A small USB flash drive might feel like something that has no value at all these days, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure, file sizes have gotten quite large over the years, and people need more space for just about everything now. A 64 GB flash drive certainly doesn’t go as far as it did in the past, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless.
I would generally agree that bigger flash drives or even small solid-state drives hold more value today, but I can think of quite a few ways your older, smaller flash drive is still useful. In fact, there are things that only a small flash drive can do that a larger one can’t. It might sound strange, but it’s true. I was lucky enough to have an old 1 GB flash drive lying around to mod my original Xbox, for example. That’s not the only reason to keep a small flash drive on hand, so let’s just dive right into it.
Niche cases, like modding a console
You never know when you might need one
I grew bored of my Xbox Series X, so I went deep into the original Xbox in 2025 for some reason, and that meant I had to get it up and running on the internet. As you might know, Xbox Live isn’t supported on the hardware anymore, so I had to install Insignia, which is a fan-made Xbox Live alternative. While it’s not exactly a mod, it is something you have to install on the Xbox itself, and the only way to do it is with a small flash drive.
To install Insignia, I needed to get my hands on a flash drive that was smaller than 4 GB. That’s surprisingly difficult to find at a store these days, so your options are either to search for something on Amazon or dig around in your old boxes. I found a 1 GB flash drive that I was able to use to install what I needed. The funny thing is that I never ended up playing my Xbox online, but this is still an example of something a larger flash drive can’t accomplish. It may be a very niche thing, but you’ll be glad to have a few of these around for random projects like this. I know how annoying it is to wait for Amazon to deliver something the next day because of a project I want to tackle at the last minute.
They are still good for small files
Pictures and MP3s are just fine
If you don’t plan on filling up hard drives with music and pictures, a small 4 GB flash drive is a perfect thing to have. With so much of the world revolving around streaming, it makes a lot of sense to get back to a more analog world. If you want to be offline, loading up a flash drive with music makes a lot of sense. MP3s only take up a few megabytes, so you can fit quite a bit on a small flash drive if you want to.
The same logic applies to pictures, and it could be a great gift to a family member if you get a flash drive filled with family photos or something of the sort. You shouldn’t be loading up games or other large files like that on a flash drive of this size, but for music and pictures, I don’t see why you shouldn’t do it. To be fair, SD cards would also work in this scenario, but I find those are far easier to lose than a flash drive — and those are easy to lose as well.
Price is a big factor
These are cheaper than other options
With the price of just about everything going up, it makes sense for people to start looking for more affordable solutions. A cheaper flash drive might be your answer to that because you can find these on Amazon for just a couple of dollars. I’m talking a pack of 10 for just $17. At this price, it’s hard to go wrong even if you’re not getting a name brand out of it. A small SD card costs around the same price these days, but you might get more use out of having 10 different options than just one.
The price is also very nice because if you lose your flash drive, it’s not like losing something that costs hundreds of dollars. I’m sure if you’re somebody who has used a lot of flash drives in their lives, then you’ve lost a few of them. I’m guilty of it, but I’d feel a lot worse if I lost one that cost $50 versus one that cost $5. Ideally, you don’t want to lose any of them, but things happen.
