now. going strong.

I'll see if I can post a link

Here are the links:
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1167)-NEW__SanDisk_Cruzer_Titanium_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx

http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1065)-SanDisk_Cruzer_Titanium_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx

I have the second one.

On the SanDisk Cruzer drives, I'm not seeing where the drive attaches to a keyring. Even if it does, do you wind up having to detach it to use it, or are you hanging your whole keyring by the thing when it's plugged in to a port?

I went to CompUSA yesterday and the Lexar JumpDrive they showed me did not have a rubber cap - I would probably need to order it.

if you plan to carry around a usb drive on your keychain, be sure to use

truecrypt

http://sourceforge.net/projects/truecrypt/

this software allows you to create an encrypted partition or have the entire drive be encrypted

that way if you happen to lose your keys, the person finding them is not able to use the usb contents to figure out where the house and car is that the keys belong to.
Very good idea ... thanks for posting this ^
However, I installed TrueCrypt on my desktop and my laptop. Copied some data to my usb stick .. and cannot read it on my laptop. I have read the user guide and could not find a solution ... I assumed i would be asked the password when accessing that file ... :confused:

On the SanDisk Cruzer drives, I'm not seeing where the drive attaches to a keyring. Even if it does, do you wind up having to detach it to use it, or are you hanging your whole keyring by the thing when it's plugged in to a port?

I went to CompUSA yesterday and the Lexar JumpDrive they showed me did not have a rubber cap - I would probably need to order it.


In the back(the second link) has a recessed slot where you can attach a key ring (it has a small ring attached already)

I prefer not to put them on a key ring.. instead i keep them attached to
a lanyard. Its hard to lose it if you have a couple feet long
string attached.

...I went to CompUSA yesterday and the Lexar JumpDrive they showed me did not have a rubber cap - I would probably need to order it.The regular Lexar JumpDrives are not rugged -- only the Sport series is! You have to be careful to get the ruggedized versions and most stores are clueless about it (the similar product names don't help).

I went to CompUSA yesterday and the Lexar JumpDrive they showed me did not have a rubber cap - I would probably need to order it.

It's not something you order. You're looking at the wrong drive. You want the JumpDrive *SPORT*.

Got it, thanks.

I 3rd the JumpDrive Sport. I've got the 1GB version and it has remained firmly attached to my keyring for a couple of years now. Yes, you have to take the actual thing off to put it in a computer or whatever, but the holder thing stays there. No more losing caps! I got it crazy cheap off the Dell website but I'm sure it's much cheaper now somewhere as the price on these things keeps falling. Buy.com always runs specials on them...

I 3rd the JumpDrive Sport. I've got the 1GB version and it has remained firmly attached to my keyring for a couple of years now. Yes, you have to take the actual thing off to put it in a computer or whatever, but the holder thing stays there. No more losing caps! I got it crazy cheap off the Dell website but I'm sure it's much cheaper now somewhere as the price on these things keeps falling. Buy.com always runs specials on them...

Yeah, it's the fact that you can't lose the cap that made me choose it.

Perhaps a USB wristwatch ? For example:

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?store=macmall&dpno=635129&source=ZWB11608&srccode=cii_5784816&cpncode=08-9285069-2&adcampaign=email,ZWB11608&wt.mc_id=ZWB11608

if you plan to carry around a usb drive on your keychain, be sure to use

truecrypt

http://sourceforge.net/projects/truecrypt/

this software allows you to create an encrypted partition or have the entire drive be encrypted

that way if you happen to lose your keys, the person finding them is not able to use the usb contents to figure out where the house and car is that the keys belong to.

I'm going to try using this encryption software again. And probably fail.

Why is all this software so unintuitive? Why in the world does one have to "mount" a drive - or is it a volume? Or is it a file within a volume?

I just want to encrypt all the existing files (and the remaining empty space) on my USB drive, so when I stick it in the laptop, it asks for a password before anyone can see it. Why is that so hard to do in the computer world?

Do you ever lose your wallet? Here's a USB Drive (http://www.walletex.com/Walletex/Templates/showpage.asp?TMID=84&FID=777&PID=3279) that's basically credit card shaped and fits in your wallet.

I myself carry a normal small 2GB thumb drive on my keychain. I don't use the cap - I just leave the conector nude and exposed to pocket lint and loose change. Once I did leave it plugged into a computer at our office in Doha Qatar and had to get it shipped back! :rolleyes:

I've been using my phone (Samsung T809 with a 512MB micro-SD in it) as a USB drive. It seems to be much slower than other USB drives (probably being USB 1.0/1.1 rather than 2.0), but since I only rarely use it it's not a big deal... Other downside is that it takes a non-standard USB cable on the phone end, but I generally have that in my laptop bag anyways.

But if you have an existing phone with expandable storage and USB mass storage device capability you might want to consider just using that as a USB drive, especially if it's USB 2.0. It's a little harder to lose than one of those micro-sized drives. :)

Well, this maguro sushi USB drive (http://dynamism.com/sushidisk/pricing.shtml) might do the trick although it is a bit pricy.


Then there is the ever popular USB duck. (http://dynamism.com/iDuck/pricing.shtml)

I've been using this drive I got from a customer that has a flip around protector instead of a cap and comes with a lanyard. There are a few of these on Amazon like the 512 MB SwingDrive (http://tinyurl.com/zegnn) for about $20 or for a premium of about $5 you can get Imation's (http://tinyurl.com/ffxww) name on one. :D

Following up - I just got the Lexar JumpDrive *Sport*, 1GB. Looks like this one will not fall off. Thanks for all the ideas and information - the duck is adorable!

It looks like the Jumpdrive Sport isn't made any more. Does anyone have a suggestion for something similar (meeting the OP's requirements of easily detaching from the keyring and not having to plug your whole keychain into the USB port).

I just want to encrypt all the existing files (and the remaining empty space) on my USB drive, so when I stick it in the laptop, it asks for a password before anyone can see it. Why is that so hard to do in the computer world?

Congratulations, You have just described my long-term client's hottest selling program: PGP Whole Disk Encryption (http://www.pgp.com/products/wholediskencryption/).