USB 3.0 flash drives poor reliability?

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thescreensavers

Diamond Member
Aug 3, 2005
9,930
2
81
I have had great luck with Patriot Flash Drives.

I have owned Corsair and they died, even had a survivor one it died as well.

I currently carry a Patriot Supersonic Boost XT 32GB USB 3.0 its about a year old no problems and is pretty full.

I want to upgrade to a 64gb but I want to wait for the new stuff to come out.
 
Mar 9, 2013
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None of that matters. The difference in ear that will have will take many years to show any signs, possibly a century or more. The saved battery is will be orders of magnitude more present.

You are again taking the discussion to another topic. Did I ever said that battery saving is a big feature for 3.0 ports(the discussion was not about battery saving instead it was about variable voltage and power)

I have said that 3.0 ports are capable of manipulating the voltages and power in a way that a 2.0 port cannot do. And that was what you thought was not possible. But, you were simply wrong. As you can see for yourself.
 

Cerb

Elite Member
Aug 26, 2000
17,484
33
86
I have said that 3.0 ports are capable of manipulating the voltages and power in a way that a 2.0 port cannot do. And that was what you thought was not possible. But, you were simply wrong. As you can see for yourself.
Huh? Point to where I said anything about that not being possible.

The flash is rated for X cycles per block, at a certain set of voltage and current limits. Going over those is faulty design. Ddesigning other components not be able to survive rather well known voltage and current levels, and ripple within spec, would again be faulty design.
 

SOFTengCOMPelec

Platinum Member
May 9, 2013
2,417
75
91
Huh? Point to where I said anything about that not being possible.

The flash is rated for X cycles per block, at a certain set of voltage and current limits. Going over those is faulty design. Ddesigning other components not be able to survive rather well known voltage and current levels, and ripple within spec, would again be faulty design.

This!

Stuff ...

Some of your posts in this thread don't really seem to make a lot of sense to me. Sorry!

Maybe if you could somehow make a particular, clear, technical point, and properly back it up with link(s), from reliable sources, I would have more faith in what you have been saying.


---------------------------------------------------

Tl;dr [Sorry, typing Diarrhoea] The following is mainly MY opinion, rather than something I can link to on the internet.

I think that the (partial) issue with these USB flash pens (whether 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 or whatever), is that they are often designed DOWN to a specific price point, rather than designed UP to a particular quality point.

I would advice treating USB flash pens with caution. They are fine for moving data around, and keeping data with you, but they tend to be less reliable in general than other computer data devices. Both as regards data integrity, and device life time.

As with virtually everything else, there are good ones and bad ones, and all sorts of stuff between these extremes.

I would NOT recommend using a USB flash pen as a primary/only/master data store or backup store (casual backup is fine, but IMPORTANT/main backup not so good an idea), as they can be problematic.

My understanding is that, as well as the flash devices inside the device failing, the interface (USB) circuitry can also fail, and/or other stuff in it.
Potentially the USB connector could be the source of problem.

With gentle/moderate usage, and only using in situations where sudden complete disappearance of all data on the pen, is NOT problematic, then they are fine.

I treat my USB pens nicely, clean, have other copy(s) of the important data, and try to buy reasonably decent ones (by appearance, reviews, brand loyalty, etc), rather than paying excessively high prices for them.

Even if USB flash pens were absolutely 100% perfect, reliability/quality wise, their very small size (relative to most other computer equipment), and the fact that you may sometimes take them with you outside of your home/work, mean that they are more likely to be lost/stolen/dropped/damaged etc, compared to say your HDD/SSD in a desktop PC, which tends to stay in the same place, quietly for years at a time.



-------------------------------------


If USB 3.0 is less reliable than USB 2.0 (my own opinion again, I DON'T KNOW for sure about this), then it could be because the much higher potential transfer speeds, would generate significantly more heat inside the components of the USB flash pen.
Hence, as with most/all electronics, this heat tends to be a cause of unreliability and shortens the lifespan, of e.g. The interface chip(s).

I don't know specifically for USB flash pens, BUT as regards some other computer devices, exactly this phenomenon (too much heat build up, on cost reduced (fanless) device(s)) is (widely?) reported on the internet. Unfortunately the problem is ultimately blamed on the relatively low consumer price of the items, which make less than satisfactory designs, succeed in the market place.
And properly designed ones would tend to fail to sell, because of their prohibitively high price.
 
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Mar 9, 2013
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Huh? Point to where I said anything about that not being possible.

Your post defending bonoros on voltage and power discussion, where he said it's not possible(atleast read the thread, there are only 2 pages). You backed him by saying.
"
It is not Bononos lacking understanding. That means less power used. But, the flash can be completely off when not being written to or read from, and the changes in signaling don't change IO patterns, nor over-provisioning, nor voltage cleanliness. If any of those USB 3 changes had an effect on the flash, then the flash storage device in question was faulty by design....."

Clearly your info is limited to start and stop of pendrive. You have no notion for voltages and power difference which was being discussed.
 
