What FlashDrive do you use? Lexar or.....  

Sounds like you have it all under control! Do you have a preference in brand names? I know in most things... just cause it has the name doesn't make it any better.. but in this case.. I haven't a clue so that is why I ask. I want to save my stuff in case of crash or virus and all and I just want to make sure I save it on the proper tool. YOu mentioned using a memory stick..Do you also use a memory stick for back up? What's the difference between the memory stick and the flash drive?

I post this here to say thanks to everyone's comments. I took the plunge and copied things on my C drive to the Lexar and it worked fine. I had 3.72GB of movies and pictures that fit fine on the 4GB flash. I put the rest of the docs and C drive stuff on the other one. Only thing i didn't see worked.. is that the flash drive it has a thing showing how full the flash drive is.. and this one that is obviously full only shows 40% full in stead of 100%. No big deal tho...At lesast my stuff is there. So I guess Lexar is a good drive. HOpe it holds its own! Thanks again to every one

I've heard about those, but I don't have stuff that would be a huge loss if I did loose it! I dont' have business or the like.. just personal stuff... and since I don't travel or am mobil about it..

I have my photos on a flash already and was intending to put the whole C: drive on one and the D drive on the other. Not sure if I'd know what to do with them if I did crash and had them, but better to have and not need, than need and not have!

Wow - you sound like an expert! I was looking at a external hard drive but at over $100.. and no more than I have to "back up" anyway... it just isn't worth the expense. I have my photos.. and those are on a flash already and I was just going to put the D: drive and C on others in case of a crash.. I'd have them. Not sure if I'd know what to do with them, but at least I'd have the stuff to put on a new PC if I had to buy a new one. Other than having what I'd need to re-install after a crash.. my photos and resumes are the only things I keep on there that'd be things I couldn't get back. Im just a home body user!

Well I have zillions of things. Gigabytes and Gigabytes LOL
I have the flashdrives with different kinds of things according to where I am taking my laptop and for what.
I also have a number of programs installed in the external hard drive. They work and still don't take all the space in here.
But then again, I know I am not the norm LOL

Mercy sakes!! What the heck do you save? No, you dont have to answer that! I know most people do use their computers more than I do for more than I do. PC's have enormous capatilities far beyond anything I have a need for in a million life times!!! Just sounds funny to hear you have so much!!!

hehehehehe that's me LOLLLLLLL

I just found out about "speed" of a flash drive - can you inform me about that? THese that i have say "Hi Speed USB Secure Flash Drive" on the package. I didn't know speed was an issue... what does it mean - it copys from HD to Flash faster or installs back to HD faster? Can you clue me in? THanks!

well, it really depends on what speed you need and how it will really affect you or not. Sometimes it seems like a big difference in theory but not in practice.
What you have also counts, for example, USB2 is faster if plugged in a usb2 port, but if plugged in a usb1 port it will only be as fast as the usb1 port will allow.
To be honest unless you have a very old flashdrive, it doesn't really matter much for general use. Although I had one that was so slow to write that I felt like throwing it out of the window LOL
It also matters what kind of flash drive we're talking about. There is a difference between reading 1Gb and 16 specially for some drives. Actually the high storage ones don't always work with older laptops - I found that out the hard way because I didn't do my research before grrr ;)
Plus, what says in the package is not always exactly as they make it seem. It is more important to turn the package around and see if they specified read and write speeds instead. That should tell you more.
Some flash drives are faster at reading than writing, some the other way around, some are faster with big files and crawl with smaller, some handle smaller files better.
I think that all things being equal, I really worry much more about how long they last and how reliable they are, even though I take a look at speed as well.
Speed.. well sure it can be important, but for general use, most of the ones in the market right now will be fine.
Note:Always keep in mind that not all flashdrives are all that stable, you can loose your data just from some small thing like taking it off without going trough the safe removal- if you have something really important make sure that you have it backed up somewhere else as well.

