One of the DJ’s most essential items is a handful of USB sticks. We no longer have to drag crates of records to clubs. We can easily store our digital creates on high-speed USB drives and play our sets off of them easily. 

While USB sticks are a dime a dozen, it’s extremely important to buy ones that are a respected brand, have high read/write speed, are compact but built study and are compatible with your DJ Software (rekordbox, Serato, djay, etc), or the club/your CDJs. 

You should expect that if you’re doing DJ gigs, you should ensure that you’re bringing the essentials and backups, that means:

Once you have the essentials and you’ve loaded your music collection, set or library on both of the USB sticks, you’re pretty much good to go!


These 6 USB Drives are industry standard, widely used and highly recommended by DJs. 

  1. SanDisk Extreme PRO
  2. Kingston Digital HyperX Savage USB
  3. Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth USB 3.0
  4. Samsung Bar USB 3.0
  5. Lexar JumpDrive S75 
  6. SanDisk Ultra Fit Low-Profile Flash Drive

6 Best USB Flash Drives of 2021 – 3.0 and 3.1 Flash Drives


SanDisk Extreme PRO USB 3.1 Solid State Flash Drive

The SanDisk Extreme PRO USB Thumb Drive series is offered in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities. You’ll have no issues transferring, editing or stream files with its blazing 420MB/s read speed and 380MB/s write speed.

We recommend getting the largest size possible to ensure that you can fit your entire DJ set and possibly a little more of your library so you can keep djing if you get more set time.

  • Wide range of sizes: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB & 256GB
  • Read speeds of up to 420MB/s; write speeds of up to 380MB/s
  • Rugged aluminum metal casing
  • Highspeed USB 3.1; backward compatible with USB 2.0, 3.0
  • SanDisk lifetime warranty
SanDisk 128GB Extreme PRO USB 3.2 Solid State Flash Drive - SDCZ880-128G-G46
  • Super-fast solid state performance, read speeds of up to 420MB/s; write speeds of up to 380MB/s
  • Sophisticated design with durable aluminum metal casing
  • SanDisk Secure Access software included for 128-bit AES file encryption and password protection

Kingston Digital HyperX Savage USB

HyperX Savage delivers blazing transfer speeds of 350MB/s read and 250MB/s write due to it being a USB 3.1 drive. This drive is marketed as a thumb drive for game consoles so you know that you’re not going to have a problem with reliability or streaming.

This is a fantastic drive if you’re looking for a 256GB or 512GB USB thumb drive to store your music library and have very quick reads and writes from your DJ controller.

  • Read speeds up to 350MB/; write speeds up to 80MB/s
  • Wide range of sizes: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB & 512GB
  • Highspeed USB 3.1
HyperX Kingston Digital Savage128GB USB Flash Drive 3.1/3.0 350MB/s R, 250MB/s W (HXS3/128GB)
  • Blazing fast transfer speeds -350MB/s read and 250MB/s write to save time and let you quickly access...
  • USB 3.1 Gen 1 functionality - HyperX Savage is compliant with USB 3.1 Gen 1 specifications
  • Bold design

Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth USB 3.0 Flash Drive

The Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth series comes encased in a rugged aluminum housing that’s waterproof to 200 meters. If you’re constantly traveling and damaging USB sticks then this might be a great option for you.

While the speeds aren’t as fast as the SanDisk Extreme Pro drives, they do come in at about 85MB/s for reading and 70MB/s for writing.

  • Strong anodized aircraft-grade aluminum
  • Waterproof to 200M
  • Shock protection through the use of a molded shock damping collar
  • Highspeed USB 3.0; backward compatible with USB 2.0
  • Limited 5-year warranty
Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive, Black
  • Corsair Flash Survivor Stealth 128gb Usb 3.0 Flash Drive - 128 Gb - Black

Samsung Bar USB 3.0

The Samsung Bar USB stick features a rugged metal casing for durability with a key ring to prevent loss. It is extremely durable and resilient with being waterproof, shockproof, magnet proof, temperature proof, and x-ray proof. USB 3.1 flash drive with backward compatibility (USB 3.0, USB 2.0).

  • Innovative V-NAND Technology with Enhanced Read/Write Performance
  • 300 MB/s for 256/128GB models; 200 MB/s for 64/32GB models.
  • Comes in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB & 256GB sizes
  • Waterproof up to 72 hrs
  • USB 3.1; Backward compatibility (USB 3.0, USB 2.0)
SanDisk 32GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Low-Profile Flash Drive (2 Pack Bundle) SDCZ430-032G-G46 Pen Drive with (1) Everything But Stromboli (TM) Lanyard
  • (Two Pack) Take it all with you - on reliable USB flash drives
  • Convenient - small and pocket-sized for easy transportability
  • High Performance USB 3.0 speeds - up to 130MB/s read

Lexar Jumpdrive S75 64GB USB 3.1 Flash Drive

The Lexar Jumpdrive series is a pretty plain and simple USB stick. With read speeds up to 150MB/s and write speeds up to 60MB/s and features a retractable connector to protect the USB connection when traveling.

  • Read speeds up to 150MB/s; write speeds up to 60MB/s
  • Wide range of sizes: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB & 256GB
  • USB 3.1
Lexar Jumpdrive S75 64GB USB 3.1 Flash Drive, Black (LJDS75-64GABBKNA)
  • Stores and transfers content faster with high-speed USB 3.1 performance
  • Securely protects files using DataVault Lite software, an advanced security solution with 256-bit...
  • Retractable connector with convenient thumb slide

SanDisk Ultra Fit Low-Profile Flash Drive

SanDisk Ultra Fit Low-Profile Flash Drives are great little drives if you’re into packing light. They have pretty decent read/write speeds that are slightly above average. SanDisk Ultra Fit drives also come in packs of 2 so that leaves you with no excuses to have a proper backup of your set.

If you are prone to losing small things, I would recommend you don’t get these. While they are convenient they are also extremely small and do get lost quite easily.

  • Read speeds up to 130MB/s; write speeds up to 80MB/s
  • Wide range of sizes: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB & 256GB
  • USB 3.1
  • 5-year limited warranty
SanDisk 32GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Low-Profile Flash Drive (2 Pack Bundle) SDCZ430-032G-G46 Pen Drive with (1) Everything But Stromboli (TM) Lanyard
  • (Two Pack) Take it all with you - on reliable USB flash drives
  • Convenient - small and pocket-sized for easy transportability
  • High Performance USB 3.0 speeds - up to 130MB/s read

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