tl;dr: Using a cheap NVMe drive with a USB enclosure is the best value for overall performance, but can take up a bit of extra space.
Using an Arcanite flash drive might be best if you just need to copy large files infrequently or for media playback (but not for heavy writes, as it overheats, or for general computing—it's as slow for 4K random IO as a microSD card).
Using run-of-the-mill cheap flash drives (I tested a SanDisk Ultra Fit and SanDisk Ultra Flair) is a terrible option, as they perform even worse than most name-brand microSD cards!
Finally, I was blown away by the Corsair Flash Voyager GTX... but it's $55, and fairly large, making it a little more expensive (though still smaller) than similar-performing external NVMe and SSD drives.
That SanDisk Ultra Fit is doing pretty well. What I really like about this thumb drive, is that it's so small that it easily can be stuck there permanently.
I've got a Mac Mini to which I've added a comparable stick, the Samsung Fit Plus 256 GB. Great addition but unfortunately I haven't figured out yet how to make a fusion drive with it.
I ran with one in my MacBook Air for a few months, but I noticed that if I used it for more than a few seconds of file IO (e.g. copying one large file to it for a couple minutes, or trying to run some application off it), it would slow down considerably... and in those cases if I unmounted it and pulled it out, it was hot enough to cause discomfort!
In the video, I cover how it's a nice, cheap drive, but it's basically trading off a lot of performance for that tiny size!
I have one as well, sometimes it gets so hot that it disconnects from the machine mid file transfer. However I've had it for a few years and it still works.
I use an extension cable...with stick-on cooling fins I had left over from RPi. That way, the heat is fairly well dissipated through the USB outer shield - it was too hot to touch before that, now it's lukewarm.
I bought this based on specs but was extremely underwhelmed. Just a couple of seconds of sustained writes or reads and performance plummets. I find it not significantly better than microSD cards.
That’s a good question, and something I forgot to check. I also forgot to test which devices supported UASP; I think the SSDs and Corsair did, but not sure about the Arcanite. Sounds like I need to do a follow-up!
Using an Arcanite flash drive might be best if you just need to copy large files infrequently or for media playback (but not for heavy writes, as it overheats, or for general computing—it's as slow for 4K random IO as a microSD card).
Using run-of-the-mill cheap flash drives (I tested a SanDisk Ultra Fit and SanDisk Ultra Flair) is a terrible option, as they perform even worse than most name-brand microSD cards!
Finally, I was blown away by the Corsair Flash Voyager GTX... but it's $55, and fairly large, making it a little more expensive (though still smaller) than similar-performing external NVMe and SSD drives.
I've got a Mac Mini to which I've added a comparable stick, the Samsung Fit Plus 256 GB. Great addition but unfortunately I haven't figured out yet how to make a fusion drive with it.
In the video, I cover how it's a nice, cheap drive, but it's basically trading off a lot of performance for that tiny size!