Customer Reviews

Corsair Flash Survivor 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive CMFUSBSRVR-16GB

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

No doubt, the case is as tough as available, and few alternatives offer the storage of 16GB - two features which may be enough for most. But, the first unit I had died on day two (Corsair replaced no questions asked), and the replacement unit I received has had intermittent connectivity issues with my USB ports. Sometimes you plug it in and the device is recognized, and sometimes you have to reset the computer or dive into Device Manager.
Transfer speed has varied between 1.5 - 2.0 MB per second.

This flash drive is very durable, plenty of storage space, and it is not that much more expensive than the voyager series. The main complaint I have is that since the case is a cylinder to provide strength it makes it hard to plug into my laptop. There is not really enough clearance to get it into the USB port when it is setting on a desk :( I end up using the USB extension that came with it most of the time.

Pros:
+ Rugged
+ Great capacity
+ Fast enough for normal usage

Cons:
- The outside rubber rings
- Minor quality issues with the labels

I bought the unit around Christmas 2007 to replace an old plastic 1GB unit that failed. I carried a flash drive im my pocket so that I always have access to my data, but the old one just wasn't rugged enough to co-mingle with coins and keys.

I purchased this unit specifically because of it's claims to be rugged. In that regard I have not been disappointed. The rubber o-ring on the inside should provide good protection from moisture, but I haven't tried to see if it will float.

I carry the Corsair Flash Survivor on my keyring, which is usually in my pocket. The outside of the aluminum case is showing a little wear from the keys, as I would expect, but drive itself is protected.

I have two issues with the flash drive. First, one of the labels on the drive was not correctly applied in the factory and had to be removed the first week I had it to prevent it from sticking to other items. This alone wouldn't have been enough to lower the rating if it wasn't for the second problem.

The quality and design of the rubber rings on the outside is an issue if you intend to carry this around like I do. Both of them are loose, and the one attached to the flash drive itself spins freely. It has even come detached a few times in my pocket, but so far I haven't lost it.

Overall, this a great product. And if you don't plan to carry it everywhere, you might not experience this issue.

User Profile
Here's a little background about what I use flash drives for. I use a flash drive for three reasons: keep all of my documents on me (school, personal, business, web page design, programming, what have you), keep a good reference library with me, and to run some portable apps.

Pros
*Looks cool
*Very strong casing. I suspect this flash drive could even survive an excursion in the pressure cooker. There are lots of reviews out there where people put this through the washer, run it over, hit it with golf clubs, drop in the pool for days, etc and it seems to do really well there.
*Portable applications run well on the drive
*Comes with keychain stuff, so it is nice to just keep the flashdrive on my keychain with no special usb stick case required
*The obviously larger storage capacity
*10 year warrenty (keep those reciepts scanned into your computer :) )

Cons
*The speed is just average for usb 2.0 flash drives: not horrible, but not excellent. For the price, I'd like excellent.

Final Thoughts
This was a good, worthwhile purchase. I expect this could be my primary flash drive some years until flash drives come in such a large capacity that they are essentially mini-back-up hard drives :) I'm sure this could be useful for 10 years or so if I really wanted it to be. The design seems especially nice if you happen to work in a hazardous place like a chemical plant, power plant, construction site, or some large scale manufacturing place or are especially prone to destroying flash drives.

Within 6 months the end that doesn't screw off came apart. It seems that it is basically just glued on. Also, the rubber grips on both ends came off within just a few weeks.

I'm tough on stuff. I do lots of outdoor sports in sand, snow, and salt water. I also do a lot of work in a shop with metal chips and wood dust flying around. My laptop often shares space in my backpack with some kind of grimy DIY project. I thought it would be worthwhile to splurge on a very expensive flash drive that could survive the harsh environment I sometimes abuse my electronics with, so I bought this Corsair "Survivor."

The irony is, I barely touched the drive, and it died anyway.

For the several months I owned it, it got left home more often than not, partly because it was a backup to another, much faster USB 3.0 flash drive I owned, and partly because the big, tough-looking o-ring sealed case is too bulky to fit comfortably in a pocket all of the time. When I did need the drive, it proved to be slow, but that's not my main complaint. I used this drive no more than a few dozen times. And then it simply stopped functioning. The light lights up and flashes, but the drive is unreadable in any of my computers and it won't be recognized or reformatted by any OS, including Windows XP, Windows 7 and Mac OS. The Mac reports that the drive is unreadable and needs to be reformatted, but it fails when I tell it to go ahead.

For the record, this drive never got wet, sandy, salty, dropped or otherwise abused. The case looks rough-and-ready -- although I can't say whether it's as tough as it looks -- but the guts, apparently, are made of weaker stuff. The internal electronics died without any kind of harsh treatment whatsoever. This drive was a big, expensive disappointment.

I'm rough on technology, so I figure a fire / water / truck proof USB stick might last a few days on my keychain. 3 months in: not disappointed, this thing is a tank.

My only complaint is that I have this attached to a huge heavy keychain, and it appears that, with the case removed, the weight of my keys has caused the inside component to become a bit loose at the point where the USB stick on the inside connects (where the light is). This causes it to be able to wiggle a bit and it doesn't feel too sturdy.

Still, it continues to works fine.

All the complaints about the slow writes are true, but I'm totally OK with that because, for me, it's for sensitive data that is pretty small.

I guess my only wish is that they had the keys attach to the CASE and not to the stick, so that you don't have to have your keys hanging off your laptop, and worry about sudden movement breaking the stick or the ports.

after being used only a couple of times, the piece that plugs into the USB port is slightly loose, and will only read if held absolutely still. fortunately i was able to get my data off the USB flash drive so i can return it for a refund.

i have another survivor flash drive which competely failed to read after less than one year of gentle use in an office. i know these types of devices will all eventually fail, but less than a year is simply not good enough. corsair customer service were pretty rude and unhelpful.

overall i'm unimpressed with this manufacturer and will be looking into a more reliable way to store data.

This USB drive suddenly got into a strange configuration where it locked itself and could no longer have new files written to itself. No way to fix it. Company offered to replace, but this was not an option since I already had personal financial info on it.

I've owned this drive since Jan 09. I've used it extensively as it plays all of my music in my car, and I drive everyday. I've not had one problem with it and compared to other USB drives, it is fast, both reading and writing. People here rate it slow because they're comparing it to a hard drive on a computer system. In fact, this is still one of the very fastest drives available, despite its date of origin.

My only problem is the very strength of this unit--it's heavy. But, it was created to be a fortress to store your information, and on that mark, it scores. If you need something water proof and extremely robust, then this will do nicely.