At the time I bought this 32GB flash drive it had been on the market for 18 months and had almost 4000 reviews, 76% of them five star. I bought it for one purpose, which is to create a Windows recovery disk for my new portable graphics laptop, which is an important and valuable tool I use in my business. I didn’t care about anything else but getting a drive that is dependable, physically rugged and compatible with my hardware.
I use a similar all metal Kingston drive as an off-site backup for my paperless office, a crucial task as these days I scan and shred almost all business and personal documents. I’ve used it for a long time and have come to trust it. This drive also being made by a major manufacturer gave me confidence regarding dependability. The metal clad casing ensured structural rigidity and reasonable protection against the elements, and the USB 3.0 and backward compatibility meant it should be compatible for the useful life of my computer. If I had to choose between the two now that I have both my opinion is that the Kingston has a better shaped design – the Samsung’s protruding keyhole can be an issue in tight spaces – and the quality of materials on the Kingston feels like solid machined aluminum whereas the Samsung feels like chrome plated sheet metal. Neither of those are really major issues though.
Windows recommends a minimum of a 16GB flash drive for making a recovery disk. My computer doesn’t have an optical drive or any other way to make a recovery disk so the only option is using a USB drive. At 32GB this drive gives me a margin of extra capacity and in reality the cost for a 32GB at under fourteen bucks made price a non-issue. For reference, making a WIN10 recovery disk on a quad core fast brand new computer using the USB 3.0 port took about 40 minutes.
Having a key ring hole is more than just a convenience, it lets me physically attach the drive to a place where I always know where it is when needed so it won’t end up at the bottom of a drawer somewhere. For similar reasons I opted not to go with one of the ultra small nano drives I saw listed, there’s too much risk of misplacing it.
I can’t tell you if this drive will ever fail, any drive can and might do that someday. But remember I’m using it for insurance against my computer dying and needing recovery so the chances of both my computer and this drive biting the dust are pretty slim. I’m not worried.
| Color | Metallic |
|---|---|
| Model Name | Samsung 32GB BAR (METAL) USB 3.0 Flash Drive |
| Flash Memory Type | USB |
| Item model number | MUF-32BA/AM |
| Hardware Platform | PC |
| Item Weight | 0.304 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 1.57 x 0.48 x 0.43 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 1.57 x 0.48 x 0.43 inches |
| Flash Memory Size | 32 GB |
| Manufacturer | Samsung Electronics |
| ASIN | B013CCTM2E |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | August 12, 2015 |
