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Thinking of moving Waves licenses from hdd to usb drive, but discovered so many of those I have become finger warm in just a minute after inserting it.

I had some years ago a usb memory that broke, and suddenly it was empty and non usable. Having licenses on this kind of thumb drive does not cut it.

Are there different technology regarding this - why do they get warm so quickly?
At least the cheap ones I used as some backup and to transfer files etc.

Any suggestions on brand and model?

Thanks.

First question is why do you want to move your licenses at all? Are you wanting to use more than one DAW?

Unless you are intending to work on sessions between two computers a lot that is. Don't forget that Waves plug-ins only work on one computer at a time. For those who are moving a lot between two machines I could see the use but if its one DAW you are mainly work on I suggest you leave the licenses alone.

USB devices are not really reliable as a long term storage device. They are good for moving data back and forth. Licenses as well I guess. I have heard horror stories about iLoks going bad at the worst times too. But at least they have improved that.

I had my SSD drive fail and lost everything. I got it all back but I had to write individual vendors and ask to replace the license.

I thought it would be better on a stick, but I don't know. I have a lot of stuff on my ilok but the waves are on the SSD again.

Maybe super quality flash drive or something...

Jemusic wroteFirst question is why do you want to move your licenses at all? Are you wanting to use more than one DAW?

Unless you are intending to work on sessions between two computers a lot that is. Don't forget that Waves plug-ins only work on one computer at a time. For those who are moving a lot between two machines I could see the use but if its one DAW you are mainly work on I suggest you leave the licenses alone.

USB devices are not really reliable as a long term storage device. They are good for moving data back and forth. Licenses as well I guess. I have heard horror stories about iLoks going bad at the worst times too. But at least they have improved that.

Thank you. Yes, a second daw computer is planned for. Since not being online moving over Waves Cloud is not practical.

I checked with Waves that my v9 licenses can be handled by Waves Central for v10. But not used for anything else - weird choices they make.

I'm afraid as you said, thumb drives are designed to be temporary inserted, and possibly backup of some stuff. And that probably why chips are allowed to be rather warm in a short while.

Tacman7 wroteI had my SSD drive fail and lost everything. I got it all back but I had to write individual vendors and ask to replace the license.

I thought it would be better on a stick, but I don't know. I have a lot of stuff on my ilok but the waves are on the SSD again.

Maybe super quality flash drive or something...

Thank you. That's a scary story you have there.

I think I read that Waves have something like once a year at most, you can get them replaced if hdd failes - and guess it's the same for thumb drives then.

Most software with client/response type have a couple of registrations you can do. StudioOne is something similar I recon.

Superquality - that is the question what it might be called?
If possibly made to be used most of the time.

I have one with wav-files for a player that support playing from usb - but it really gets hot doing that. I guess the more accesses the warmer.

So maybe like reading licenses, is not made that often - and will be good. Just checking if anybody know of some special technology and what it might be called that is intended for long time use.

I've had one on Xbox as well, that is always there - but that is just disk space and anything can be put there as a choice moved anywhere else. Not like licenses what are bound to that particular device.

I have a lot of SD cards, which also is a serial kind of interface, as I understand it - being able to do over usb.

usb sticks becoming warm to the touch... something is wrong with your system. I have never ever had any USB stick get even the slightest bit warm. Try the same stick in another computer. If it gets warm there, ditch that brand and get another USB stick from a reputable manufacturer and stay away from the ones you can get at 7-11 for $4.99 or from the dollar store.

As far as long-term reliability of a USB stick, again, never had any issues with that as well. If a USB stick does go bad, it's not the end of the world as far as Waves goes. There is a way to move all your licenses back to the cloud. Just look in the Waves knowledge base for info on that.

darrenporter1 wroteusb sticks becoming warm to the touch... something is wrong with your system. I have never ever had any USB stick get even the slightest bit warm. Try the same stick in another computer. If it gets warm there, ditch that brand and get another USB stick from a reputable manufacturer and stay away from the ones you can get at 7-11 for $4.99 or from the dollar store.

As far as long-term reliability of a USB stick, again, never had any issues with that as well. If a USB stick does go bad, it's not the end of the world as far as Waves goes. There is a way to move all your licenses back to the cloud. Just look in the Waves knowledge base for info on that.

Thanks, yes what I got it probably in that price range, and had most of them for 5-10 years.

Most times I am in progress making a copy of some files, maybe a GB or so - and that warm chips a bit, I guess.

I will just insert and see if same result.

When you say another DAW on a second computer do you mean Studio One. Because if its another DAW then that brings up the question of why you actually need more than one DAW?

I have to agree with Darren here as well. I have used many USB sticks in my time for many reasons and they have never got warm, ever. Even transferring 10G of data to them they never get warm either. I am an electronics engineer from a past life and there are two things I am very sensitive too. One is things getting warm/hot and the other is the smell of electrical smoke.

Well well well... funny thing happened to me last night... my USB stick got really hot!

I did some poking around on the interwebs and apparently if you use certain USB 3.0 USB sticks (SanDisk in my case) in a USB 2.0 port this can and does happen... even to the point where the plastic case physically melts!

Sure enough, I was moving about 3GB of AAF files off my download computer to my S1 DAW with the USB drive and the download PC is just USB 2.0 and the drive got very hot. Moving the USB stick to my DAW which is USB 3.0 all the way the drive stayed nice and cool.

Very strange indeed!

I am currently using a Samsung USB stick. It is 32 Gig and made of chrome plated steel. This heating effect does not happen with this. (The steel case may actually help with this)

It is a USB 3 stick and I use it in USB 2 ports all the time without any heating issues. I think it was more expensive than most. Don't skimp on the cost here.

yes people were commenting that metal-cased usb sticks did not have the issues because the case acted as a heat sink whereas plastic doesn't dissipate heat... it just melts.

My Waves licenses are on a SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16G. The plastic case never gets above room temp.

Apparently it's really only an issue if you are using a 3.0 USB stick in a USB 2.0 port.... and then not always.... one of those weird things in life...