Which 8Gb flash drive

[cotswoldcs]

A friend has asked me to buy her two 8Gb flash drives for backup. I'd normally recommend Corsair for myself but as it's not something that she will be carrying around it doesn't justify the extra money for the arguably more reliable Corsair.

So I've been searching on Amazon and have shortlisted the following:

Buffalo RUF-C8G/U2 - 8GB USB 2.0 High Flash speed -Retail Package
£21.99

Integral ENVOY PLUS 8GB 2.0 Pen Drives
£19.99

PNY Attache 8GB USB Flash Drive - Ready Boost Compliant
£17.62

Kingston Technology 8GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive
£17.89

Reliability is more important than price here but then again I don't want to spend £30+ (each)on the Corsair.

So which would you recommend. Which makes are good and which perform the fastest. Anyone got one of the above.

Any other ideas?

[staffsMike]

I've been wondering this myself.

I'm actually looking more are 4GB now as they are very cheap. Scan today only has a veho 4GB super quick one (corsair GT standards I beleive) for £11.

Reliablility wise I use a kingston stick and have found it very good, they always do great quality products as long as it's just basic functionality you are after

[CrazyMonkey]

I got a freecom one for £19 on amazon.co.uk. Works lovely no problems with it, very solid unit and pretty tiny worth all the money i paid.

[peterb]

Given that list, I'd go for Kingston, but tbh, you really have no way of knowing what make of memory/controller is inside it until you use it (using appropriate tools)

I had a free Danelec - normally something I wouldn't buy, but discovered that internally it is a Toshiba device.

[Magnets]

Personally i would go with sandisk, they have a decent reputation.
Amazon.co.uk: SANDISK CRUZER MICRO 8Gb U3 READYBOOST: Electronics & Photo
£20.99 for 8GB absolute bargain tbh.

I would not use USB flash for a backup, even if you are backing up twice to 2*drives.
I recently (yesterday) managed to wipe my 2GB cruzer; i was playing about with the U3 software, then it said there was an update so i allowed it to update itself. Half way through updating, my system locked + self rebooted. The drive survived, but it totally wiped itself, i even tried to recover it but it didn't detect any files.

FYI there's software to remove the U3 software, although even that just sat there doing nothing for approx 10 mins, so i just rebooted, but luckily it worked. No more U3. =]

The cruzer contours looks very sleek (and is faster than the other cruzer), but it looks like play are trying to shift the older cruzer micro/cruzer titaniums!

(out of stock!)

[EarlGrey]

The Sandisk cruzers are very good, very small and sleek and reliable. I have a 4GB and would go with them again. as suggested above you can uninstall the software they come with if you want.

I've not heard of any reliability issues with any particular brand.