Oh my god, thank you so much for this. I have always had the hardest time finding these exact same requirements, and this is perfect. All metal construction and coexisting with keys has always been a priority for me, but it seems like everyone is inexplicably fine with copping out by just dangling their data on this flimsy little string tied to a brittle plastic case and I cannot understand it.

I'm not currently looking for one at this exact moment, but I will be returning here when I am. You're doing the lord's work out here!

Others have said this but THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is extremely valuable info for me as I pretty much only want full metal flash drives. I have a couple Samsung Bars, and I will absolutely snag a GTX.

This is comprehensive, and impressive. Good job. Saving this post for my next purchase.

One of these took me through university in 2002

I really miss the hardware read only switch.

Computer labs did not have front USB back in those days, so we had to choose between floppies or diving under the desks. I was in the diver club.

32MB was massive for documents at the time. It could hold your entire academic life back then.

My husband has had a metal USB stick that is shaped like a key and is very thin specifically for this purpose. I don't know the brand as it's not printed on it, but it's lasted him a long time and I would assume it to win this contest by a landslide. Excellent analysis, very interesting!

For reference, it looks like this (not the same brand):

Thanks, I wish more people did their own tests and published them like this since marketing for electronics is loose at best

I'm curious if anyone has ever done a longevity test. Rather than Io performance, I'm more interested in how quickly they wear out.

Thanks for doing this! I've been pretty happy with my Samsung bar, considering how durable it's supposed to be, but it's great to hear about other options.

You may want to consider posting this to https://slrpnk.net/c/product_reviews.

I had one Samsung Bar fail after two years, the second one still works.

At the moment I'm using a Philips Moon Edition USB stick but only since February. Can't speak for long term usage and didn't do any benchmark but I'm happy so far and the form factor would meet your criteria.

Thank you thank you thank you. This is exactly what I want on Lemmy.

I didn't see anyone else say this so I'll chime in: when I've had to keep bulky things on a keyring (a CPR pocket mask comes to mind) I'll put it on its own small keyring and then hang that on the main keyring with the keys. It isn't a perfect solution, but it helps a lot.

I'm not surprised the Corsair is better - it looks like there's a whole nvme drive in there.

shit, dude. fuck

This fucking rocks, you rock, thanks for making this!!

you should check out the kingston SE9 G2. It has a smaller loop end and so it works way better on a keychain. unfortunately they didn't keep the feature for the G3.

Amazon Link

Pro tip from me (a pro): Never buy flash drives that aren't one metal body. I have broke a 128GB flash drive simply by putting a tad bit too much pressure on it and misaligning the USB connector. It now doesn't work. I also injured one by misaligning the usb in the plastic case. It still works but isn't ideal.

Even if it is one plastic body, the plastic will chip away with insertions. My SanDisk Ultra Dual is in rough shape because of the weak plastic. Meanwhile my SanDisk Ultra Dual Luxe (the metal variant) is still pristine.

Also, don't buy cheap flash drives if you wish to use them frequently. They have terribly slow speeds even if they use a USB 3.0 interface. They might work okay as install media which you only need to use every few months or years, but they have painfully slow write speeds.

Edit: Yes, I know the metal drives have thermal issues. But thermal issues are better then losing the entire drive because the casing chips away and exposes the connector to things that eventually kill it.

This is dope! I wish there was a proper community that did tests like this in mass using open source standardized methods/hardware.

This is probably my favourite metal flashdrive of all time. I had a 1GB of the first generation and then later another usb3 one of 32GB

These days I carry one of these on my keychain.

Surprisingly fast given the size. Will do 300MB/s sequential read. About 90MB/s write

I use medicat/ventoy on it with windows 11 , debian and linux mint ISOs on it.

Wow, great work!

Due my own personal bad habits, I fear I wouldn't see 12 years out of most of those because of the lack of caps. A lot of random stuff ends up in my pocket when I'm doing projects. Screws and other things that will not have happy fun times with bare type A pins.

This is an awesome analysis. I need to make a plug for my favorite, the Kingston FCR-ML3C. Its a micro metal usbc /usbA micro SD card reader. I upgrade my Samsung micro SD in it every once in awhile for speed and space upgrades. It sits lovely on my ID badge (works on Keychain too) and it's a Swiss army type device that will work on whatever type of data port comes my way. Have used it for years and simply love it.

It's wild just how slow most thumb drives benchmark even with recent models, the Samsung Bar at 36MB/s is just ridiculous, that's 30 minutes of waiting to fill it up entirely!

A basic V30 microSD card is at least that fast!

I love the documentation.

Just... Why is it shaped like that? What possessed Samsung to make that design..?

Love the thorough report. I also have an Ole reliable from circa 2008. Never fails, slow as balls.

I have a stick dangeling on my keychain too, also in heavy use. But due to my Mac-Friends i need one with usb-c. So I settled for this: The hinge is still holding on since almost a year. Also have two of those: But they seem a lot cheaper, flimsier and I probably got ripped off by a dropshipper.

Havent benchmarked them, if anyone knows of a comparison as good as this one for "dual" usb sticks, let me know!

Have you come across a USB c only key that would be compact? Like just a stick the width of the USB c port

Thanks for the post! I'd be interested in having a similar analysis but with USB c's - I already have most my devices use it and I think it would be a nice future proofing. Then again for PC's specifically I think I would go with your recommendation as well. Also have a Kingston data traveler from way back and it's still slow and kickin. Thanks!

I also have a DTSE9 and it's been on my keychain for at least 10 years now :D

Recently I have just gotten 2 nvme ssd enclosures and have been very happily using them for the super quick image writes. I just checked if there's some compact 2230 enclosures and some of those even have keychain attachment points.. they definitely are a bit bulky for a keychain but I'd argue they still are an option and will look similar to a keyfob :)

I bought two of these a few years ago and they are really reliable. USB 2.0 so they are slow as shit, but I still use them to install linux.

That Kingston DataTraveller I have as well and it's my ol' reliable from at least 9 years ago. For some reason PCs put up a fuss with recognizing other people's USBs at boot, I've never once had an issue with the Kingston.

It is true that it is slower but for a live distro, install and troubleshoot disk it does the job perfectly fine.

Nice necklace, Mr. Reedus

Any noticeable durability issues? Had my Samsung stick die completely just outside of warranty window....