USB Flash Drive stuff

[Borg]

I have some questions about usb flash drives. I was wondering if they can be RMA'd. If so, what do you need?

If they can't, what's a good one to get over 8GB but not an outrageous price. What prices are decent for these sticks?

I suppose there's some super fast ones for a price but I'm just curious what's a good deal at the moment.

I own a Kingston DataTraveler DTI/8GB and it's not even in the market anymore. Not even on the Kingston website that I can find. This stick doesn't work any more. It won't boot up via the BIOS although my mobo easily boots up another stick I have. Also, there were other issues with it. It's basically junk now so I am wondering whether I'm out of luck and should take a hammer to it or whether it can be RMA'd.

I thought the hammer would be good if I can't send it in because there's no reason it should be defective. I read reviews on it and many people think they're good sticks. Not this one, though.

I doubt Kingston would allow a RMA after a hammer job, though.

Also, is there any brand or type of usb flash sticks that are a good choice? I don't like Sandisk sticks because of the U3 crap.

What are my options?

Thanks.

[AkG]

For RMA...you will need to a Proof of Purchase. Phone em up and email them the Pop and you should be able to RMA...assuming its still in warranty.

I like Corsair, Kingston and sometimes Super Talent. All depends on what you need and are willing to spend. I love my ST SuperCrypt its "only" 32gb but damn its fast (over 245mb/s fast), but I love my Kingston Hyper Max 128GB MORE (its a SSDNow V+100 with a USB 3 interface bridge connection). Basically, whats your budget? And do you have USB 3? If you dont...the corsair Flash Voyager GTRs are nice and about as fast as any of the other "high end" USB 2.0 flash drives. Either way...try to RMA first, then and only then spend more coin. Kingston are very good peeps to deal with. ;)

[JD]

In my experience, OCZ doesn't need PoP for RMA's of flash drives or SSDs. Just the purchase date and retailer.

I RMA'd my OCZ ATV 4GB multiple times. Honestly, I'd avoid those rubber USB drives IMO. Too flexible resulting in the PCB cracking I'd imagine or something...

But with the cost of USB drives so low, it may be best to just buy a new one rather than go through all the waiting and paying for shipping.

[Borg]

Yikes. If I need the PoP, I am probably screwed. The stick is one of the earliest Kingston 8GB DataTravelers and I couldn't even find the model on their website. I bought it at Futureshop but stupid me, I didn't store the receipt or anything that would help with a RMA.

I guess it's a lesson learned but too bad they don't follow a similar policy to OCZ. That sounds good, JD.

I just wanted something cheap since it's used for data transfer and booting up both software utilities and Linux live media.

Thanks for the recommendations and info, too, AkG. I'll keep my eye open for deals or those particular models in case I need one eventually.

[Borg]

Windows 7 won't format my flash drive... Sorry, I'm shocked. I thought Windoze was supposed to be so great...