TranscendTS32GJF810 32GB | JetFlash 810 flash drive

In the 'old' days USB flash drives seemed to last for ages. Nowadays, every flash drive reviewed here has 10+% of users complaining their drive has died within weeks of purchase.Between 2000 and 2014, I probably went through about 5 drives and I think only one of those actually died, the others were just superceded by faster and larger capacity drives. They weren't particularly sturdy, all having plastic cases; they were all fairly well known makes (PNY, Bytstore, Toshiba etc), but at the cheap end of the range; and all of them had caps, which I consider an essential to stop them gathering fluff as the nestled quietly in my pocket.My next drive was a 64GB with similar spec, but USB 2.0. It worked fine for a year before some wayward mobile furniture careened into it, snapping it in the USB port. Thankfully, after some awkward interior and exterior sellotaping, I managed to keep the bits together long enough to retrieve my data.So this Transcend drive was my next purchase. At sub-£20 it was cheap, with decent storage, decent write speed, USB 3.0, it has the all-important cap. The only obvious difference was the rubber case, which I figured would actually be better than my previous drives, in the event an unexpected drop or knock.Just over a month after purchase (soon after the warranty sign-up and Amazon return periods had expired) it failed.It would appear just as "Removable Drive", and sometimes not at all. It wouldn't open, wouldn't CHKDSK, wouldn't let me change drive letter, and wouldn't format. The Transcend online repair tool didn't recognise it, and neither would any of the other USB repair tools I tried. I tried it in USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports in multiple computers, with and without a USB extension cable, but nothing seemed to work.I couldn't let go, though, didn't want to admit defeat... I tried in vain a few more times over the next few days.In a last ditch attempt to get my data back / fit of pique, I held the flash drive in the USB port at an unpleasant angle - pushing the back end further to one side than I would normally have dared. If it breaks, it breaks, I thought. If I damage the USB port, well, I'll just have to repair or replace it.And suddenly... there it was - under Computer > Devices with Removable Storage, my flash drive's stupid, glorious name visible for the first time in a week!I slightly relaxed my awkward grip and it reverted to the plain old useless, inaccessible Removable Disk. I pushed it again, found the sweet spot, and the name reappeared!Quick! I held the drive firmly at its wonky aspect and dragged the files and folders to my desktop a bunch at a time.I managed to copy everything, all 30GB of files that I had no up-to-date backups of. Thank all the flips for that!So... for you people who feel they've tried everything and are inches away from hitting your flash drive with hammers, maybe, just maybe, you can access your drive one final time as I did, by the damn thing steady in the port, at a slightly horrible slant....Good luck!

Whilst you might think it a great idea to be in a rubber shell to protect against dropping, it's actually a lot more fragile than it's hard shelled counterpart. Keep this in a trouser pocket as one might tend to and it WILL get bent and fail. This is the second one I have had of this rubber version and this packed up a few weeks ago having been in my pocket for regular use. The other solid shelled versions in the same pocket are all working perfectly. If you want to keep one of these in a trouser pocket then consider the hard shelled version!

It holds so many films without failing thus far. The only thing i'd add is that it should have had a easily attached cover - either a sliding one or detachable but still stuck to the appendage type instead of the on-off cap cover - which I've since lost. Anyway, enough negativity... It's robust, sturdy, doesn't have an internal flashing light indicating the drive has been found, no password needed - just insert and go. I don't need to passcode my flash drives as they only contain films - innocuous ones mind! Ha! Another reason I chose this was because Transcend fared in the top 3 of flash drives for 2013 so we'll see how long this lasts... update on it's performance later on in the year.

I've never been a big fan of Transcend's USBs - they always feel like they are on the verge of snapping in two. But this one bucks the trend. It feels a bit more durable than other Transcend USBs and it also is easy to grip.This is a very handy product to carry around - USB 3.0 means good transfer speeds (if the connecting device is compliant), and 64GB memory means sufficient storage space for work or media files.Only concern, the cap feels like it might come off at any point. If this doesn't concern you too much, go for this product. The USB itself is well worth the price.

I have a few devices that are a bit touchy with which usb’s they’ll accept. This though seems to work on everything I need to use it on. Great pen drive.