Never mind SanDisk’s tiny SSD: here are five even smaller USB flash drives you can plug into your MacBook Pro and forget

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You don't need to worry about bumping or damaging them

Nano flash drives
(Image credit: Future)

Sandisk’s 1TB Extreme Fit USB-C Flash Drive (currently $110, down from $120) reaches up to 400MB/s read speeds on a USB 3.2 Gen 1 connection, and can sit in a MacBook Pro or Windows laptop port with almost no overhang.

That means you can enjoy large, fast, always-available storage without worrying the drive getting bumped, snagged, or otherwise accidentally damaged. I've broken a couple of full-sized flash drives over the years, so I know firsthand how easy it is to do.

It’s tiny, sure, but I've found five even smaller plug and stay drives. While none of these reach 1TB of storage, they do have other benefits (including being cheap), which makes them worth considering.

Best tiny USB flash drives

Hiksemi HS USB S450 Type C stick
Save 64% ($81)
Hiksemi HS USB S450 Type C stick: was $127 now $46 at AliExpress

Hiksemi’s HS USB S450 Type-C stick is one of the closest in spirit to SanDisk's drive. Its 10.6 x 20 x 13.5mm shell adds up to about 2860 cubic millimeters, close to 30% less material than the Sandisk unit, and it comes in 128GB and 256GB versions (so much smaller, capacity-wise) with USB 3.2 speeds up to 450MB/s read.

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Twopan Nano SSD 256GB
Twopan Nano SSD 256GB: $100 at Best Buy

The Twopan Nano SSD 256GB ($99.99) is an ultra-compact USB-C external drive, measuring just 9.65mm x 14.22 mm. and weighing only 0.18 ounces, it has a built-in fingerprint encryption for secure, fast access, making it a good, portable, privacy-focused option for everyday storage and backups.

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Verbatim Store 'n' Stay Nano 64GB
Verbatim Store 'n' Stay Nano 64GB: $11.68 at Amazon

Verbatim’s Store 'n' Stay Nano USB 3.2 stick targets older MacBook Pro models or users with a USB-A hub. Its 0.69 x 0.56 x 0.31 inch body (roughly 17.5 x 14.2 x 7.9mm), comes to about 1960 cubic millimeters, around half the volume of the Sandisk drive, with 64GB of storage for documents and media.

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DSLRKIT 64GB nano drive
DSLRKIT 64GB nano drive: $11.90 at Amazon

For raw compactness, the DSLRKIT 64GB nano drive is hard to ignore. It measures 16.7 x 12.2 x 2.3mm, only about 470 cubic millimeters, meaning it barely sticks out from a USB-A port, although speeds top out at around 21MB/s.

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UnionSine USB-C External SSD 512GB
Save 4% ($2)
UnionSine USB-C External SSD 512GB: was $54 now $52 at Amazon

The UnionSine USB-C External SSD 512GB ($51.28) is a compact, fast flash drive offering up to 450MB/s transfers for phones, laptops, tablets, and even in-car media systems.

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Wayne Williams
Wayne Williams
Editor

Wayne Williams is a freelancer writing news for TechRadar Pro. He has been writing about computers, technology, and the web for 30 years. In that time he wrote for most of the UK’s PC magazines, and launched, edited and published a number of them too.

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