When you head off to college, there are a lot of new things to be excited about. Who will you become friends with? How will you get involved in campus activities? And think about all the new knowledge you’ll be gathering!
Rigorous classwork and assignments are going to challenge you. You don’t want any additional stress from not having the right tools to keep your grades up.
A good thumb drive is essential for college students these days, but what are the differences between them? Continue reading to find out the best thumb drives to help you ace your college courses.
Why Do You Need a Thumb Drive?
You may be wondering why having a thumb drive is so important as a college student. There are a number of ways that having one can help you keep up with your studies!
First off, you never know when you may need to transfer assignments and documents from one computer to another. Maybe you are doing a presentation and need to access your materials.
You may also need to transfer your documents to the library’s computer so that you can print it off for class. Maybe you are working in a group and need to share documents with other students working on the project.
Another reason to have a USB drive handy while you’re away at school is for backup. If you don’t want to take up all the space on your computer, you can use a thumb drive to offset some of the memory.
What Are the Best Thumb Drives For You?
When choosing the best thumb drives for your situation, it’s important to think about what you want to put on the thumb drive.
For example, if your plan is to use the thumb drive for documents you probably won’t need too much memory. You can most likely opt for a less expensive model.
The more memory you require the more expensive your thumb drive will be. So if you are planning to save music, movies, and images on your drive, you’re going to need a more costly model.
Depending on your academic major, you may expect larger files than just text documents. That’s a good place to start when deciding on the best thumb drive for you.
Lastly, you should also consider the type of computer you own or plan on purchasing for school. You may find your USB drive not showing up on Mac devices. There are methods for using certain drives on Mac computers but some drives are more compatible with Apple products than others.
Which Will You Choose?
As mentioned earlier, if you only plan on using your thumb drive to save things like word documents, then you probably don’t need a ton of memory.
If you plan to delete documents as you submit or print them and don’t want to permanently store them on your thumb drive, you can spend around $20 for an 8GB thumb drive.
Some students opt for an even cheaper model that only has 2GB or 4GB. This works well if you only plan on saving a few documents at a time. It’s also a safer route if you tend to lose your thumb drives easily.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get drive that will meet your needs. In fact, many popular chain stores offer quality thumb drives for an affordable price.
Need An Upgrade?
You may want an upgrade if you prefer to store more files including movies and videos on your drive or if you are saving sensitive information. Sizes that will hold plenty of space include a 32GB or 64GB model. These will both be on the less expensive end as well.
The Samsung 32GB BAR Plus model is a simple yet practical model for what you need. These also come in 64GB models. Others prefer the Kingston brand that can be encrypted. The SanDisk Cruzer 32GB Flash Drive is another great option.
This thumb drive also provides you with password protection and encryption to prevent someone else from accessing your work, which is an important feature to look for in a USB drive. If you need to upgrade to a larger size, it also comes in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB as well as some smaller sizes.
You can also purchase a pack of 16GB thumb drives in a variety of colors. This will allow you to organize your drives based on your class. You can have fun with your thumb drive and purchase ones in a variety of styles and colors to match your unique taste.
Protect Your Files
Storing a few documents, presentations, or videos here and there are fine for thumb drives. But if you are looking for a way to protect things long term, you may want to consider purchasing an external hard drive. These can hold a lot more.
This will guarantee that if your computer crashes or you accidentally delete something, you’ll have a backup copy on your external hard drive. You can store it somewhere safe and use your smaller thumb drive for travel purposes.
You just have to drop your photos, videos, and documents into your external hard drive and keep it stored somewhere safe. It’s also a great way to transfer things from an old computer to a new one.
Back to School
Heading to college is exciting and there are so many things to look forward to! Trust us when we say having a thumb drive handy can practically save your life. Even if you have your own printer and computer, you never know when you may need to transfer an assignment.
You won’t get caught off guard with one of these thumb drive options. We hope this article will help you narrow down your options for the best thumb drives.
Looking for more great college advice? Check out our blog to make sure you’re prepared for all your academic and personal pursuits!
