The Best USB Flash Drives

Even as cloud storage and wireless file transfers have become more common, sometimes the best option for moving files is to put them on a USB flash drive. The cheapest drives can leave you waiting an agonizingly long time to transfer files. Most $20 flash drives out there will do the job okay, while the best $40 drives will do it noticeably faster so you spend less time waiting—time that adds up when they withstand being tossed in bags and drawers for years to come. After spending more than 40 hours testing seven recent USB flash drives (and comparing them with dozens of previous models), we think the SanDisk Extreme Pro 3.1 (128 GB) is the drive to get.