Hamburg  - Generic USB sticks are often not worth buying mainly because they often take so long to record data, the German computer magazine Computer Bild reported recently.

A test of 43 USB memory sticks with eight to 16 gigabytes (GB) of storage space, showed that the five generic sticks, all purchased online, were significantly lacking in speed and had no particular price benefits.

The winner of the test was the TDK Trans-IT Mini (16 GB), which costs 40 euros (52 dollars). The Trans-IT can save up to 15 GB of MP3 files within 20 minutes. The slower Maxell Xtreme (16 GB, 24 euros) needed 110 minutes for the same job.

The Verbatim Retractable Blue won the 8 GB category. At 14 euros, it was also one of the more affordable sticks.

Manufacturers said the difference in transcription was due to the use of cheaper memory chips in some sticks, which require more time to record data.

All tested sticks proved resistant to moisture, heat, cold, shocks and vibrations. (dpa)