How do I know if I have USB 1 or 2? My PC (Desktop) is 5 years old. I don't do all kinds of stuff with it... email, PTC, blogs, Mylot, search for coupons etc, but no downloads or facebook or other things most do. No games other than a few store bought ones for my grand daughter.I have 2 USB ports on the front of the tower, one has my wireless mouse plugged into it. Other than that I dont' know much about what I do have!!!

I just want to back up my stuff... photos, My Document stuff like resumes, and copies of the blogs I have written, photos for blogs and probably not much that life would crumble if I lost it and couldn't get it back, but sure would make life easier if I didn't have that to worry about!

Then I have found, that after keeping it all these years, I can't find the recovery disk that came with my PC, so I want to have the hard drive recovery (or whatever it is called) to reinstall (Windows XP too) in case of a crash or a virus that clears me out... I can't afford to buy another computer at the moment. But I was hoping, if the worst happens, and I have it all on a flash drive, I can just plug itin and re-install/download it all from the flash to the hard drive.. I assume that is even how it works!!! Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Okay so the info was not on the package so I emailed Lexar for it...

These 4 GB USB flash/jump drives Write 6MBps and Read 8MBps....

What does that mean for what I am wanting to do?

No, you got it right. And it will work for you.
Now how can you know about your ports? Go to control panel, click on device manager and look for universal serial bus controllers.( I'm not sure of which OS you have, there instructions are for vista, I'll add for XP bellow)There's a box with a plus sign by the universal serial bus controllers. Expand that and look for an entry that says Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller.
If it says enhanced then it's usb 2.0, if not then it's usb 1.
If you have Xp you get there a little bit differently. Go to control panel, click system then choose hardware, you will have device manager right on top, click on it and then it's just the matter of finding the universal serial bus controllers thingy, expanding and looking to see if you have the standard enhanced pci to usb host controller.
But really it won't make a difference. Even if you only have usb1 and your flashdrive is for usb2 you can still use it, it's just that it will only run at the speed of the usb1, that's all. It will be slower, but it will still do the job.
Save away :):):)

I do have Xp and it lists SiS 7001 PCI to USB Open Host Controller, three times and once it lists SiS PCI to USB Enhanced Host Controller

I assume I am USB 2 and these will work fine? Any idea what the other 3 are for?

Will you be my "computer guy"?

And by doing all this... if I do crash or virus...can I just stick this flash drive in and reboot and it will grab the recovery system off it and reinstall and all will be fine in my world?

And what does that read and write speeds mean..well, I guess they mean how fast it reads and writes, but is that speed it is "fast enough" for what I want to do?

I have been using the flash drives and doing fine. I bought a 1TR external hard drive nad my son loaded it up with some movies and I copy from the EHD to a Flash and plug that into my DVD player to view on tv. And it all works really good. Even copying from the EHD via the PC and onto the Flash. No speed problems with viewing the movies. Now I need to back things up!

I have used a flash and a memory stick (from my camera) in the USB ports and always remove them using the "safely remove Hardware" feature. So is sounds like you have good luck with using them. I didn't see a Kingston - but then I was only at Target!!! Speed is not an issue more or less.. I only have personal stuff on there.. I am a novice! But my reason for this is to back up the harddrive in case of a crash.. I can then use the flashdrive to reinstall everything... can't I? I am trying to save myself the cost of a new PC!!!

I currenly just have my photos backed up on a flash. Sounds like you have had good luck with different brands. That is a plus and probably no more than I need them for...I guess Lexar would be as good as any others. Thanks for your comments

Faster speed, huh? Didn't know that was an issue... these say "Hi Speed USB Secure Flash Drive" but don't say how fast is "HI Speed" is. Does that relate to how fast it copys over or installs from the flash drive to the hard drive? I guess I didn't know anything about "speed" being an issue... could you elaborate?

I have 3 4GB flash drives.. and I am sure I don't have enough to fill up one.. but not sure so I wanted to have if needed.

I use Transcend 4gb.

Kingston is popular.. but I have not seen that brand anywhere. I was looking for Memorex as I havea small one of that and was going to stick with what I know works, but apparently they don't make them anymore as I can't find them, and Sony and Lexar and another brand I never neard of is all I can find..