Solve : PNY 64GB flash drive $17.93?

1.	Solve : PNY 64GB flash drive $17.93?
Answer» I too have a pile of flash drives from 64MB all the way to 32GB in size as gathered through the last 10 years. I have since put most of them in a upside down DVD Spindle cover that became a good table top bucket for them, and my pens, and random screws and jumpers etc. One feature I miss that they have done away with in all the modern ones I have seen is the LED to glow and show if its powered or not as well as the blink when its being used. I had one the one day that is a newer type without LED and it was connected and then I went to transfer a file and it wasnt there, nothing to look at on the device to see if its mounted anymore but the computer itself under my computer in Windows etc. In the end I found out that a small fuzz ball had made its way into the plug and was causing an intermittent connection. In which this new flash drive which also is 99% plastic vs the metal outer USB port also came with no cover so as it shifts around in my pocket, lint gathered in the USB 2.0 slot of it. Now I check them and blow them out like you had to do with the NES game cartridges before each use if they dont have covers. *Someone needs to market USB covers that fit all USB 1.1 and 2.0 device male plugs. I only buy them with LED indicators & retractable covers.Yeah, the Magnum is ANOTHER top contender in the reviews I linked to, but is beaten by the Sandisk. I agree the pricing for the 64GB versions is high, but worth it if you need that speed. I'm planning on picking up the 32GB as it seems better value for money. I just have a USB2 combo card READER that does everything - I transfer, at most, a few hundred MB of pictures off my camera's SD card once every few months and it's fast enough for that. Plus, I won't have front USB3 ports, so a USB3 reader would require me leaning over the top to plug it in, which makes me sound very lazy (not far from the truth) but there you have it. I can see the advantage if you have a higher end camera, maybe one that shoots in RAW so the files are pretty large, and you have a lot to transfer, and $10 is pretty reasonable.Quote from: DaveLembke on September 18, 2013, 05:14:55 PM Now I check them and blow them out like you had to do with the NES game cartridges before each use if they don't have covers. "Blowing" on cartridge GAMES ruins them. The moisture in your breath both condenses onto the colder metal contacts and corrodes them over time. In some cases the moisture is enough to make a electrical connection with the other component and so seems to be "fixing" the problem. But the moisture sticks around and eventually corrodes the metals it comes in contact with. Some people I knew followed a predictable pattern. Their game would stop working and they would keep blowing on it and that would make it work, then one day it would stop working and they would use rubbing alcohol to clean the contacts. What they didn't realize is that they were actually not cleaning off "gunk" they were cleaning off the oxidized metal. Eventually some of their games became completely unusable because the traces literally had been completely cleaned off by the pattern of blow->corrode->remove->repeat. There are many cases on nesdev and other sites where somebody's game has become unusable through corrosion and the only thing every single one of them had in common was that they frequently blew on the cartridge to "clean" them. Worse still, with the American Toaster NES, most connection problems were due to the 72--pin connector. When you pushed down on the cartridge it pressed against the pins. Over time metal fatigue would prevent the pins from going back to their original position, and games would stop working. People would then press down harder on the cartridge, bending the pins further. Eventually all Toaster NES's 72-pin connectors become completely unusable as a result. Thing is, people would blow on their cartridges, thinking it was the cartridge causing the problem, and not the idiotic design of the Toaster NES. (Get a top loader and watch as all your games magically work on the first try). Blowing on a USB connector would probably have the same effect over time. It will also have the benefit of corroding your ports as well, but I imagine people might replace there systems and peripherals frequently enough for this to not matter. Quote from: Calum on September 19, 2013, 02:08:50 AM I transfer, at most, a few hundred MB of pictures off my camera's SD card once every few months and it's fats enough for that. I'm very close to cutting the cord with my digital photos with one of these. Samsung WB150F Long Zoom Smart Camera I already skip the computer and upload images from my phone straight to Picasa Web Albums. Might as well follow SUIT with my camera. Quote from: BC_Programmer on September 19, 2013, 07:04:49 AM "Blowing" on cartridge games ruins them. The moisture in your breath both condenses onto the colder metal contacts and corrodes them over time. In some cases the moisture is enough to make a electrical connection with the other component and so seems to be "fixing" the problem..... Take two SHOTS of Old Crow before you blow. Reduces the moisture in your breath.

