[SOLVED] Which USB Stick Do You Recommend?

[morete]

I have never owned or used a USB stick before. Now I need to buy one to flash my motherboard BIOS. I probably won't use it for anything else. Which brand and model of stick would you recommend for a first time buyer? Thanks.

 

[CountMike]

I have never owned or used a USB stick before. Now I need to buy one to flash my motherboard BIOS. I probably won't use it for anything else. Which brand and model of stick would you recommend for a first time buyer? Thanks.

Kingston Traveler USB3.1. Pick your capacity but for BIOS upgrade you don't need over 4GB.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Just about any Samsung, Sandisk, Crucial, Kingston or Patriot 8 to 16GB USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen1 flash drive is going to be a good choice. Any 4GB flash drive is likely to be fairly old stock, and may not be all that trustworthy. I'd stick to 8GB or higher capacities to ensure the NAND is fairly newer.

 

[morete]

Kingston Traveler USB3.1. Pick your capacity but for BIOS upgrade you don't need over 4GB.

Okay. Thanks.

 

[morete]

Just about any Samsung, Sandisk, Crucial, Kingston or Patriot 8 to 16GB USB 3.0 or 3.1 Gen1 flash drive is going to be a good choice. Any 4GB flash drive is likely to be fairly old stock, and may not be all that trustworthy. I'd stick to 8GB or higher capacities to ensure the NAND is fairly newer.

Okay. Thanks so much for the info.

 

[Joakim Agren]

morete if you are installing a new Ryzen system on a older motherboard and that is the reason for the BIOS Flash then you also probably want a USB stick for your Windows installation so I would recommend a 16GB USB 3 for that.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You don't need two sticks. You can use one stick to do the BIOS update and then afterwards use the same stick to create the installation media on a different computer using the "create installation media for use on a different computer" option while running the media creation tool.

 

[morete]

morete if you are installing a new Ryzen system on a older motherboard and that is the reason for the BIOS Flash then you also probably want a USB stick for your Windows installation so I would recommend a 16GB USB 3 for that.

Thanks for the reply and recommendation, Joakim. I have the Ryzen 2700X on an MSI X470 M.2 motherboard. When I got this system built I went to Fry's and bought the optical drive disk version of Windows 10 Pro instead of the USB one because I had the PC built with an optical disk drive so that I could run older disk games and such that are in my library. I was hoping MSI would have had a local Windows based BIOS update but I don't see that option in MSI's manual live update program anymore like they used to have. Plus I heard that updating BIOS through Windows based programs was buggy and unreliable.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Plus I heard that updating BIOS through Windows based programs was buggy and unreliable.

Exactly. I never use that method. Ever. I either flash from within the BIOS or use BIOS flashback, depending on the board model.

 

[tennis2]

Patriot Rage 2.
All of the patriot sticks I've ever owned are still fully operational. Every other stick from other manufacturers has died.