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One huge issue I've had with USB sticks on my keychain - the stick breaking off at the keychain loop and losing the stick. I keep the important stuff on encrypted disk images and immediately change my SSH keys when I notice the stick is gone, but losing the actual stick is an inconvenience.

Looking at the photo of the Magnum stick, I can't imagine that stick staying attached to a keychain for more than a couple of weeks.

Doesn't anyone make a USB stick actually designed to be used on a keychain? My VW car fob has lasted 14 years so it can't be that difficult. All the sturdy models I've seen on Amazon or Newegg have horrible reviews for reliability reasons.



For several years I kept my ssh keys on my phone so it was always on me. When I need it I plop it in the dock and it would both charge and be mounted in linux and in my .ssh/config it would point to the mount point for those keys. Just another alternative.


Imation Ironkey are supposed to be "indestructable". Expensive, and with some questionable marketing.

There are others - Corsair survivor is one.

It's a good point. There've been a number of important data privacy breaches because of lost USB sticks.


My little SanDisk doesn't have a keychain loop, it has a hole built in to the body, same idea as the slot/hole built into your car key or house key.


In order to avoid this problem, I bought one of these microSD "sticks" a couple of years ago: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002HGFKR8. I also bought a miniature lobster claw hook (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003HFEQ3W) to attach it to my keychain. It worked amazingly well: the stick never got lost because it attached to my keychain via the base instead of the cap, it was tiny enough to never get in my way, and the memory was upgradable to boot. On the downside, speeds were pretty slow and the microSD card occasionally got dislodged, but these were relatively minor issues for me when compared to the benefits. Unfortunately, it bit the dust a couple of months ago — wonder if there are any faster alternatives?


I have a Patriot Xporter that's rubberized and which has lasted me for over a year on a key chain.

It takes up a bit more space, but it hasn't been a bother.


Kingston DT Ultimate 3.0

The loop is quite big and made out of thick plastic - works for me.




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