Answer»

I too have a pile of flash drives from 64MB all the way to 32GB in size as gathered through the last 10 years. I have since put most of them in a upside down DVD Spindle cover that became a good table top bucket for them, and my pens, and random screws and jumpers etc.

One feature I miss that they have done away with in all the modern ones I have seen is the LED to glow and show if its powered or not as well as the blink when its being used. I had one the one day that is a newer type without LED and it was connected and then I went to transfer a file and it wasnt there, nothing to look at on the device to see if its mounted anymore but the computer itself under my computer in Windows etc. In the end I found out that a small fuzz ball had made its way into the plug and was causing an intermittent connection. In which this new flash drive which also is 99% plastic vs the metal outer USB port also came with no cover so as it shifts around in my pocket, lint gathered in the USB 2.0 slot of it.

Now I check them and blow them out like you had to do with the NES game cartridges before each use if they dont have covers. *Someone needs to market USB covers that fit all USB 1.1 and 2.0 device male plugs. I only buy them with LED indicators & retractable covers.Yeah, the Magnum is ANOTHER top contender in the reviews I linked to, but is beaten by the Sandisk. I agree the pricing for the 64GB versions is high, but worth it if you need that speed. I'm planning on picking up the 32GB as it seems better value for money.
I just have a USB2 combo card READER that does everything - I transfer, at most, a few hundred MB of pictures off my camera's SD card once every few months and it's fast enough for that. Plus, I won't have front USB3 ports, so a USB3 reader would require me leaning over the top to plug it in, which makes me sound very lazy (not far from the truth) but there you have it. I can see the advantage if you have a higher end camera, maybe one that shoots in RAW so the files are pretty large, and you have a lot to transfer, and $10 is pretty reasonable.Quote from: DaveLembke on September 18, 2013, 05:14:55 PM

Now I check them and blow them out like you had to do with the NES game cartridges before each use if they don't have covers.

"Blowing" on cartridge GAMES ruins them. The moisture in your breath both condenses onto the colder metal contacts and corrodes them over time. In some cases the moisture is enough to make a electrical connection with the other component and so seems to be "fixing" the problem. But the moisture sticks around and eventually corrodes the metals it comes in contact with. Some people I knew followed a predictable pattern. Their game would stop working and they would keep blowing on it and that would make it work, then one day it would stop working and they would use rubbing alcohol to clean the contacts. What they didn't realize is that they were actually not cleaning off "gunk" they were cleaning off the oxidized metal. Eventually some of their games became completely unusable because the traces literally had been completely cleaned off by the pattern of blow->corrode->remove->repeat.

There are many cases on nesdev and other sites where somebody's game has become unusable through corrosion and the only thing every single one of them had in common was that they frequently blew on the cartridge to "clean" them.

Worse still, with the American Toaster NES, most connection problems were due to the 72--pin connector. When you pushed down on the cartridge it pressed against the pins. Over time metal fatigue would prevent the pins from going back to their original position, and games would stop working. People would then press down harder on the cartridge, bending the pins further. Eventually all Toaster NES's 72-pin connectors become completely unusable as a result. Thing is, people would blow on their cartridges, thinking it was the cartridge causing the problem, and not the idiotic design of the Toaster NES. (Get a top loader and watch as all your games magically work on the first try).

Blowing on a USB connector would probably have the same effect over time. It will also have the benefit of corroding your ports as well, but I imagine people might replace there systems and peripherals frequently enough for this to not matter.

Quote from: Calum on September 19, 2013, 02:08:50 AM

I transfer, at most, a few hundred MB of pictures off my camera's SD card once every few months and it's fats enough for that.

I'm very close to cutting the cord with my digital photos with one of these. Samsung WB150F Long Zoom Smart Camera

I already skip the computer and upload images from my phone straight to Picasa Web Albums. Might as well follow SUIT with my camera. Quote from: BC_Programmer on September 19, 2013, 07:04:49 AM

"Blowing" on cartridge games ruins them. The moisture in your breath both condenses onto the colder metal contacts and corrodes them over time. In some cases the moisture is enough to make a electrical connection with the other component and so seems to be "fixing" the problem.....

Take two SHOTS of Old Crow before you blow. Reduces the moisture in your breath.

Solve : PNY 64GB flash drive $17.93?

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