Samsung unveils a trio of gorgeous USB 3.0 flash drives

Cloud storage is certainly the future, but local storage will never disappear completely. For redundancy purposes, it is smart to store your important files both online and on a hard drive or flash drive. This way, your data is protected from a disaster at home, or if the cloud storage company goes out of business.

There are countless USB flash drives on the market for data storage and other uses (like Windows 10 installs), but they are not all created equally. Nowadays, you should only be buying USB 3.0 drives since they are faster. If your data is important, however, reliability should be more important than speed. In other words, you should target respectable brands when buying a flash drive. Today, one of those such brands, Samsung, unveils a trio of sexy flash drives. Which will you buy?

"The introduction of this product line now provides customers with a more complete menu of branded memory products available from Samsung that currently include, a full line of SD and microSD memory cards, internal SSDs and portable SSD products. All of the USB 3.0 drives are also compatible with USB 2.0 and come in metal-based design equipped with Samsung's robust NAND flash and equipped with Samsung's 5-proof technologies and a 5 year warranty commencing on the date of purchase", says Samsung.

Samsung lists the 3 drives and their descriptions:

• Samsung USB 3.0 Flash Drive: features a streamlined, ergonomically-designed body for easier, more natural use and grip
• Samsung USB 3.0 Flash Drive FIT: the most compact of Samsung's new UFD lineup, this drive is designed for use in ultra-slim notebooks or in automobiles equipped with USB ports for data or music storage
• Samsung USB 3.0 Flash Drive DUO: offers users the flexibility and convenience of both micro and standard for smartphone, tablet and PC users on the go

All three drives feature read speeds of up to 130MB/s and capacities of either 32GB or 64GB. Sadly, write speeds are not listed, so we will need to wait for benchmarks and reviews for that. Samsung promises a 128GB storage option in the future too.

While I rather like the design of all three, it is the gold whistle-shaped flash drive that has piqued my interest. It stands out, and should be easy to clip onto a carabiner or lanyard. The DUO is perfect for phones without a microSD slot, like Samsung's soon-to-be-released Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+. The white FIT variant could be popular with Chromebook fans, who want to expand low on-board storage without having an unsightly drive protruding from their laptop.

Samsung explains that all three drives come with its "5-Proof technology guarantee".  What does this mean? The company says that each drive can "withstand up to 72 hours in seawater and survive operating temperatures from -0°C to 60°C (32°F to 140°F). Data stored on the drives will not be affected by standard airport X-ray machines or extreme levels of shock up to 1,500g (gravitational force), and can resist up to 15,000 gauss magnetic force, which is the equivalent of a high-field MRI scanner".

Pricing and availability are not yet known, so keep an eye on your favorite retailers to learn more.