Thread: USB stick for my mother :)

  1. 11-03-2013 #1
    std10093
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    USB stick for my mother :)

    My mother is a teacher and she wants to read/write word documents to/from the USB stick. Rarely she will do so with pictures too.

    She has/had one stick, bought on the end of 2010 (I suppose it was 4 GB). I am 98% sure the stick is dead. One old desktop and three average laptops can't "see it". Moreover, one of her colleagues, tried with her laptop and desktop and had no success.

    I read on the internet, that I should try to go to BIOS to find the USB stick and do a format and/or scan for viruses. I think that this is too much.

    Luckily, I backup'ed her data in my laptop, when she starting complaining that some computers won't recognize her stick.

    So, the question is: What do you suggest me to buy her?
    (which company is the big question I guess)

    PS - She's my sweet mom, so I want the best suggestions! ;p
    Code - functions and small libraries I use

    It’s 2014 and I still use printf() for debugging.

    "Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. " —Harold Abelson
  2. 11-03-2013 #2
    std10093
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    Some students from my uni recommend Kingston/ ocz! What do you say about them?
    Last edited by std10093; 11-03-2013 at 02:20 PM.
    Code - functions and small libraries I use

    It’s 2014 and I still use printf() for debugging.

    "Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. " —Harold Abelson
  3. 11-03-2013 #3
    MutantJohn
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    I don't get know if I'll get modded for this or not so please forgive me mods, I can't help it. I'm a monster... But anyway :

    Hey, I got a usb stick for your mom

    Also, it is possible that the stick was damaged. I dropped a usb stick of mine and it definitely destroyed it which was very sad.
  4. 11-03-2013 #4
    std10093
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    >Hey, I got a usb stick for your mom
    Let's skip this, shall we.........?

    >Also, it is possible that the stick was damaged. I dropped a usb stick of mine and it definitely destroyed it which was very sad.
    Not a chance. My mother watches her things very much, so the stick was not damaged by my mother for sure!

    I decided to go for kingston or the other one I said above, depending on what the store has, since no real posts are made.
    Code - functions and small libraries I use

    It’s 2014 and I still use printf() for debugging.

    "Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. " —Harold Abelson
  5. 11-03-2013 #5
    cyberfish
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    They are all pretty much the same. Same NAND manufacturers, same controller IC manufacturers. It's really just the exterior.

    That's assuming you don't care about speed. If you want good speed you'll have to be more picky, USB drives go from 100kb/s to 50-60MB/s (USB 3.0). Patriot XTs are usually pretty fast. Most Corsair and OCZ sticks are also pretty/very fast.

    Kingston is the "big brand", but most of their drives are very slow (compared to Patriot/Corsair/OCZ). They may have faster product lines, too, but I'm not familiar with that.

    I also like my sticks to have rubber exterior. Water proof + drop proof. I have dropped mine a few times from good heights. They just bounce around a lot and don't get damaged.

    Also, it doesn't matter which one you get, all USB flash drives fail fairly often. Never store your only copy on there. Just use it as transport.
  6. 11-04-2013 #6
    Yarin
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    Get her a real USB thumb drive.
  7. 11-04-2013 #7
    std10093
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    Thanks for the info cyberfish.
    Yarin, not the most beautiful thing I have ever seen :P
    Code - functions and small libraries I use

    It’s 2014 and I still use printf() for debugging.

    "Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute. " —Harold Abelson
  8. 11-04-2013 #8
    MutantJohn
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    Well, I hope you give your mother an adequate device to insert into her USB slot.

    *cough*
  9. 11-04-2013 #9
    Yarin
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    Quote Originally Posted by MutantJohn View Post
    Well, I hope you give your mother an adequate device to insert into her USB slot.

    *cough*
    They make those too.
  10. 11-04-2013 #10
    MutantJohn
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    Oh wow. I can't even... That's amazing. Well std, I think we have a winner. Give your mom the gift that really does keep on giving XD
  11. 11-04-2013 #11
    gemera
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    @std

    If there's no cap on the usb stick - a little dust can get in there n muck things up - so try giving the usb inards a good blow and get a little brush to poke around - that has done the trick for me in the past. If you need to buy a new one make sure its got a cap to protect the plug.

    @mutant

    Pretty cretinous stuff man!
  12. 11-04-2013 #12
    MutantJohn
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    You don't know what cretinous means or if you do, it's not the word you mean. You wanted to call me lewd, vulgar, inappropriate, not mentally handicapped.
  13. 11-04-2013 #13
    Matticus
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    Quote Originally Posted by MutantJohn View Post
    You don't know what cretinous means or if you do, it's not the word you mean. You wanted to call me lewd, vulgar, inappropriate, not mentally handicapped.
    Just for the record, none of those things are mutually exclusive.
  14. 11-04-2013 #14
    phantomotap
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    You don't know what cretinous means or if you do, it's not the word you mean.
    O_o

    It fits perfectly if you actually know the definitions.

    The second/third definition of cretinous is boorish which is ill-mannered.

    Soma
    “Salem Was Wrong!” -- Pedant Necromancer
    “Four isn't random!” -- Gibbering Mouther
  15. 11-04-2013 #15
    MutantJohn
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    Just because they can occur at the same time, does not mean that is what he meant.

    Yes, it is possible to be both lewd and mentally handicapped but in this context, he kind of meant that it was inappropriate, immature, childish, perverted, gross but mentally handicapped? That's just an irrelevant insult.

    Edit : You are right, phantom, but the origin of the word itself was originally referred to people with mental disabilities. Maybe I'm arguing wrong because when I call something lame, I don't really mean it's physically handicapped.

    Either way, you guys react to a mom joke like a... Huh... I don't actually have anything clever to say.
    Last edited by MutantJohn; 11-04-2013 at 04:27 PM.
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