3 of the Best USB Drives for DJs: Can’t You Just Use Any Old Drive?
USB sticks from AlphaTheta, DJ TechTools and SanDisk. Which is the best for you?
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There are now dedicated DJ USB drives to bring to gigs but are they really better than off-the-shelf sticks? Here are three of the best USB drives for DJs.
Best USB Drives for DJs
Back in the day, us vinyl DJs had to lug heavy crates of records to and from gigs. I had a regular weekly playing 80s records at a bar in Los Angeles in the early 2000s, and because I took requests, I had to bring upwards of 10 crates to the spot. I didn’t need a gym membership during those two years, let me tell you. Now that’s all changed, though, with digital DJing letting you put your crates on USB drives and play on CDJs or standalone DJ controllers.
There are now two USB drives made especially for DJs, one from AlphaTheta and the other from DJ TechTools. Are these really better than one you can buy at an electronics store? Let’s find out.
Here are three of the best USB drives for DJs.
Best USB Drives for DJs: Why Does it Matter?
Does your choice of USB stick matter? Yes, for a number of reasons, the main one being the speed of transfer from your computer’s music library manager software to the drive. The more music you upload, the longer it takes. And the difference between drives can be drastic. It stands to reason that you’re going to want the fastest one possible.
Another factor to consider is durability. The DJ booth can be a dangerous place for technology, with lots of motion, jostling and open-top liquids about. If your stick goes flying, you’re going to want one that can survive an impact – or it’s going to be a very short night. (To be extra sure, always have multiple drives with the same data on them just in case.)
Best USB Drives for DJs: AlphaTheta SanDisk DJ Flash Drive
AlphaTheta surprised everyone earlier this year when it announced its own USB stick. Made in collaboration with SanDisk, the DJ Flash Drive is a 1TB dual drive with both USB-C and USB-A ports so you don’t need to bother with adapters (always a bad idea in a chaotic environment).
AlphaTheta promises 1000MB/s2 read and 900MB/s2 write speeds for the FAT32-formatted drive, putting it on par with other SanDisk sticks available. The company claims up to 34GB in under one minute. The drive is branded with the rekordbox logo on the side, and indeed it comes bundled with three months of the rekordbox Creative Plan.
Unfortunately, at around $120, it’s not cheap, especially if you’re buying multiples, but it’s not that far off for a 1TB SanDisk drive. Probably the best USB drive for DJs that ride or die for rekordbox.
Best USB Drives for DJs: DJ TechTools Chroma USB Drive for DJs
The first DJ-focused USB drive that I heard of was this one, the DJ TechTools Chroma USB Drive for DJs. DJ TechTools is a boutique company that is best known for its finger drumming controllers with arcade-style buttons.
The Chroma USB Drive for DJs comes in two sizes, 128GB and 256GB, so smaller than the AlphaTheta one but still big enough for most gigs, even marathon ones. It’s also available in four Apple-like colors (black, chrome, rose gold and space gray) and the company even offers custom laser engraving.
Now for the important stuff: DJ TechTools states a speed of 113.33 MB/s with an example of 0.67 minutes to transfer 5.1GB of songs via rekordbox. It offers both USB-A and USB-C ports with a heavy-duty design and included protective case.
The FAT32-formatted drive costs $47.99 for the 128GB model or $67.99 for the 256GB one, with engraving adding an additional $20 to the total cost. These are the best USB drives for DJs that don’t need something so big but still want the added durability.
DJ TechTools products are available at Thomann*.
Best USB Drives for DJs: SanDisk Extreme PRO Dual 512GB
Mix Master G of DJUC, a DJ conversion utility, posts speed tests of USB drives for DJ file transfers on Reddit. Based on his findings, I’m going to recommend the SanDisk Extreme PRO Dual 512GB as a non-DJ-specific stick.
The SanDisk Extreme PRO Dual offers the same 1000MB/s2 read and 900MB/s2 write speeds as the AlphaTheta SanDisk drive, with both USB-A and USB-C connectors included. Comes in 512GB, 1TB and 2TB models with the price starting around $70 and going up to about $180 for the top model.
USB Drive Alternatives
While USB drives are the standard for digital DJs, more and more jocks are turning to portable SSD drives to house their playlists. They may be a little bigger than sticks, but they’re often faster.
SanDisk SSD drives are available at Thomann*.
More Information
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