When it comes to USB flash drives, there's only one brand I trust with backing up all my important data, and now is the best time to buy

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By Zachary Boddy
last updated

PNY is my first and last stop for quality flash drives, and they're dirt cheap during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

USB flash drives are basic tools of the modern digital world, so most people rarely give them much thought. Despite this, people regularly use flash drives to backup, store, and transfer some of the most important data in their lives. It's important to buy from a reputable, quality brand you know you can trust with that information, and one brand in particular has never let me down. PNY makes every kind of storage imaginable, but it's the flash drives I'm focusing on today — because they're up to 62% off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

PNY Attaché 4 USB Type-A 2.0 flash drive — 128GB | $19.99 now $8.99 at Best Buy

PNY Attaché 4 USB Type-A 2.0 flash drive — 128GB | was $19.99 now $8.99 at Best Buy

One of PNY's most basic flash drives, this simple affair will work with practically every computer in the world and can store up to 128GB of information from music and photos to documents and movies. It's not particularly fast, but sometimes you don't need speed.

👀Alternative deal: PNY Attaché 4 — 64GB for $14.99 $6.99 at Best Buy

💰Price check: $8.99 at Amazon

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PNY Elite Turbo Attaché 4 USB Type-A 3.2 flash drive — 64GB |$19.99 now $7.99 at Best Buy

PNY Elite Turbo Attaché 4 USB Type-A 3.2 flash drive — 64GB | was $19.99 now $7.99 at Best Buy

Take the tried-and-true Attaché 4 flash drive from PNY and pump a lot more speed into it, and this is what you get. It's the same familiar form factor and size, but with significantly faster transfer speeds (up to 100MB/s) so you don't have to wait as long to move your data around. It does need faster USB ports to fully take advantage of it, though.

👀Alternative deal: PNY Elite Turbo Attaché 4 — 128GB  for $21.99 $10.99 at Best Buy

💰Price check: $8.99 at Amazon (up to 30MB/s)

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PNY DUO Link USB Type-C 3.2 flash drive — 128GB |$27.99 now $15.99 at Best Buy

PNY DUO Link USB Type-C 3.2 flash drive — 128GB | was $27.99 now $15.99 at Best Buy

Most USB flash drives still tend to be the aging Type-A format, but the reversible, durable, capable, and universal Type-C standard is the future. This flash drive packs 128GB of storage with read speeds of up to 200Mb/s and write speeds of up to 100MB/s, and it can work with phones, tablets, computers, and more.

💰Price check: $16.99 at Amazon

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PNY Elite-X Fit USB Type-A 3.2 flash drive — 128GB |$34.99 now $12.99 at Best Buy

PNY Elite-X Fit USB Type-A 3.2 flash drive — 128GB | was $34.99 now $12.99 at Best Buy

Need a lot of flash drive storage? Need it to be fast? Need it to be compact? Well then this is the flash drive for you! It's miniscule in stature but still a very speedy flash drive, with read speeds of up to 200MB/s. Great for anyone needing to save as much space as possible in their bag.

👀Alternative deal: PNY Elite-X Fit — 256GB for $44.99 $24.99 at Best Buy | 512GB for $74.99 $39.99 at Best Buy

💰Price check: $12.99 at Amazon

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✅Perfect for: Those who need highly portable, extremely affordable storage for backing up or transferring any digital information, like media, documents, and more

❌Avoid if: You're looking for the fastest, most permanent portable storage solutions available, as you'd be best served by more expensive external SSDs

🔍Our experience: I've had a lot of PNY flash drives over my life, and not once have they failed me; flash drives may be affordable, but that doesn't mean they have to be cheap

🤔Why Best Buy? Best Buy is a trusted retailer with in-store pickups, fast standard shipping, lenient return windows, and great customer support. Those with My Best Buy memberships get a lot more benefits like exclusive discounts and offers, 60-day return windows, faster (free) shipping, better device protection, and more. If you want to learn more, check out our in-depth guide on My Best Buy memberships

⚡More deals for faster storage: Samsung T9 Portable SSD — 4TB for $439.99 $249.99 at Best Buy | Samsung T7 Portable SSD — 2TB for $179.99 $99.99 at Best Buy

More great Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals

PNY is one of the most trusted brands in storage

You can't go wrong with any of these PNY flash drives, and all these discounts are great. (Image credit: Windows Central)
Black Friday & Cyber Monday

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(Image credit: Windows Central)

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Good flash drives are designed to be forgettable. You shouldn't have to think about your flash drive — it should just be there, it should work with all your devices, and it should keep your information safe, even after being left in a drawer for years. Flash drives are also affordable, compared to other kinds of portable storage, so you're not always guaranteed quality. PNY gives you that guarantee, and I'm speaking from experience.

I had to rummage through my laptop bag and various drawers to double check my small collection of flash drives, because I had never considered what company was behind them. Sure enough, almost every single flash drive that I've used for years (going all the way back to middle school, still containing old assignments, boredom-inspired PowerPoints, and bad poetry) has been a PNY, and they have never once failed me.

That's the highest praise anyone can give a flash drive — I trust PNY with the most important data in my life. Whatever I need to transfer or backup, or even if I need to create a Windows recovery drive, I can rely on any of the PNY flash drives I have lying around to get the job done. The only differences between the different options listed above are the transfer speeds you can expect, the size, and the compatibility with different platforms.

Zachary Boddy
Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.