In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Hello.

> I have a client who is currently disappointed with his two last USB
> flash drives/sticks that broke from their keychain holes due to heavy
> keys. He uses them with his keychains and never remove them. I noticed
> his keys are heavy (tilted when connected to USB ports) and gravity pull
> them down if USB slots are high above ground/floor.

> He asked me to find a stronger/durable one, but they seem to
> difficult/hard to find. Do any strong/better ones (4+ GB) exist from
> keychain abuses like from
> http://www.salescircular.com/ca/computer/usbstp.shtml (weekly current
> sales)?

> Thank you in advance.

SuperTalent "C" type (all Chrome) are very, very sturdy. Also
nice and flat, I keep one in my wallet with a Knoppix DVD
installation. Speed is not as good as claimed, 14MB/s read and
7 MB/s read, but if that is not an issue, I would recommend them.

However this guy is also damaging the USB ports, not only the USB
sticks. And they are typically far more expensive to replace.

Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: (E-Mail Removed)
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans

In article <TOKdneOHo5TKlsTRnZ2dnUVZ_h-(E-Mail Removed)>,
Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> On 8/3/2010 5:45 PM PT, Arno typed:
>
> >> I have a client who is currently disappointed with his two last USB
> >> flash drives/sticks that broke from their keychain holes due to heavy
> >> keys. He uses them with his keychains and never remove them. I noticed
> >> his keys are heavy (tilted when connected to USB ports) and gravity pull
> >> them down if USB slots are high above ground/floor.
> >
> >> He asked me to find a stronger/durable one, but they seem to
> >> difficult/hard to find. Do any strong/better ones (4+ GB) exist from
> >> keychain abuses like from
> >> http://www.salescircular.com/ca/computer/usbstp.shtml (weekly current
> >> sales)?
> >
> >> Thank you in advance.
> >
> > SuperTalent "C" type (all Chrome) are very, very sturdy. Also
> > nice and flat, I keep one in my wallet with a Knoppix DVD
> > installation. Speed is not as good as claimed, 14MB/s read and
> > 7 MB/s read, but if that is not an issue, I would recommend them.
> >
> > However this guy is also damaging the USB ports, not only the USB
> > sticks. And they are typically far more expensive to replace.
>
> Good point. I will tell him that.

I thought the same thing but did not know how much stress a USB port can
handle. Does anyone have the specs?
--
Remove blown from email address to reply.

Thomas R. Kettler wrote:
> In article <TOKdneOHo5TKlsTRnZ2dnUVZ_h-(E-Mail Removed)>,
> Ant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> On 8/3/2010 5:45 PM PT, Arno typed:
>>
>>>> I have a client who is currently disappointed with his two last USB
>>>> flash drives/sticks that broke from their keychain holes due to
>>>> heavy keys. He uses them with his keychains and never remove them.
>>>> I noticed his keys are heavy (tilted when connected to USB ports)
>>>> and gravity pull them down if USB slots are high above
>>>> ground/floor.
>>>
>>>> He asked me to find a stronger/durable one, but they seem to
>>>> difficult/hard to find. Do any strong/better ones (4+ GB) exist
>>>> from keychain abuses like from
>>>> http://www.salescircular.com/ca/computer/usbstp.shtml (weekly
>>>> current sales)?
>>>
>>>> Thank you in advance.
>>>
>>> SuperTalent "C" type (all Chrome) are very, very sturdy. Also
>>> nice and flat, I keep one in my wallet with a Knoppix DVD
>>> installation. Speed is not as good as claimed, 14MB/s read and
>>> 7 MB/s read, but if that is not an issue, I would recommend them.
>>>
>>> However this guy is also damaging the USB ports, not only the USB
>>> sticks. And they are typically far more expensive to replace.
>>
>> Good point. I will tell him that.
>
> I thought the same thing but did not know how much stress a USB port
> can handle. Does anyone have the specs?

There are no specs on that.

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage Thomas R. Kettler <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> In article <TOKdneOHo5TKlsTRnZ2dnUVZ_h-(E-Mail Removed)>,
[...]
>> > However this guy is also damaging the USB ports, not only the USB
>> > sticks. And they are typically far more expensive to replace.
>>
>> Good point. I will tell him that.

> I thought the same thing but did not know how much stress a USB port can
> handle. Does anyone have the specs?

The spec do specify materials, plating and the like, but
not maximum ratings. The plastic contact carrier inside
a standard USB connector is 1.84mm x 11.1mm "Thermoplastic
Insulator UL94-V0", which can be different materials and
does not require any glass-fiber strengthening. Also note
that this thing does not even need to break. A hairline-fracture
in a contact trace is quite enough. Standard wisdom would say
to not put more mechanical load on the connector than its
extraction force, which for USB is 10N (~1kG). Divide that
by the lever-type torque amplification represented by the
USB key.

Some quick measurements with my keys show an insertion depth
of 8mm and a key length of total 28mm to 64mm (there are
longer ones), this gives torque-amplification factors
of 2.5x ... 7x. So with a medium length USB key, a mechanical
load of 200g at its end would already be right at the maximum
for safe operation.

Surprisingly, a standard USB receptacle is only rated at 1500
insertion cycles, wereas a mini-USB has 5000 and micro-USB has
10000.

Arno

--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: (E-Mail Removed)
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans

measure for measure <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I was working on this very problem today. Here's my plan which may or
> may not work:

> 1. Consider a Cosair Flash Survivor. It appears durable, economical,
> though somewhat slow, judging from web reviews.

There is a GTR variant, which is faster. The basic variant
has average speed. The price is quite reasonable. It seems
that electronically they are not particular robust, just
average.

> 2. Consider a detachable keychain if you're worried about putting
> weight on your USB port.

The problem is that the user has to detach it, at least that
is what I gather from the OP.

Arno
--
Arno Wagner, Dr. sc. techn., Dipl. Inform., CISSP -- Email: (E-Mail Removed)
GnuPG: ID: 1E25338F FP: 0C30 5782 9D93 F785 E79C 0296 797F 6B50 1E25 338F
----
Cuddly UI's are the manifestation of wishful thinking. -- Dylan Evans