Hey everyone, I'm on the hunt for a really fast USB flash drive to create OS installers, especially for Microsoft Surface recovery USBs. I need something around 32 GB – nothing extravagant like a 1 TB drive, since I don't want to spend a fortune or deal with a bulky device that requires a cable.
What's crucial for me is high sustained write speeds over read speeds, as I need to quickly write large files (like a 12-14 GB zip) to the drive without slowing down due to buffer issues. I've experienced this with other brands where the initial speed is good, but drops significantly once the buffer fills up, making the whole process take forever.
Additionally, I support various clients with different devices, so having multiple recovery images on one drive is essential for me. I'm curious if there are any high-performance, compact USB flash drives available that fit the bill. Thanks for your help!
4 Answers
You might want to check out the Kingston DataTraveler Max. It's relatively affordable for 256GB and offers really fast speeds. However, for smaller sizes, you might find it tough to get the sustained write speeds you're looking for since manufacturers tend to reserve good NAND controllers for larger sizes. Also, consider using a tool like Ventoy, which allows you to load multiple images onto a single USB drive and can save you the hassle of carrying multiple drives.
Why not just go for a 256GB NVMe or SATA drive? Toss it into an inexpensive enclosure, and you'll likely get the performance you desire – USB sticks often struggle to deliver the write speeds you need.
If you're juggling multiple recovery images, have you thought about getting an NVMe enclosure and using Ventoy? It lets you boot multiple ISOs from one drive, which is perfect for managing different recovery tools and can speed up your process significantly.
If you're super focused on write speeds, is it worth considering tools like OSDCloud? It can streamline the process for various devices with the same image, so you won't constantly need to update your drive.
Absolutely! OSD is a great tool for managing images across different machines.