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SOFTengCOMPelec

Platinum Member
May 9, 2013
2,417
75
91
Your post defending bonoros on voltage and power discussion, where he said it's not possible(atleast read the thread, there are only 2 pages). You backed him by saying.
"
It is not Bononos lacking understanding. That means less power used. But, the flash can be completely off when not being written to or read from, and the changes in signaling don't change IO patterns, nor over-provisioning, nor voltage cleanliness. If any of those USB 3 changes had an effect on the flash, then the flash storage device in question was faulty by design....."

Clearly your info is limited to start and stop of pendrive. You have no notion for voltages and power difference which was being discussed.

I'm having great difficulty in understanding your posts (basically, I can't understand them). How on earth has this got anything to do with the topic being discussed ?

E.g. You just said "power difference".

We are NOT discussing the power consumption of Flash USB pens.

EDIT:
What exactly is a "start and stop of pendrive" ?
It could mean:
  • On/Off (Via OS)
  • Read/Write
  • Plugged in/removed
  • Start of file transfer/end of file transfer
  • Start/stop to do with USB protocols or something
  • Or tons of other stuff

Are you using some kind of language translator or something ?
 
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Mar 9, 2013
139
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I'm having great difficulty in understanding your posts (basically, I can't understand them). How on earth has this got anything to do with the topic being discussed ?

E.g. You just said "power difference".

We are NOT discussing the power consumption of Flash USB pens.

EDIT:
What exactly is a "start and stop of pendrive" ?
It could mean:
  • On/Off (Via OS)
  • Read/Write
  • Plugged in/removed
  • Start of file transfer/end of file transfer
  • Start/stop to do with USB protocols or something
  • Or tons of other stuff

Are you using some kind of language translator or something ?

Firstly,
We had a discussion regarding the possible causes for malfunction/ unreliability of the 3.0 devices. And if you cared to read the thread before. Then you will clearly understand why the power difference have been mentioned.

Now, for your second question.
You had problem with understanding a line or all the posts that have been posted by me till now?

You have mentioned just 1 line so I will explain that to you. For others I beleive that they are quite clear for the ones whom they have been refered to.

Start and stop in that context meant. When the USB drive is plugged in then a usb 2.0 port would keep on querying the pendrive at regular intervals for any intent of transferring any data etc. So, the pendrive would actually remain active even when it's not being used.

While a 3.0 port would wait for a command(in lay man terms) from usb 3.0 device and vice-versa to activate or start the data transferring process. Once that is finished. The 3.0 device would go into standby mode( means the 3.0 port would not query the drive for any intent in the meanwhile).

I hope it's clear to you!
 
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Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,599
19
81
I'll chime in here as well:
Corsair Voyager GT 32GB. CMFVYGT3A-32GB.

Under a year old, and it would start showing as unformatted, until it finally would no longer detect at all. (Only using USB 2.0 though.)
It's a shame, too - it's a nice design, and they're fast.
 

SOFTengCOMPelec

Platinum Member
May 9, 2013
2,417
75
91
Firstly,
We had a discussion regarding the possible causes for malfunction/ unreliability of the 3.0 devices. And if you cared to read the thread before. Then you will clearly understand why the power difference have been mentioned.

Now, for your second question.
You had problem with understanding a line or all the posts that have been posted by me till now?

You have mentioned just 1 line so I will explain that to you. For others I beleive that they are quite clear for the ones whom they have been refered to.

Start and stop in that context meant. When the USB drive is plugged in then a usb 2.0 port would keep on querying the pendrive at regular intervals for any intent of transferring any data etc. So, the pendrive would actually remain active even when it's not being used.

While a 3.0 port would wait for a command(in lay man terms) from usb 3.0 device and vice-versa to activate or start the data transferring process. Once that is finished. The 3.0 device would go into standby mode( means the 3.0 port would not query the drive for any intent in the meanwhile).

I hope it's clear to you!

I understand what you have been trying to say, a lot better now, Thanks!

But from a technical point of view (as Cerb has been trying to explain, apparently), you are talking about things which are within the original design parameters of USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

So assuming that the device(s) in question are correctly and reliably designed and manufactured for the USB 2.0/USB 3.0 standards, they should work just fine.

Unless you are trying to imply/state that the USB 3.0 interface has got fundamental design problem(s)/issue(s) ?


----------------------------------------------------------------

OP, I bought a significant quantity of USB 3.0 stuff, some of which I have been using in the last few months or so (including multiple USB 3.0 flash pens).

They have worked just great (although the Kingston connector feels a bit flimsy when I plug it in), but I looked into the Corsair at the time (if I remember right), and avoided buying them because of the poor reliability reviews.

From reading the reviews (today) to help the OP, it seems that there could be a design and/or manufacturing problem with that particular Corsair drive, rather than issues with USB 3.0 (in my opinion).

