Reviewed: The Best 64GB USB Flashdrives Available

One of the most highly rated is the Patriot Xporter Magnum 64 GB Flash drive. The driver is high speed USB 2.0. It is plug and play for Windows (Vista certified), Mac and, Linux, with FAT32 formatting. It comes with a lifetime limited warranty, a USB extension cable, and a lanyard. Patriot's warranty includes replacement of the cap- which is good, as there is no provision for even storing the cap on the other end of the drive. It has a sturdy extruded aluminum case, and is somewhat wider than flash drives with lesser capacity. This means that when USB ports are placed closely side by side, the drive will block access to the next port. The provided extension cable allows you to plug the cable in and have the flash drive attached about 12 inches away from the port, so you do not lose the use of another port while you are using it. However, it is one more item which can be lost and must be tracked. Most readers said they were happy with the cap fit at first, but that it loosened up over time.

Amazon Marketplace is selling it for $150, Newegg currently has it for $136, and CompUSA for $125. Patriot occasionally has a $20 to $25 rebate on the 64 GB drive, so it is worth checking Google and looking at well known online sellers to see what the current price is when you want to buy it.

The drive says it is 210x, with one of, if not the highest read speeds available. Almost all users were happy with the read speed; the  owners who weren't were very much in the minority, along with a couple users who seem to have received a dud. Writing to the drive is much slower, especially when you are used to the speed of writing to a hard drive. The slow write speed is especially noticeable when moving numerous small files. Large files, up to the 4 GB that FAT32 supports, write at a higher speed. Some people have reported problems after reformatting the drive to NTFS and difficulty restoring it to FAT32.

 The Transcend V20 Jetflash 64 GB USB Flash Drive has a solid construction, but is both wider and slightly thicker than the average USB flash drive, so it can obscure other ports both stacked in pairs or side by side, which means they cannot be used by other USB devices at the same time. Transcend does supply a USB extension cable to allow you to connect the flash drive without preventing you from using your other ports. It also comes with a lanyard. While it is plastic, the construction seems to be of good quality, holding up to being stored in a pocket without any trouble. The drive is ivory colored with a light green band across the middle which lights up when the drive is being used. It is FAT32 formatted and has a limited lifetime warranty. It is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

Transcend offers a download from its site, giving you its proprietary Jetflash software. This allows you AES encryption, mobile email functionality, auto-logon to sites where the password is saved on your drive, a favorites function, and backup software. You can also use the software to make the flash drive the key to your computer- although I think the odds of losing a flash drive might be slightly too high for me to risk gaining access to my computer solely through the drive.

Users characterized it as solid- more so than they expected a plastic drive to be. Those who used the special functionality software  were pleased with the ease of use using it after a simple download and installation. Again, people noted that the size was awkward, and that it was a pain to carry the extension cable with you along with the drive. Speed was considered average for the size of the drive; across several brands people have commented that larger GB drives are much less zippy in speed, especially write speeds, than smaller GB drives. One user did receive a dud, which was replaced by Transcend.

The MSRP is $173, but no one seemed to be selling it at anywhere near that high a price. Amazon has it (April 2009) for $130, and CompUSA for $140. Contrary to the usual trend for electronic devices to drop in price over time, this drive appears to have gone up in price on Amazon from a low of $99. If it interests you, a little time with Google checking current prices and looking for a sale may net you a bargain.