USB Sticks

[Melooon]

I'm not sure if its only me and I'll fully accept that this is not a major issue that should impact anyones life, but I get really bothered when I have to copy a file to a USB stick that is too big! My file is only 50MB, so it seems like a huge waste to copy it to a USB stick that has 64GB of space; I feel like the USB stick is sort of a manifestation of my file, so I don't like the waste 

It's gotten quite hard to find good USB sticks with small storage capacities so I have all these wasted GBs around me doing nothing!  (Or worse getting filled up with junk that I don't need anymore)

Other than that I'm a big fan of USB sticks. I prefer ones that have retractable plugs on them; particularly the double sided USB-A and USB-C ones - although I also appreciate the colours and designs of older models - I DO NOT like USB sticks with those flip around covers because they feel cheap, and I don't like ones with removable covers because they get lost.

I suspect in the future people wont have USB sticks at all! Im not sure how much of a living-experience they will really miss by not having USB sticks, but I suppose its worth considering that we happen to be the rare people in all of history who have USB sticks, and with that in mind its worth honouring their presence here! 

[alexela64]

I have two usb sticks, one with a ridiculously small amount of storage, one ridiculously large. the former was purchased when sticks were still recommended as school supplies, the latter for a passion project of archiving literally *anything* related to my favorite band.

I will say, as a college student, I have very few friends that still use usb sticks (or as we more commonly refer to them, flash drives) and that's a stretch because we're interested in web revival and older tech. I don't think i've met a single student in my classes that still depends on flash drives or uses them at all. It's a little sad

[BlazingCobaltX]

I kinda see what you mean. I have a huge collection of 4-16GB USB sticks because I've never needed more GBs than that. Unless I need to transfer a huge load of files from one PC to another, I just use a smaller one that is 'just enough'. It also helps to be able to identify what USB stick has what file on them, rather than having a large one and going through all the files. Something satisfying about using the right tool for the right situation.

Perhaps this is also the safer thing to do in terms of potential data loss? My data actually got leaked recently because someone lost an USB stick with a bunch of files. If that person had just copied over the things they needed instead of everything ever, the breach would not have been as serious.

[gorciu]

i use only one usb stick (it's like 16 gigs), but i have an external usb hard drive.
tbh my only use of that USB is to install linux (i'm distro-hopping, currently on arch)
_{what do i also need to write here to remove this "BOOP: Your post seems to be a lil short! Here are tips for adding a bit extra!" box}

[crazyroostereye]

I always have at least 3 USB sticks on me. Usually filled with all kind of useless stuff. Like a Boot USB with Ventoy on it which carries multiple ISOs, so it usually needs quite a bit of Storage (atm 32GB). I also carry a USB that has a copy of Wikipedia (small Version), usually a Month old. Which also requires a lot of Storage. My final General Purpose USB, which generally is Empty and at most carries a few Gigs. So I can feel with this one a bit of a waste of storage. But I usually Buy USBs on Bulk, so I go with the Cheapest which usually are between 16 and 32 Gigs.

I also have the tendency to lose my USBs. Im pretty sure I am the Majority supplier of random USB stick you find on the Street  .

[WK_0]

I kinda feel that USB sticks are indeed not too far off from where CDs are now, if they aren't already. Like soon having one will feel like having this rare breed of pixie that used to ferry information between computer towers like some kind of magical messenger (CDs feel more like old digital tomes, if anything, they just require lasers to read rather than regular eyesight). Technology's changing at a faster and faster pace and folks as a whole easily move between available conveniences. In fact by the time I finish this sentence technology might be totally different than from when I started writing this whole reply!

Or maybe I'm just talking out my tailpipe, who knows? 8P

But to get back to the topic at hand, since Melon put it so aptly, I too kinda have this weirdness to me where I feel iffy using a USB stick that's much bigger than the files I'm putting on it, and for the same reasoning too. It feels like a waste of perfectly good space! But that's due to how I use USB sticks nowadays. There once was a time, in my younger, more naive age, where I exclusively used the biggest-capacity sticks I could afford as my main method of storing all of my works (mainly art and writings), not just for school use but personal use too. What ended up changing my outlook on USB sticks, though? Simple. A storage failure that nearly lost me years of personal work and me eventually growing up to get jobs that can afford me some proper external hard drives.

That shift eventually turned my outlook on thumb drive usage around over the years, and as I grew to become more reliant on hard drives for long-term storage USB sticks became delegated to temporary file-carrying work, in my household. With that I eventually came to understand that I have no need for any sticks that're too big. It'd be like getting a whole standing CD rack as tall as I am just to put like one or two CDs in it. So I'm good with the small collection of small-capacity USBs I've gathered over the years from free events and whatnot for just ferrying information between local computers (I'm of the mindset that if a USB works, it works, so I don't mind the cheap ones too much for temp use). In fact the last pair of larger-capacity thumb drives I bought was a couple years ago just for copying a portion of my now quite large music collection so I can listen to them in my car. And they're not the largest sizes out there, I just bought what could fit all the tunes I'd like to listen to during a drive.

Plus, I dunno how else to describe it besides just. Age kinda making me more aware of how much space and resources I take and needing to be smart with it? Thumb drives are notoriously easy to lose, but they're also very well suited for moving information without use of a third-party cloud service, so I just use them accordingly.

