• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

What's the best USB Flash drive for boot drive

Joined
Jul 18, 2008
Messages
2,894 (0.50/day)
Location
South Carolina
System Name KILLER
Processor Intel Core i7 4790K
Motherboard MSI Z87 G45 Gaming
Cooling Water Cooling
Memory 2x8GB Gskill 2400mhz
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 980
Storage SSD Samsung 500GB
Display(s) 24" Asus 144hz
Case Cooler Master HAF
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Platinum
Power Supply Antec 1200 Watt Modular
Software Windows 10 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores 3DMark Vantage 51342
What's the best USB Flash drive for boot drive.

Looking to pick up a good usb flash drive for class to learn how to make a bootable flash drive for windows and linux.

Price is not much of a factor, What's the best 32 or 64 gig bootable drive out there?
 
Joined
Nov 1, 2008
Messages
4,213 (0.75/day)
Location
Vietnam
System Name Gaming System / HTPC-Server
Processor i7 8700K (@4.8 Ghz All-Core) / R7 5900X
Motherboard Z370 Aorus Ultra Gaming / MSI B450 Mortar Max
Cooling CM ML360 / CM ML240L
Memory 16Gb Hynix @3200 MHz / 16Gb Hynix @3000Mhz
Video Card(s) Zotac 3080 / Colorful 1060
Storage 750G MX300 + 2x500G NVMe / 40Tb Reds + 1Tb WD Blue NVMe
Display(s) LG 27GN800-B 27'' 2K 144Hz / Sony TV
Case Xigmatek Aquarius Plus / Corsair Air 240
Audio Device(s) On Board Realtek
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex III Gold 750W / Andyson TX-700 Platinum
Mouse Logitech G502 Hero / K400+
Keyboard Wooting Two / K400+
Software Windows 10 x64
Benchmark Scores Cinebench R15 = 1542 3D Mark Timespy = 9758
Any USB 3.0 Drive should do you well. I have a kingmax usb that does around 15 mb/s write and 80 mb/s read.

Linky to benchmarks: Kingmax PD-09 16GB USB 3.0 Test Spped . - YouTube

Edit - apparently this on is capable of 100/20 - USB KingMax Urban Series UD-09 16GB USB 3.0
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 27, 2011
Messages
6,680 (1.43/day)
Processor 7800x3d
Motherboard Gigabyte B650 Auros Elite AX
Cooling Custom Water
Memory GSKILL 2x16gb 6000mhz Cas 30 with custom timings
Video Card(s) MSI RX 6750 XT MECH 2X 12G OC
Storage Adata SX8200 1tb with Windows, Samsung 990 Pro 2tb with games
Display(s) HP Omen 27q QHD 165hz
Case ThermalTake P3
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex Titanium
Software Windows 11 64 Bit
Benchmark Scores CB23: 1811 / 19424 CB24: 1136 / 7687
Joined
Mar 12, 2009
Messages
1,075 (0.20/day)
Location
SCOTLAND!
System Name Machine XV
Processor Dual Xeon E5 2670 V3 Turbo unlocked
Motherboard Kllisre X99 Dual
Cooling 120mm heatsink
Memory 64gb DDR4 ECC
Video Card(s) RX 480 4Gb
Storage 1Tb NVME SSD
Display(s) 19" + 23" + 17"
Case ATX
Audio Device(s) XFi xtreme USB
Power Supply 800W
Software Windows 10
my server runs off a pair of sandisk cruzers and i have never had a problem with them. not the fastest but very reliable.
 

Athlon2K15

HyperVtX™
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
7,909 (1.24/day)
Location
O-H-I-O
Processor Intel Core i9 11900K
Motherboard MSI Z590 Carbon EK X
Cooling Custom Water
Memory Team DDR4 4000MHz
Video Card(s) ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC
Storage WD WN850 1TB
Display(s) 43" LG NanoCell 4K 120Hz
Power Supply Asus Thor 1200w
Mouse Asus Strix Evolve
Keyboard Asus Strix Claymore
Joined
Mar 12, 2009
Messages
1,075 (0.20/day)
Location
SCOTLAND!
System Name Machine XV
Processor Dual Xeon E5 2670 V3 Turbo unlocked
Motherboard Kllisre X99 Dual
Cooling 120mm heatsink
Memory 64gb DDR4 ECC
Video Card(s) RX 480 4Gb
Storage 1Tb NVME SSD
Display(s) 19" + 23" + 17"
Case ATX
Audio Device(s) XFi xtreme USB
Power Supply 800W
Software Windows 10
Can comPuters boot from USB3 controllers yet? Or is it only native USB3 controllers that are bootable?
 
Joined
Nov 19, 2012
Messages
753 (0.18/day)
System Name Chaos
Processor Intel Core i5 4590K @ 4.0 GHz
Motherboard MSI Z97 MPower MAX AC
Cooling Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 + MX4
Memory 4x4 GB Kingston HyperX Beast 2400 GT/s CL11
Video Card(s) Palit GTX 1070 Dual @ stock
Storage 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD + 1 TB WD Green (Idle timer off) + 320 GB WD Blue
Display(s) Dell U2515H
Case Fractal Design Define R3
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair HX750 Platinum
Mouse CM Storm Recon
Keyboard CM Storm Quickfire Pro (MX Red)
The Kingston HyperX 3.0 USB is essentially an mSATA SSD with a USB3 interface. And while a bit expensive, it's not overly so. It's about as fast as you can get, without resorting to a SSD + SATA -> USB3 enclosure.

Booting from USB3 is usually not a problem when your OS supports it. If you're booting/installing in UEFI mode, you're pretty much set. Legacy boot will require slipstreaming of USB3 drivers, if they're not natively present in the OS. I believe Win8 will boot from any USB3, while Win7 usually won't (without driver integration), unless it's an early Etron or TI controller.
 
Joined
Jun 29, 2007
Messages
1,243 (0.20/day)
Location
Repentigny, QC, CANADA
System Name CTG Computer
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800x
Motherboard Asus Strix B550-F
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 2x 16gb G.SKILL F4-3600C16D-32GTZN
Video Card(s) Gigabyte RX6800XT Gaming OC
Storage WD Black SN850 1TB
Display(s) MAG274QRF-QD | Asus vg248qe
Case Fractal Meshify 2
Audio Device(s) Creative SoundBlasterx G6
Power Supply eVGA SuperNova 750w G2
Mouse Logitech G pro Wireless
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB MK2
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
I do have a Mushkin Ventura Pro USB3 32gb. has about 120mb/s read, and 70MB/s write. Quite fast for the price.
 

OverClocker12

New Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
4 (0.00/day)
Go with USB 3.0. Even though if your computer still has a 2.0 still, get the 3.0. I would also recommend the Sandisk Extreme model. Kingston also has a lot of good reviews. You might as well go with a 64GB since it does not cost that much more.

Found this article which compares USB flash drives:
http://deviceraters.com/top-3-usb-flash-drive/
 
Top