My best guess is that the significantly more complicated nature of the USB 3.0 connector (with quite a few more pins than the old USB 2.0, 9 vs 4 I think), combined with the market conditions (USB Flash pens prices have been coming down) seem to have meant that the (flimsy?) connector breaks (speculation, but at least one reviewer thinks this).

Over the years manufacturing regulations have been tightened up (e.g. Europe banned lead in solders, hence potentially causing weak, short lasting joints), some of which unfortunately can worsen the quality of the final product, until improvements are re-invented (hopefully) in the future.
 
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iCyborg

Golden Member
Aug 8, 2008
1,327
52
91
They have worked just great (although the Kingston connector feels a bit flimsy when I plug it in), but I looked into the Corsair at the time (if I remember right), and avoided buying them because of the poor reliability reviews.

From reading the reviews (today) to help the OP, it seems that there could be a design and/or manufacturing problem with that particular Corsair drive, rather than issues with USB 3.0 (in my opinion).
When I bought it, it was fairly new in the market, so there were few reviews. I liked the looks of it and I had a good opinion of Corsair. And I'm generally less diligent about market research when it comes to $25 items
This particular drive does have more than its fair share of bad reviews, but the fact that a bunch of other USB 3.0 models also have more issues than I'd expect is what got me wondering, especially since I have 2 very old USB2.0 ones that still work.
 

SOFTengCOMPelec

Platinum Member
May 9, 2013
2,417
75
91
When I bought it, it was fairly new in the market, so there were few reviews. I liked the looks of it and I had a good opinion of Corsair. And I'm generally less diligent about market research when it comes to $25 items
This particular drive does have more than its fair share of bad reviews, but the fact that a bunch of other USB 3.0 models also have more issues than I'd expect is what got me wondering, especially since I have 2 very old USB2.0 ones that still work.

Please don't feel even slightly badly about it. I do pretty much the same thing.
I have bought a fair bit of Corsair stuff this year (many power supplies, and a large pile of RAM) and I have been pleased with my purchases (a partial problem with one of the RAM slices out of many, but I swapped things around, and it's been fine since).

When the latest Intel/Amd chips come out, with a brand new motherboard type, there are very few reviews out (usually), so you have to take a bit of a gamble, or wait. One such motherboard I bought (as soon as it came out, I think) was a disaster (Asus), but I managed to cope. (usually I've had good results with Asus motherboards).

From what you have said, and reading the customer reviews, I am disappointed in Corsair (but I would still be happy to use them), because they should have withdrawn it from sale (when they knew it was bad) and either fixed the design (or manufacturing), or designed a brand new one.
Also their customer service should have been better.

Wild speculation: Although it has the Corsair branding, it is possible that it is really from another company, and is re-branded Corsair, to massively increase the sales potential and value.
In this case I have no idea, if that is what has happened. But some other things I do know about, (surprisingly) are made by other companies.

(Mentioned in my earlier post) The introduction of lead free solder (some time ago), at least in Europe, maybe elsewhere, can lead to weaker/brittle/worse solder joints, leading to potentially poor life, because the stresses and strains of inserting/removing the pen into the USB socket, may eventually break the joint(s), leading to device failure.
At some time (now or in the future), the original quality of leaded solder joints, may return, even with lead free solders.

The extra complexity and connection numbers of USB3.0 vs USB2.0, may also of been a factor, as the more connections, the less reliable things tend to be (in general).
 
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uberman

Golden Member
Sep 15, 2006
1,942
1
81
I have 3 dead Corsair USB flash drives. They all died within 90 days. Two of them were USB 3.0. Two of them were marketed as the Hot Rods of USB flash drives with a price of $75.00 each. Corsair is less than helpful, in other words, they say they'll stand by them but require you to ship them which is tricky with shipping costs plus insurance for such products. My guess is they replace it with the same or refurbished which will fail in the next 15 to 90 days.

Because Corsair advertises and then charges such a high price for a high failure item, they should simply provide customers with a prepaid mailer, which they do not. They just accept your claim and give you a case # or RMA #. But, as I mentioned earlier no mailer and premium costs when purchased with advertising that fails to deliver what it promises, quality and reliability.

I'll never buy anything Corsair again, ever. I have been buying SanDisk Cruzer 2.0 thumb drives on Amazon recently for good prices. I've bought 6 and none have failed. A 64 GB is going for about $33.00 or two 32 GB for the same price.

One of them is a 1 GB drive that was marketed as a hot rod of all thumb drives about 7 years ago, I'd find it pretty hard to believe that it was re-branded. My guess is its the real Corsair from Newegg and is representative of Corsair products. Maximum PC said it was "Kick Ass." That's IMHO.
 
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lucky9

Senior member
Sep 6, 2003
557
0
0
Never had a USB 2 fail.

USB 3 will use a USB 2 port at USB 2 speed and voltage. That's the only difference you should note.

A newer FlashDrive usually has a smaller node. That may make them more susceptible to ESD. But I really doubt it.
I would think something going on with the motherboard or (extremely unlikely) the BIOS.
 
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