USB Flash Drive for OS?

[Quattro Pete]

I've been on the hunt for a USB flash drive that is good (relatively speaking) for OS duty (Ubuntu specifically, but that should be irrelevant to this discussion). This means good speed when it comes to reading/writing small files. Most of the flash drives out there advertize very high transfer speeds, but it only applies to large files. They perform excruciatingly slow when it comes to small (4K) files. Such is the case with my Silicon Power 32GB drive.

Although this comparison is a bit dated, it shows that SanDisk Extreme is pretty good at reading/writing random small files:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3.0-thumb-drive-review,3477-3.html

Does anyone have links to other similar tests done in recent past or can suggest other such drives based on personal experience?

Thanks!

 

[Touring5]

No links, but the Sandisk Extreme drives are the fastest* (by far) than any other I've used.


* Provided they're on USB3 ports.

 

[Andrew1972]

I ended up buying a $40 SSD 32GB and using a $10 enclosure to achieve decent speeds. However it was my companies money not mine.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
I ended up buying a $40 SSD 32GB and using a $10 enclosure to achieve decent speeds. However it was my companies money not mine.

Yeah, I thought about that after I posted. It won't be as tiny as a USB drive, and it'll be more expensive, but you certainly can't beat performance of an SSD. Something to think about. Thanks.

 

[EdwardC]

If you want to keep it small and have extra cash to burn, you can get an mSATA drive and an enclosure for it. It'll be a lot smaller than a 2.5" SSD, but much faster than a flash drive.

Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-mSATA-Internal-Solid-CT064M4SSD3/dp/B008393M2S

and

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NUB1...G367DZE1VKS576Q

 

[qweased123]

Aren't USB drives specified for a lot less read-write cycles than SSDs?
That is, using one as a live OS drive will kill it!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Yes, that's another valid point. In my case, it'd just be for occasional use. Nothing permanent or long term.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Ended up picking up a 32GB SanDisk Extreme for now. Much better performance when it comes to writing speeds, especially small files (4K), but also medium files (512K), and it really shows when running Ubuntu from it. No hang ups like what used to happen on the Silicon Power drive (second image below).

 

[Quattro Pete]

FYI, Newegg has this drive on sale today, if anyone is interested...

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubb...ash#Post3812299