The Best USB 3.0 Flash Drive

After more than 16 hours of researching and testing, we found that the 64GB SanDisk Extreme CZ80 USB 3.0 is the best flash drive for most people. On both PCs and Macs, the SanDisk Extreme is one of the fastest drives we tested, outpacing SanDisk’s own claims. It has the best combination of speed, price, capacity, and usability of any thumb drive we’ve found.

Last Updated: February 24, 2016

SanDisk has released a new flash drive featuring the new USB Type-C standard. SanDisk claims that the Ultra USB Type-C drive offers sequential read speeds up to 150 MBps in capacities up to 128 GB, but the company hasn't announced the write speeds for the new drive. The product is already available on Amazon, though it currently has a wait time of several weeks.

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February 16, 2016: For the third year in a row, the SanDisk Extreme CZ80 is the best flash drive for most people. It’s fast and affordable, and it has a one-piece design that’s simple and comfortable to use. If you can't find the SanDisk Extreme or it becomes too expensive, the Lexar 64GB JumpDrive P20 USB 3.0 Flash Drive is our runner-up. It's a little faster than the SanDisk Extreme, but its sliding mechanism is so uncomfortable that it's not for most people. If you care more about capacity than speed or want a drive that barely protrudes from the USB port, get the SanDisk Ultra Fit. It’s not as fast as other USB 3.0 drives, but it's tiny and half the price of our pick.

June 1, 2015: Added the $120 SanDisk Ultra Fit, a new 128GB thumb drive that is the size of a dime, and the SanDisk Ultra in a 256GB capacity to the Competition section.

May 14, 2015: Dismissed the Silicon Power Jewel J80 for having extremely slow write speeds.

April 28, 2015: We're currently testing the Lexar JumpDrive P20. See the What to Look Forward to section for more.

April 22, 2015: Dismissed the updated Corsair Flash Voyager 3.0 and Kingston Data Traveler for maximum write speeds that are too slow compared to our main pick, and the Corsair Flash Voyager GS because it doesn't come in sizes smaller than 64GB.

February 5, 2015: We added a brief update to the Long-Term Test Notes section below: After more than a year of use, the SanDisk Extreme continues to perform very well, and it remains our favorite thumb drive.

September 24, 2014: Commenter mika brought to our attention that our pick is a little too large to be plugged in next to other devices on a pre-2012 Macbook Pro. See the Flaws But Not Dealbreakers section below.

August 12, 2014: SanDisk quietly updated our pick for best USB 3.0 thumb drive. The new 32GB version is labeled with 245MB/s read speeds and 100MB/s write speeds. We tested the new model against the old one and found that they’re about equal in speed across the board, with the new version having a slight edge in sequential and 4K write speeds. We’ve also updated the guide with a note about the SanDisk Extreme being recognized as a fixed or removable drive.

July 28, 2014: SanDisk quietly updated our pick for best USB 3.0 thumb drive, boosting the SanDisk Extreme's maximum read and write speeds to 245MB/s and 190MB/s respectively over our previous recommendation's 190MB/s read and 170MB/s write. We'll be updating this piece soon with a comparison of the two models and how well those new speeds hold up in practice. The only outward difference in the two versions is the packaging, so if you're looking to buy the newer version, look out for one labeled 245MB/s.

April 7, 2014: We spent a few hours combing manufacturers’ websites for new USB 3.0 drives that have been released since our last update. We didn’t find anything that came close to matching the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0’s combination of price and performance.

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Our pick: Fast and easy to use

SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Our pick for the third year in a row, it’s fast and affordable with a one-piece design that’s simple and comfortable to use.

$30* from Amazon

*At the time of publishing, the price was $33.

The SanDisk Extreme is the same flash drive we’ve recommended for years. It’s had several quiet speed boosts since we first tested it, and we now recommend the 64GB version; that’s the new sweet spot for price and capacity.

Also great

$38* from Amazon

$57 from Amazon

¥6,507 from Amazon

Buy from Amazon

*At the time of publishing, the price was $40.

Runner-up: If you need (a bit more) speed

64GB Lexar JumpDrive P20 USB 3.0 Flash Drive

It's a little faster than the SanDisk Extreme, but its sliding mechanism is so uncomfortable that it's not for most people.

If you can’t find the SanDisk Extreme or it becomes too expensive, get the 64GB JumpDrive P20 USB 3.0 Flash Drive from Lexar. It’s almost as fast as our pick in most benchmarks, and it’s faster in real-world file copy tests, but it’s slightly more expensive and it’s a literal pain to use, thanks to a very stiff sliding mechanism. It’s still the second-best flash drive if you don’t mind some finger pain or need an extra speed boost, but most people should get the SanDisk.

Also great

$30 from Amazon

€31 from Amazon

£24 from Amazon

$43 from Amazon

€40 from Amazon

¥3,520 from Amazon

€40 from Amazon

¥203 from Amazon

€33 from Amazon

INR 2,799.00 from Amazon

Budget pick: Twice the storage for the same price

128GB SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.0 Flash Drive

It’s not as fast as other USB 3.0 drives, but it's tiny and half the price of our pick.

If you care more about capacity than speed or want a drive that barely protrudes from the USB port, get the SanDisk Ultra Fit. It’s not nearly as fast as our pick or runner-up, but it’s a quarter the size and half the price—the 128GB version is about the same price as our 64GB main pick. It’s still much faster than any USB 2.0 drive, and the tiny size is convenient for laptops. (A newer model of the Ultra Fit, the SDCZ43-128G-GAM46, just launched, but it’s $10 more expensive than the model we tested. We’ll test it and update this guide accordingly.)