Wired has refreshed its annual roundup of the best USB flash drives, highlighting options for various needs like speed, security, and capacity. The October 2025 update adds new recommendations for Seagate and Buffalo drives alongside a comparison table. The guide emphasizes portable storage's enduring value despite cloud computing's rise.
Once ubiquitous but now overshadowed by cloud services, USB flash drives remain practical for backing up photos, transferring files, and even expanding game storage on consoles. Wired's updated guide, originally published in November 2021 and revised in October 2025, tests drives for speed, durability, and compatibility across devices including laptops, smartphones, and TVs.
The top pick is the SanDisk Extreme Pro, praised for balancing speed, reliability, and price. Tester Simon Hill notes, "In our tests, the speeds matched what SanDisk advertises (420 megabytes per second read, 380 MB/s write), making it ideal for anyone regularly copying files between devices." Available in capacities up to 1 TB with a lifetime warranty, it features a durable aluminum case and one-handed slider.
For USB-C users, the Kingston DataTraveler Max stands out as the fastest, achieving 1,000 MB/s read and 900 MB/s write speeds. Hill describes transferring a phone's camera folder so quickly that "I feared it must have failed," but all files transferred correctly. It offers up to 1 TB storage and a five-year warranty.
High-capacity needs are met by the SK Hynix Tube T31 (1-2 TB, up to 1,000 MB/s speeds, three-year warranty), suitable for 4K movies and console game storage. Budget options include the Verbatim Pinstripe (up to 256 GB, 100 MB/s read, two-year warranty) and Amazon Basics (128-256 GB, 130 MB/s read, one-year warranty).
Security-focused users may prefer the Kingston IronKey Vault Privacy 50, with 256-bit AES-XTS encryption, FIPS 140-2 certification, and auto-erase after 10 failed attempts. It supports up to 512 GB and includes a virtual keyboard against keyloggers.
Dual-connector drives like the OWC Envoy Pro Mini (up to 2 TB, 946 MB/s max, three-year warranty) and PNY Duo Link (up to 256 GB, 200 MB/s read, one-year warranty) facilitate cross-device transfers. For iPhone users, the SanDisk iXpand Luxe (up to 256 GB, requires app, two-year warranty) enables automatic photo backups.
Durable picks include the waterproof Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth (up to 1 TB, 85 MB/s read, five-year warranty) and minimalist designs like Samsung Bar Plus (up to 512 GB, waterproof and shock-proof, five-year warranty). The guide advises formatting drives to exFAT for large files and properly ejecting to avoid corruption, while warning against untrusted drives for security risks.
Other notable mentions are the Buffalo External SSD-PUT Stick and PNY Pro Elite V2, with avoids like the Silicon Power DS72 due to cumbersome covers.