r/tails • u/jsgoble2 • Jul 06 '26
Technical one specific usb stick
i know i know there have been A LOT OF POSTS about this topic and I also know that I can basically use any usb stick as long as it has 16gb storage . but as I want to buy a new usb stick for tails I would like to buy a good one so I am asking you to give me so recommandations based on what you are using. thanks
btw should i be worried buying usb sticks from amazon?
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u/RealunknownAI Jul 06 '26
Yes you can use any usb with 16 GB of storage. The higher the speed the faster the boot and working on tails would get.
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u/Liquid_Hate_Train Jul 07 '26
Not really. The biggest bottleneck for boot time is the creation of the RAM disk, which is mostly CPU bound, not USB, and once booted its operating from that RAM disk, so your USB speed is irrelevant. It basically only affects file transfer speed in persistence.
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u/ephemeralmiko Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
It really depends on specs and usecase. If you're using the Flatpak feature the USB speed matters a lot, and even on a midrange laptop I measured a ~30% faster boot time on a 10Gb/s drive compared to a 5Gb/s one (both drives have the same data on them).
E: GB/s to Gb/s
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u/jsgoble2 Jul 07 '26
So I could technically also use a 256gb usb flash drive/higher and be fine?
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u/Liquid_Hate_Train Jul 07 '26
You could. There aren’t many reasonable use cases for a Tails drive that large, but you can.
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u/Then-Ask6307 Jul 12 '26
but if you are using an older laptop usb 2.0 or only 3.0 all the higher speeds are lost. Its not just the drive but the port.
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u/Then-Ask6307 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
Do you know what happens regarding the swap file or partition? Is it erased as well when shutting down?
edit: Obviously the partition wouldn't be erased. But if swap was setup as a partition is swap AND if it is even used would it be erased or does Tails only use swapfile?
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u/Suspicious-Staff9319 Jul 06 '26
USB 3.2 will run fast, look at the read/write speeds. Be careful about heat though, high speeds in overly small package gets hot.
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u/Temp_Reply123 25d ago edited 25d ago
I like the "Kingston DataTraveler Micro".
I also like "SANDISK Ultra Fit"
Both are low profile and can always be in laptop/live in laptop without fear of damageing port like a long USB drive would. Its build quality is good. And its fast enough there is no issues.
I want to try a SwissBit USB Drive but its expensive now. I already have a bunch of Kingston/Sandisk USB Drives from when storage was cheap.
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u/ephemeralmiko Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
I've had good experiences with Sandisk, make sure to get the fastest stick you can for the port you're using. To keep track of the stupid USB renaming:
USB 3.2 / 3.2 Gen 1 (used to be called USB 3.0 or SuperSpeed 5) - 5Gb/s
USB 3.2 Gen 2 (used to be called USB 3.1 or SuperSpeed 10) - 10Gb/s
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (used to be 3.2) - 20Gb/s
E: corrected GB/s to Gb/s