since vista hit the scene, USB sticks may come included with a new feature called readyboost. <I THINK> this can be used to boost ur system resources, so lets say if u run out of ram, it might borrow sum off the usb stick, and use it as RAM, please note that i am not completely sure. ReadyBoost only works w/ vista.
Another thing u might want to look at is the USB speed, whether it be 1.1 or 2.0. Either way get 2.0, because it is backwards compatible with 1.1.
Another thing, is the space, usb actual sticks can go up to 8gb, but u rarely need that much. If u need a FLASH DRIVE, which are quite heavy and not really stick-shaped, they go upto 64gb, i think.
Another thing is the CAP, buy one with a capless design. its gets to be a bitch when u lose the cap.
Get a known company:
And remember that w.e u do, backup the most imp. files on ur system onto an external drive or a hard copy, like CDs. A cheap drive wont last u long, usually, and no falsh drive will last for ever. goodluck shoppin
hope i helped.
Ok just to fix a few things. yes flash drives do allow for ready boost. but many people say that it slows the computer down instead. next unless you get used no flash drive uses 1.1 they are comming out with 3.0 soon so 1.1 is gone. next they make mem sticks up to 16 GB now. next the flash drive is pen drive or what ever. your thinking of 2.5 mini external hard drive which can now go up to 160 or more. and also i think that flash drives will out last cd's.... sorry just had to correct it.![]()
I use Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 flash drives all the time. Get one that can hold at least 2 gigabytes (about 1,900 megabytes after formatting) as they are so cheap right now (about $15 on NewEgg). As someone else also stated, get a flash drive that doesn't have a cap. The cap will likely just get lost.
If you use a Linux Operating System I would advise you to not get a flash drive that has U3 software on it. U3 software does not work Linux. I had a San Disk Flash Drive and had to remove the U3 software off of it in order to get the flash drive to work.