I bought the 512 gb Corsair GS. The first thing I noticed is the excellent built quality with metallic exterior and rubber inside to protect the usb port, which makes the cap fits very tight, and perhaps protect it from liquid spells (have not tested it). The storage size, the quality, the performance, and the reliability of Corsair are the main reasons why I paid the premium price for this usb. According to what I read, the company guarantees over 10,000 read/write cycles, which translates to writing the same block 2.7 times per day for 10 years! That means for a normal usage, something less than writing 2.7 times everyday, I would expect the usb will last for lifetime. Of course, with such investment, the company has a 5 years warranty, which is really great. Of course things can happen and this thing may stop working (I doubt very much), but I am not worry about that because of the warranty. I was debating between buying this or the SSD from samsung or Oyen, and I ended up choosing this usb for several reasons including the fact that the SSD I was considering has only 3 years warranty. I will use this usb drive to store and backup my data and to install an operating system (likely windows, waiting for Windows 10!) so that I can carry files as well as my favorite programs with me. So, I don't see it as a device simply to shuttle data, rather to back-up my data similar in use to a hard drive/ssd but with the full advantage of usb drive. the performance is on-bar with SSD, amazing! I love this usb very much that I ordered another one with the same storage. Here is a valuable link to technical specification of Corsair usb drives: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7010228/CORSAIR-USB-Flash-Wear-Leveling-and-Life-Span-FAQs#scribd After a lot of research, I think this flash drive is the best one currently in the market, unless Corsair decides to manufacture a 1 tb usb drive, I believe the 512 GS will remain the best.