Serious question on thumb drives (was Re: Maybe a deal on flash drives)

Les hlhowell at pacbell.net
Sat Sep 15 18:52:31 UTC 2007


On Sat, 2007-09-15 at 12:08 -0500, Thomas Cameron wrote:
> On Sat, 2007-09-15 at 08:35 -0500, Aaron Konstam wrote:
> > I have obviously unleashed a pack of hostility. 
> 
> Nah, there's always someone who is gonna bitch about something.  Don't
> worry about it - I think your heart was in the right place and I'm not
> burned up about it.  I wouldn't post something like that again, but
> that's just me.
> 
> I actually do have a real question about USB thumb drives and the like,
> though, if anyone who knows more about the actual electronics can
> answer.
> 
> I see these 8GB and even 16GB thumb drives on eBay for really cheap
> prices (a quick search finds a 16GB thumb drive for about $75 shipped)
> and I wonder "what is the difference between a no-name from China and a
> brand name from the US?"  I mean, really, aren't the "brand name" ones
> really just using the same components as the cheap ones?
> 
> Seems to me that as solid state electronics, the USB drive is either
> going to work or it's not, and if it works it's probably going to work
> for a long time.  
> 
> So my question is, why would I spend a boatload more money on a supposed
> name-brand US made USB drive when I can buy them out of China for a
> fraction of the cost?
> 
Sometimes they are using counterfeit components.  The laws and
enforcement there are changing, but up to the last couple of months, it
was pretty much anything goes.  I don't know what the effect is on
reliability, but I would expect it to be less than ideal, although for
non-vital stuff it would probably be OK, if you could suffer an
occasional loss of data.

	I try to stick to name brands that I know or that others have
recommended for all things.  It is a choice, though.

Regards,
Les H




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