[musicobsessed107]

I have two usb sticks, one with a ridiculously small amount of storage, one ridiculously large. the former was purchased when sticks were still recommended as school supplies, the latter for a passion project of archiving literally *anything* related to my favorite band.

I will say, as a college student, I have very few friends that still use usb sticks (or as we more commonly refer to them, flash drives) and that's a stretch because we're interested in web revival and older tech. I don't think i've met a single student in my classes that still depends on flash drives or uses them at all. It's a little sad

What do you mean people aren't using USB flash drives anymore? I've always just assumed they've become quite standard in recent years as far as storage backups go. What are your other friends using to store their files, then? Or do they just simply not even care at all about making backups of their files and let them get lost upon replacing their device?

That also reminds me that I need to go down to Staples to purchase some flash drives so I can make backups of all the files on my current laptop and to also have one I can use for dual booting Linux when it's plugged in.

[candycanearter07]

I personally just keep a 128gb flash on my car keys, but I think I only use about 20GB of it... I just like having the extra storage, in CASE I need to store anything big, I'll always have that extra room to (ab)use, and it doesn't feel as cramped. I can also get away with having a mess of files ;)

[ialu]

Personally, I like to have a low amount of USB sticks and lots of storage - I haven't used mine for much of anything yet, but I know I probably will for some big project one day; accordingly, on the rare occasion I buy another USB, I usually get one with a ton of space. Not to mention I like to install and play around with different operating systems, so it's good to have sticks with a lot of storage capacity for whenever I want to test an OS that boots from a USB.

[Captin]

While I normally get larger USBs because I don't have enough storage on my main computer to store stuff, weather it be games, images, music, or other files. The drive I have on my desktop is 256 gigabytes (if I recall) while my laptop has 237 gigs of storage. I also do a lot of data transferring between the two so it just makes since to have larger ones.

But I think it would be funny to have a little usb that has like a demo for something, or some other small media that you made to show to people!

I also think it would be funny to throw it at a few of my friends, smaller things are easier to pelt...

[swamptrogg]

I loooove novelty usb sticks (the kinds shaped like animals and stuff) but the problem is that those are always too SMALL for what I want to use them for! Typically those are 32-64 gb, and 128 gb is about the smallest I'll go. Maybe my problem is that I need to organize more efficiently though, lol.

[milo]

I feel like I should have more USB sticks... I have been using google drive for backup for so long and it really works for how I need it to (being able to access my files from pretty much any device that can connect to the internet). However, I also preach about the evils of relying on cloud storage, especially when it's owned by another corporation, so I feel like I really need to start backing up my stuff locally and carry it around with me.

My other issue is that I'm forgetful and disorganized and lose things often. I also have a habit of getting a USB stick and saying "this is going to be used for this thing and only this thing!" and then it ends up becoming a random files USB stick that gets lost in a drawer. In fact, I went to find a USB stick to install Ubuntu on my wife's new laptop and I found one with a piece of paper taped around it that said "XBOX BACKUP", but the drive label on the computer was named "PS4" and it had a whole bunch of games and homebrew for the Wii on it. So yeah, that's what I tend to do with USB sticks. :|

[alexela64]

What do you mean people aren't using USB flash drives anymore? I've always just assumed they've become quite standard in recent years as far as storage backups go. What are your other friends using to store their files, then? Or do they just simply not even care at all about making backups of their files and let them get lost upon replacing their device?

So the problem here is that most new laptop computers come standard with cloud storage. Everyone loves cloud storage and they don't quite seem to understand that you can use a laptop without wifi.

For example, my dell xps that i purchased maybe 3 years ago by default came with a onedrive/microsoft cloud backup integration, which i then had to manually disable. With apple, everything is icloud.

It also might be an american thing. i wouldn't be surprised if it was an american thing

[ValyceNegative]

I see USB sticks as those ringbound notebooks where every folder is an envelope attached to its rings. Sure it has a finite capacity, but nothing stops me from moving pages in and out xP

I use an external hard drive for bigger backups but smaller files usually end up in sticks, especially if I have to often bring them back and forth between machines or I have to take those files somewhere. I don't mind the extra gigs as I might need to store some more stuff before cleaning, and it's good to have them so ready for use if I need to bring something to print (I don't know about elsewhere but here most typographies will accepts USB supports if they have to print from a file).
I used and re-used floppies in the exact same manner way back and for this reason I loved the chonky Iomega Zip 100s... too bad not everyone had a compatible reader.

Bonus, here USB sticks are also called "pens" and I have one... literally attached to the pen for my planner oranizer. So when people ask "do you have a pen?" well... I literally lend them a pen. XD

[bonkachino]

I see USB sticks as those ringbound notebooks where every folder is an envelope attached to its rings. Sure it has a finite capacity, but nothing stops me from moving pages in and out xP

i feel the same way! if i've got tiny little files on a usb i'm fine with just sticking them in an appropriately labelled folder - kinda like sticking a divider tab inside a notebook. and i absolutely need those 'divider tabs' to help me find my way or else i'll just get lost in the sauce and spend ages looking for things with nothing but chagrin. i'm like this with physical notebooks as well

if i had dedicated usbs of different sizes, i'd probably have to print a label on each one that tells me what's in it