I stopped tossing old flash drives, and my homelab is better for it

Released Oct 29, 2026, 7:30 AM EDT

Patrick Campanale has actually remained in the tech area for well over a years, concentrating on PC/gaming news and evaluations, along with maker-focused items to construct small companies.

With a start in innovation back in 2010 surrounding the Palm/webOS community, Patrick invested his developmental years establishing mobile applications in addition to blogging for numerous publications, ultimately resulting in beginning his own site in 2014. After running an innovation blog site for a couple of years, he got out of that function and into the world of high-end customized PC production and structure, with a concentrate on YouTube video production and overclocking. In 2017, Patrick signed up with the 9to5Toys group as an editor/writer/reviewer with over 14,000 posts being released throughout his time there, varying from offers and roundups to thorough evaluations on the most recent innovation, computer game, 3D printers, and more.

In his downtime, Patrick likes to produce jobs from wood utilizing numerous robotics and techniques, consisting of leveraging the innovations of CNCs and lasers. If Patrick isn’t dealing with a computer system or playing computer game, he’s most likely in his 2-car garage workshop developing something special. In addition to all this, Patrick is likewise the media director at his regional church where he feels God has actually called him to serve, and he enjoys every minute of it.

At one time, USB drives were all the rage for file transfers. I kept one in my pocket at nearly all times and I had numerous around your house for numerous functions. Gradually, USB drives silently stopped being so popular. I still have usages for them in my homelab, so here are the primary factors why I’ll never ever toss away old USB drives.

I constantly require a brand-new installer USB drive

I enjoy Ventoy, however Ventoy does not like every OS installer

I utilized to have one flash drive that I continuously overwrote whenever I required to set up a brand-new os. It was actually bothersome, and when I lastly found Ventoy I believed I was finished with structure installers for every single os.

If you’ve never ever become aware of Ventoy, it’s a truly cool little piece of software application. What you do is flash Ventoy to a USB drive and after that you simply drag and drop the installer ISOs you wish to have onto the flash drive. You can boot to Ventoy and choose which installer you desire from Ventoy’s boot menu.

This made things a lot easier for me. I had an extra 128GB USB-C/A flash drive from years ago that I put Ventoy on and began putting all my ISOs onto. I had a lot of ISOs on it, consisting of Windows 11, Ubuntu(both server and desktop), and numerous other specific niche Linux distros.

Ventoy worked completely for me– till it didn’t. One day I went to set up OPNsense on a tiny PC utilizing Ventoy and it simply didn’t work. I did a lot of research study just to discover that Ventoy does not work well with all installers, and in some cases it’s just merely much better to have a devoted installer for specific os.

I dislike overwriting the exact same USB drive whenever I require a brand-new installer

Having a devoted installer drive is a lot better

After recognizing that Ventoy would not work for whatever, I discovered an old flash drive that I got at a trade convention years ago being in a drawer. It was a 16GB USB 3.0 flash drive that had some press files from like 10 years earlier on it, so I didn’t require what was on it any longer anyhow.

I overwrote it as the OPNsense installer that I required and whatever ended up completely after that. This was the very first time I recognized that, though I liked having a devoted installer drive where I might simply toss all my ISOs, it wasn’t the only installer drive I would ever require.

Ever since, I’ve begun keeping those additional flash drives from random locations or gadgets I purchase to utilize for making devoted installers as I require.

When I require it, that installer drive can really end up being an OS boot drive

Some running systems just choose to boot from a flash drive for some factor

In some cases, an os(like Unraid)may choose to be set up on a flash drive rather of a typical storage gadget like an SSD or HDD. Up till Unraid 7.3, Unraid might just be set up on a USB drive and not an SSD or HDD.

This is yet another factor I keep random flash drives around my workplace– simply in case I require to check an os like Unraid that requires to be set up on a flash drive.

3D printers require USB drives, too

And not every 3D printer features its own any longer

Credit: Patrick Campanale/ How-To Geek

My homelab isn’t simply networking gadgets and computer systems. I have maker devices in it, too. My workplace has 3 3D printers and 2 UV printers in it today, with more 3D printers along with lasers and CNCs in the garage, too.

The issue is, the majority of the 3D printers in my homelab (Bambu Lab and Elegoo) require a flash drive for external storage of 3D printing files and timelapses. Why business went away from microSD cards for this is beyond me, however they did. 3D printers utilized to deliver with little 4GB flash drives that had motorists and things on them, however that has actually likewise altered given that 3D printing software application is ending up being more universal.

I certainly desire to keep flash drives on hand for when a brand-new printer shows up so I have a drive to toss in it for storage. Keeping both 3D printing files (to re-print from the touchscreen) and timelapses is essential to me, and I truly do not seem like purchasing a brand-new flash drive for every 3D printer I get, so keeping bonus on hand that originate from other gadgets simply makes things easier for sure.

Flash drives may not be utilized for moving files around any longer, however they still have usages for me

Nowadays, if I require to move files around, I’m grabbing among my portable SSDs. They have much faster check out and compose speeds than many flash drives I have and there’s likewise a lot more capability readily available there.

Flash drives, for me, have actually ended up being more about single-purpose jobs rather of general-purpose. Running system installer, 3D printer storage, or boot drive are all things where the flash drive simply has one task to do– and it does it well.

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